娛樂直播室
作者：Scott Bowles
Hollywood has taken an unusually 1)reserved 2)approach to the earthquake and 3)tsunami in Japan, but 4)analysts say they don't expect this to be 5)permanent.
A week after the earthquake, Warner Bros. pulled the Matt Damon thriller Hereafter from Japanese theaters because of an opening scene that 6)depicts a tsunami 7)laying waste to a coastal city. Officials estimate that the real-life quake and tsunami claimed at least 10,000 lives.
A day after 8)withdrawing the film, the Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group announced that an 9)unspecified portion of sales from the DVD would go toward 10)relief efforts. Additionally, the Walt Disney Co. said it would donate $2.5 million to the American Red Cross to assist in aid to the island.
"You'd like to think that this is how Hollywood would deal with all disasters," says Jeff Bock, analyst for Exhibitor Relations, which examines box-office and industry trends. "But with a quake, fire, flood and nuclear explosions, it won't be long before someone tries to sell a movie out of it."
So far, few seem interested. Clint Eastwood, who directed Hereafter, says he's fine with having the film pulled from a market that has become 11)crucial to studios.
"The devastation and loss Japan is facing is almost 12 incomprehensible," Eastwood said in a statement.
Hollywood may be 13)backing away from the story after 14)disastrous attempts to make movies centered around 9/11, Bock says. Very few films about the attacks had any success at the box office.
"Generally, you need time to 15)buffer between movie and tragedy, " says Brandon Gray, president of Box Office Mojo. "You need stories of heroism and survival. Scenes of devastation and bodies, especially if it's a real event, won't 16)cut it."