(单词翻译:单击)
“你们中有多少人想要去外星球?”导演詹姆士·卡梅隆周二在6,500影迷面前发表演讲。为喜剧迷、电影迷、超人迷、科幻迷、游戏迷们举办这一年一度大型盛会,已成为好莱坞日程表中的重大事件。该动漫节举办四十周年,第一次尝试全天播映3D电影,收尾节目25分钟预告片的《神之化身》(Avatar)会让科幻迷们提前一饱眼福,卡梅隆和20世纪福克斯公司表示具体上映当期会排在12月份。影片讲述的是一个人身体换成了外星人,冒险来到另一个星球Pandora。场景中描绘极其逼真,飞翔着的昆虫、摆动的蕨类植物似乎都在观众的额头上掠过,让Comic-Con动漫展上的影迷们都呼喊赞叹起来。
With those words, the future came to Comic-Con — and it was wearing funny glasses.
For the first time, the giant annual convention for fans of comics, movies, superheroes(超级英雄), science fiction and video games that has become a major event on Hollywood’s calendar — now in its 40th year — devoted almost an entire day to presenting films in 3-D, culminating with a 25-minute glimpse of “Avatar,”(收尾节目25分钟预告片的《神之化身》) the eagerly anticipated science-fiction thriller due in December from Mr. Cameron and 20th Century Fox.
“I’m not going to waste your time, because I know you’re here to see stuff(看片子),” said Mr. Cameron, who spoke only a few words before showing pieces of his film.
The scenes portrayed the adventures of a human experiencing a new world, the planet Pandora, through the body of an alien. And they were delivered with a startling verisimilitude(令人震惊的逼真) that seemed to plant flying insects (飞翔着的昆虫)and waving ferns(摆动着的蕨类植物) on the heads of people in the next row — and had Comic-Con fans roaring with approval.
The “Avatar” presentation cleared a crucial test for Fox, which has invested more than $200 million in the movie, the most conspicuous (显眼的)example of a recent spate of expensive 3-D efforts from the major studios that will roll out over the next few years.
Mr. Cameron’s devotion to next-generation 3-D methods has raised enormous expectations around a film made with technology that some people predict could have an impact on movies comparable to the introduction of sound.
It was a measure of the movie’s importance that Tom Rothman, co-chief of Fox Filmed Entertainment(福克斯电影娱乐公司), personally introduced Mr. Cameron.
“Moments like these are rare in the life of a movie company,” Mr. Rothman said. Mr. Cameron’s last feature film was the box-office juggernaut “Titanic,” well over a decade ago.
Actually, it had been Disney executives who led the push to use 3-D promotions at Comic-Con, where projection technology(3D技术) had previously been unequal to such large-scale presentations(远远比不上现在).
No small problem was the distribution of Dolby 3-D glasses by the thousands, with repeated pleas that they eventually be returned, though many were left broken on the floor.
Even as the first trailers were screened, hours before Mr. Cameron’s presentation, doubts lingered about whether the big 3-D day would work.
“Some of the 3-D effects aren’t going to look absolutely perfect,” said Patton Oswalt, the comedian and voice actor who moderated a presentation of Disney’s forthcoming “A Christmas Carol(《圣诞颂歌》),” “Alice in Wonderland(《爱丽丝梦游仙境》)” and “Tron: Legacy(《电子世界争霸战2》).” Mr. Oswalt asked attendees not to blog about effects being “quite subpar(不够标准的).”
But the fans “oohed” and “aaahed” over the displays of technical virtuosity(精湛), starting with motion-capture film from Robert Zemeckis’s “A Christmas Carol,” featuring Jim Carrey.
Sony Pictures followed with its “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” and New Line weighed in with a 3-D sequel to the horror film “Final Destination(《死神来了4》).”
But if technology ruled the day, it took flesh-and-blood movie stars to bring down the house. A surprise appearance by Johnny Depp(强尼·戴普) — who showed up beside the director Tim Burton in support of his Mad Hatter’s role in “Alice”(因出演“爱丽丝”中的“疯帽匠”现身此活动) — caused a near riot, with fans rushing the stage for pictures.
A couple of hours later, the cast of Summit Entertainment’s “The Twilight Saga: New Moon(《暮色2》)” provided the day’s emotional pop. Teenage girls started lining up on the street to see snippets (小段)from the second movie in the series. Many wore cardboard(小纸板) Burger King crowns emblazoned with(印有) “Team Edward,” referring to Edward, the nonbloodsucking vampire(不嗜血的嗜血鬼) at the franchise’s center.
Media attention on the Summit Entertainment franchise(顶峰娱乐专区) is so enormous that the studio opted to hold a news conference at the nearby Hilton Hotel on Thursday in place of the normal press panels after the big Hall H presentation. (“It is for the personal safety of our stars,” said a Summit staff member.)
The “New Moon(《暮色2》)” trio — Robert Pattinson(罗伯特·帕丁森), Kristen Stewart(克里斯汀·斯图尔特) and Taylor Lautner(泰勒·洛特) — took the stage in the Hilton ballroom looking as if the intense scrutiny was starting to wear on them. A disheveled-looking (凌乱装扮的)Ms. Stewart nervously took questions in front of about 30 television and video cameras. She described the greatly anticipated film as “seriously emotional” and coming from an “empty, completely dark place.”
In a lighter moment, a television news reporter asked the young stars what questions they were tired of being asked, and Mr. Lautner said, “Fans ask me to growl for them and I really don’t enjoy doing that.” Ms. Stewart said people could ask her anything they liked. But a Summit executive cut off a question about off-screen chemistry between cast members.
The trade-show(内部预映) floor and the streets surrounding the convention center presented the usual array of Comic-Con curiosities. Two men in “Star Wars(星球大战)” Stormtrooper uniforms mingled with women dressed as Alice in Wonderland. Vampires and grim reapers were in abundance. The cable network A&E staged a mock funeral to promote “Chris Angel Mindfreak” — complete with coffins carried by men wearing black lipstick — in the middle of a main walkway. Women on roller skates zigzagged through the crowds, apparently to promote Drew Barrymore’s roller-derby movie, “Whip It.”
Only a couple of months ago, those who run the convention said they doubted that 3-D could be properly displayed in the huge hall where Hollywood studios have become accustomed to introducing prospective blockbusters (重磅炸弹)like “Watchmen(《守望者》).” and “X-Men Origins: Wolverine(《X战警前传·金刚狼》)“We’re about to find out,” David Glanzer, the convention’s director of marketing, said just before the day’s session began.
Two years ago, Paramount Pictures screened a piece of “Beowulf” in 3-D here. But that occurred only in a small, preconvention preview.
This time, 3-D was the main event. Asked if he intended ever again to make a conventional, two-dimensional live action film, Mr. Zemeckis could only muster a maybe.
“Never say never,” he said.
But, he added: “Right now, I’m dedicated to sending these forms into the world. I love the control these art forms give the director.”
Keke View:James Cameron主要奖项
1998年第70届奥斯卡最佳导演奖
1998年第70届奥斯卡最佳电影剪辑奖
1998年第55届金球奖 最佳导演奖
1998年堪萨斯城影评人协会最佳导演奖
1998年拉斯维加斯影评人协会最佳导演奖