直升機掛在《星球日報》大廈邊緣隨時可能墜落，乘客性命危在旦夕，下方的人群也岌岌可危。但我們知道最后一定沒事，也許不是所有人都知道吧。比如我四歲的兒子就嘴巴大張，在座位里急得手直亂揮，像游泳一樣，這是他第一次在電影院看非動畫電影。他看到路易斯·萊恩身處險境嚇得尖叫，擔心得不得了。沒過多久，克拉克·肯特跑過一扇旋轉門，變身超人飛入大都會的夜空，所有人得救了。滿屋觀眾鎮(zhèn)定自若地看著鋼鐵巨人再一次拯救世界。我兒子也大叫一聲“哇”，引得其他觀眾大笑歡呼起來。

我一邊捏幾顆兒子的M&M巧克力豆吃一邊想，這就是電影魔術的意義所在。“你會相信有人會飛。”這是1978年超級英雄電影的口號。但到了2018年年末，人們還紛紛為周日日場電影《超人》買票，情況已經(jīng)很清楚，像超人透視能力一樣清楚，當年口號里更重要的是“你相信”，而不是“飛”。坦率地說，特效和環(huán)繞立體聲是不錯，但絕佳的電影體驗關鍵在于觀眾，跟朋友還是陌生人一起看關系不大，即使已經(jīng)看過無數(shù)遍也不影響。

這也正是Fathom Events在現(xiàn)代影院重映經(jīng)典電影的重要賣點，關鍵在于影迷像吃爆米花一樣熱愛。明顯例子可以看看Fathom Events的票房情況，《綠野仙蹤》舉辦了重映三天紀念朱迪·嘉蘭版上映80周年的活動。盡管60多年來這部米高梅的音樂劇在電視上經(jīng)常重播，但周日票房收入仍然高達120萬美元，而且上映的銀幕不到700塊。如此票房成績，已經(jīng)推動“多蘿西的黃金之路”躋身當日全國票房前八名，而且每廳平均票房輕松打敗正式上映排名第一的《玻璃先生》（在3,844家電影院上映），每廳至少高出340美元。可以肯定的是，這是《綠野仙蹤》創(chuàng)紀錄的周日，也成為目前Fathom Events單日票房收入最高的經(jīng)典重映片。票房大獲成功后，F(xiàn)athom Events決定于2月3日和5日加映兩天。

重映影片票房之王的競爭非常激烈。Fathom Events由帝王娛樂、AMC和Cinemark組建，每年與特納經(jīng)典電影公司（TCM）合作向全球各大影院發(fā)行約25部經(jīng)典電影，也做獨立發(fā)行，每次均使用標志性的“聚光燈”標志。去年2月，1982年的小眾電影《黑暗水晶》上映四天，票房凈賺100萬美元。兩個月后，電影《油脂》40周年紀念重映，賣出了10多萬張門票，賺到120萬美元。擠滿電影院的不光是《油脂》的影迷，而且都是超級影迷，F(xiàn)athom Events的首席執(zhí)行官雷·納特說。“觀眾穿著戲服，還跟著唱歌。”納特說，“現(xiàn)場沒有彈球（顯示歌詞）或字幕之類，但氣氛超級熱烈。”

對于Fathom來說，“經(jīng)典”一詞不僅意味著“老”。當然，他們曾經(jīng)上映《無因的反叛》（1955年上映——譯注）和《銀色圣誕》（1954年上映——譯注），但也發(fā)行過《虎膽龍威》、《辣身舞》，甚至近年的《暮光之城》，通過短期上映爆紅片幫Fathom、電影版權方還有影院賺錢。納特說，或許Fathom模式中最棒的部分就是通常不用為發(fā)行的影片付錢。“我們做的就是每年以實物交易的方式，用價值約1億美元的存貨出去交換。”他說。

例如，交換資源可能包括《海王》等新電影前的貼片，用來宣傳《超人》40周年紀念版藍光光盤比較自然。“這種模式確實非常非常不一樣，基本上寫張支票就可以獲取內容。”納特表示。

“Fathom是我們分類業(yè)務的重要組成部分。”20世紀福克斯的國內電影發(fā)行執(zhí)行副總裁斯賓塞·克萊恩說。他說，福克斯與Fathom的合作最多，因為Fathom擁有最大的電影院網(wǎng)絡、推廣能力強大、劇院營銷機會很多，再加上跟TCM有合作，合作中也包括在電視上推廣福克斯的電影。

但此類只是二輪上映，且票價低廉。高端數(shù)字電影院為了填補非高峰時間上座率，也很愿意跟Fathom合作，比如《綠野仙蹤》就選在周日、星期二和星期三上映。“對一些消費者，尤其是老年觀眾和年輕家庭來說，周六上午是黃金時段。” AMC的首席內容官伊麗莎白·弗蘭克表示。“如果觀賞老電影對影迷具有吸引力，人們也重視出門娛樂的體驗，我們就可以提供他們最感興趣的娛樂。”

類似娛樂方式也包括Fathom其他的垂直渠道，包括將現(xiàn)場活動分發(fā)給影院（因此Fathom的名字里就帶有“活動”），例如大都會歌劇院的演出、拳擊比賽，甚至音樂會。Fathom成立13年來，收入最高的音樂活動是“單向組合”音樂會，單場賺到數(shù)百萬美元。“內容的多樣性和多元化是Fathom最特別之處。”他說。

每位接受采訪的電影高管都否認，F(xiàn)athom最大的競爭對手是Netflix之類公司，但很難否認流媒體對電影的影響。也就是說，如果搜索之前提過的電影名，在訂閱服務的分類里不太可能找到。這可能不是巧合，因為好萊塢在合力限制Netflix，把魔鬼裝回瓶子里。內容商品化不僅對商業(yè)環(huán)境不利，還會導致觀看體驗變差。

“大多數(shù)消費者在家娛樂時都是分心的，經(jīng)常是手機放在面前，一邊做飯或洗衣服。”弗蘭克說。“看電影的體驗完全不一樣，坐在黑暗的屋里，100%注意力只能放在銀幕上。”

盡管如此，電影圈人士相當自滿，電影的成本也確實高昂，但還是很難跟覺得哪也不如家里好的觀眾們爭論。不好意思了多蘿西，但Fathom不同意，畢竟手里有票房作為證據(jù)。（財富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：馮豐

審校：夏林

The helicopter hung on the edge of the Daily Planet building, menacing the crowd below and threatening the passengers inside. We knew everything would be fine—well, maybe not all of us. Sitting in the theater next to me at his first non-animated movie, my four-year-old son—mouth agape and swimming in the theater’s stadium-style seat—was ensnared in suspense as Lois Lane screamed in terror. It didn’t take long for Clark Kent to run through a revolving door and emerge as Superman, leaping into the night sky of Metropolis to save the day. The packed house took the Man of Steel’s heroics all in stride. That is, until my son yelled “Wow!,” prompting the audience to erupt into laughter and cheers.

This is what movie magic is all about, I thought while pinching a few of my kid’s M&Ms. “You’ll believe a man can fly,” was the 1978 superhero film’s tagline. But in late 2018, after we punched our tickets for that Sunday matinee showing of Superman: The Movie, it became clear as Supes’ x-ray vision that the catchphrase was more about the “you” than the “flying.” Putting it bluntly, special effects and surround sound are nice, but a great moviegoing experience is all about the crowd, whether you’re with friends or strangers, and even if you’ve already seen the film more times than you can count.

That’s essentially the big selling point behind Fathom Events’ business of screening classic movies in modern theaters, and moviegoers are gobbling it up like buttered popcorn. Case in point is Fathom’s current box office offering, The Wizard of Oz, which is in the middle of three days of screenings in honor of the Judy Garland joint’s 80th anniversary. Though it has been shown on television for more than 60 years, the MGM musical pulled in $1.2 million at the box office on Sunday, despite playing on fewer than 700 screens. Those numbers were good enough to turn Dorothy’s yellow brick road run into the #8 domestic movie of the day, while blowing away the per screen average of #1 title Glass (which showed in 3,844 auditoriums) by at least $340 per screen. To be sure, it was a record-setting Sunday for Oz, making it Fathom’s highest-grossing, single-day, classic film release to date. The film’s current box office success prompted Fathom Events to add two more dates to Oz’s screenings on Feb. 3 and 5.

And there’s been plenty of competition for this top slot. Owned by Regal, AMC, and Cinemark, Fathom distributes around 25 classic films a year to theaters worldwide in a partnership with Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and on its own under its “Spotlight” banner. Last February, a four-day run of the 1982 cult classic Jim Henson live action fantasy film The Dark Crystal netted $1 million at the box office. Two months later, a 40th anniversary re-release of Grease pulled in $1.2 million, selling more than 100,000 tickets. And it wasn’t just Grease fans who packed the movie houses; it was super-fans, says Ray Nutt, the CEO of Fathom Events. “People were dressed in costume and they were singing away,” Nutt says. “There was no bouncing ball (displaying the lyrics) or anything—they just had a blast.”

For Fathom, the term ‘classic’ doesn’t simply mean ‘old.’ Sure they’ve shown Rebel Without a Cause and White Christmas, but they’ve also distributed Die Hard, Dirty Dancing, and even Twilight, filling theaters with short-run smashes that print money for Fathom, the film’s owner, and theaters alike. Perhaps the most brilliant part of Fathom’s model is that it generally doesn’t pay for the titles that it distributes, says Nutt. “What we do is barter out about a hundred million dollars worth of inventory each year,” he says.

For example, that might include the advertising slots before the new movies like Aquaman, which would be a natural place to promote the 40th anniversary Superman Blu-Ray disc. “It’s a very, very different model in terms of just writing a check to acquire content,” says Nutt.

“Fathom is a huge part of our catalog business,” says Spencer Klein, 20th Century Fox’s executive vice president of domestic film distribution. Fox works with Fathom more than anyone else, he says, because Fathom has the biggest network of movie theaters, the strongest outreach, in-theater marketing opportunities, and a deal with TCM that also includes on-television marketing for Fox’s films.

But these are no mere second-run, dollar ticket movie showings. In filling seats in off-peak hours—like Oz’s current Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday run—high-end, digital projection movie theaters are very happy with what Fathom brings to the table, too. “For some consumers, especially for an older audience and young families, Saturday morning is prime time,” says Elizabeth Frank, AMC’s chief content officer. “If it’s attractive to moviegoers, and people value an out-of-home entertainment experience, then we exist as exhibitors to serve them the entertainment that they are most excited about.”

That entertainment includes Fathom’s other verticals, which includes distributing live events to theaters (hence the ‘Events’ in Fathom’s name) like performances of the Metropolitan Opera, boxing matches, and even music concerts. The highest-grossing music event in Fathom’s 13-year history was a One Direction concert that brought in several million dollars, says Nutt. “The variety and diversity of content is really what makes Fathom special,” he says.

Each movie executive interviewed for this piece denied that services like Netflix are Fathom’s biggest competition, but its hard to deny the impact that streaming video has had on movies. That said, run a search on the titles mentioned above, and you’ll be unlikely to find them included in the catalog a subscription service. That’s likely not a coincidence, as Hollywood has made a concerted effort to put Netflix’s genie back in the bottle. Not only is the commoditization of content bad for business, but it makes for poorer viewing experiences.

“Most consumers, when they’re engaged in entertainment in the home, they’re half-engaged in it. They’ve got their phone in front of them, they’re cooking or they’re doing laundry.” says Frank. “The movie-going experience, it’s just that—100%, in a dark room where the only thing you have to do is focus on what’s on the screen.”

Still, complacency and cost being what they are, it will be hard to argue with bing-watchers who think there’s no place like home. Sorry Dorothy, but Fathom begs to differ—and it has the box office receipts to back it up.