Movie Ticket Sales Sagging? Time to Bring Out the Toys
衝刺電影票房 周邊商品上陣
By Brooks Barnes

The once-catatonic corner of moviedom dedicated to merchandise has suddenly come alive as studios – walloped by vanishing DVD sales and determined to keep fans engaged between sequels – look at themed toys, clothes and home decor with renewed vigor.
各電影公司由於DVD越來越賣不動而深受打擊，同時決心讓影迷持續被續集吸引，因而再次把關愛的眼神投向主題玩具、服飾與居家裝飾，電影界一度了無生氣的商品販售部門也突然間活了過來。

And Pam Lifford, president of Warner Bros. Consumer Products, is in many ways leading the charge.
而華納兄弟消費性產品公司的總裁潘蜜拉．李福德，則在許多方面扮演帶頭的角色。

“To gain market share, it has to come from somewhere,” she said with a mischievous grin, padding in sparkly shoes past a “Hobbit”-themed pinball machine at Warner headquarters here.
在此間華納總部裡，她穿著閃亮亮的鞋子走過一台「哈比人」主題彈珠機，帶著淘氣笑容說：「要攻下更大的市占率，就得從某處拓展。」

Before Lifford joined Warner in January 2016, the studio’s merchandising unit in some years had no growth at all. Last year, profit increased 47 percent compared with 2015. Revenue from licensed products – Wonder Woman action figures, Harry Potter iPhone cases, Scooby-Doo pajamas – totaled $6.5 billion, an 8 percent increase.
在李福德2016年1月加入華納以前，該公司的商品部門有些年業績完全沒有成長。去年，獲利跟2015年相比成長了47%。來自神力女超人造型公仔、哈利波特iPhone手機殼、史酷比睡衣等授權產品的總營收也成長了8%，達到65億美元。

Lifford, described by License Global magazine as “savvy, seasoned and supercharged,” credits toy-ready movies that were already in Warner’s pipeline, like the Potter prequel “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.” Kevin Tsujihara, Warner’s chief executive, credits the way Lifford came in guns blazing.
《環球授權》雜誌以「精明、老練及精力超強」形容李福德。李福德把業績的進步歸功於已在華納系統中，準備好推出玩具的電影，就像哈利波特續集《怪獸與牠們的產地》。華納執行長施凱原（編按：日文姓氏為辻原）則認為李福德帶來的火力全開作風功不可沒。

“I’m confident we can build on the momentum Pam and her team have created,” he said in an email. “It’s a great growth opportunity for the company.”
他在一封電子郵件中說道：「我確信我們可以本著阿潘和她的團隊創造的動能前進。這是公司極佳的成長機會。」

With the decline in DVD sales speeding up and the box office stalling on a global scale – even as movies become more expensive to make – studios like Warner for the first time are looking to merchandise as an engine.
在電影製作成本變得更高，DVD的銷量卻加速下滑，全球票房也停滯不前的情景下，像華納這樣的電影公司首次將相關商品視為驅動成長的一具引擎。

Film companies will release 25 movies with toy tie-ins this year, according to Bloomberg analysis, up from roughly eight annually in the past. “Jumping headfirst into the space” is how a Sony spokesman on Friday described its new approach, which will be on display in July with the release of “The Emoji Movie.”
彭博分析，各電影公司今年將發行25部跟玩具搭配販售的電影，比過去每年約8部要多。索尼發言人周五則以「一頭跳進這領域」描述該公司的新做法，而這做法則將在7月隨《表情符號電影》上映而展現。

This summer, stores worldwide will be flooded with items for “Wonder Woman,” “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” “Cars 3,” “Transformers: The Last Knight” and “Despicable Me 3.” Mountains of “Justice League” and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” paraphernalia will arrive in the fall.
今年夏天，全球各地店家將被《神力女超人》、《蜘蛛人：返校日》、《汽車總動員3》、《變形金剛5：最終騎士》與《神偷奶爸3》項目產品所淹沒，而成堆的《正義聯盟》和《星際大戰：最後的絕地武士》相關產品則將在今年秋天報到。

More than ever, consumer products are influencing moviemaking decisions – namely, sequels and more sequels. Retailers are more willing to devote shelf space to tie-in products when there is already proven interest.
消費性產品比以往更影響有關電影製作的決定，亦即拍攝續集與更多續集。當有明確利益時，零售商更願意騰出貨架空間給跟電影搭配販售的產品。

原文參照：
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/22/business/media/at-warner-bros-former-disney-exec-leads-new-charge-on-merchandise.html

2017-06-04．聯合報．D4．紐約時報賞析 陳韋廷

說文解字看新聞 張佑生

本文介紹好萊塢如何突破電影賣座不易的困境。描述現狀的消極字彙包括標題的sagging（蕭條）、catatonic（一潭死水）、遭重擊（walloped）、消逝的（vanishing）、衰退（decline）和全球性的票房熄火（stalling）。

形容衝刺的用語則有leading the charge和came in guns blazing以及jumping headfirst into the space，倒不是說片商莽撞要做魚躍前撲的危險動作，而是藉由發行更多電影續集（sequel）和前傳（prequel）及公仔（action figure）等周邊商品（paraphernalia）維繫影迷的熱情（keep fans engaged）；拚命發片當然有其風險。

Paraphernalia原為法律用語，意指妻子的個人財產，包括不含嫁奩的私產，主要指衣服、首飾，以及丈夫在婚前或婚姻期間給予的財物，丈夫死後由妻子擁有。

按照時間順序，應該只有續集，片商卻能拍前傳細說從頭。加上搭賣的商品（tie-ins或tie-in products），增加營收。通常，在螢幕上曝光稱為產品置入（product placement），螢幕外的商業搭售稱為tie-in。

Rare Gene Mutations Inspire New Heart Drugs
罕見基因突變 催生心臟病新藥
By Gina Kolata

What if you carried a genetic mutation that left you nearly impervious to heart disease? What if scientists could bottle that miracle and use it to treat everyone else?
假使你身上帶有讓你幾乎不會患心臟病的基因突變，那會如何？如果科學家們可將這奇蹟裝瓶，並用它來治療他人呢？

In a series of studies, scientists have described two rare genetic mutations that reduce levels of triglycerides, a type of blood fat, far below normal. People carrying these genes seem invulnerable to heart disease, even if they have other risk factors.
科學家在發表的一系列研究報告中，描述了兩種罕見的基因突變，可使體內稱為三酸甘油酯的血脂肪濃度降至遠低於正常值。帶有這些基因的人似乎不會患心臟病，即便他們仍有其他的危險因子。

Drugs that mimic the effects of these mutations are already on the way, and many experts believe that one day they will become the next blockbuster heart treatments. Tens of millions of Americans have elevated triglyceride levels. Large genetic studies have consistently suggested a direct link to heart disease.
模擬這些突變效應的藥物已在研製中，而許多專家認為，有朝一日它們將成為下一個造成轟動的心臟病治療暢銷藥物。有數千萬美國人三酸甘油脂偏高。大型的基因研究不斷指出，這與心臟病直接相關。

Added to the existing arsenal of cholesterol-reducers and blood pressure medications, the new medications “will drive the final nail in the coffin of heart disease,” predicted John Kastelein, a professor of vascular medicine at the University of Amsterdam who was not involved in the new research.
阿姆斯特丹大學血管醫學教授約翰．卡斯特雷恩預測，除了現有的降膽固醇與血壓藥物外，這些新藥「將給心臟病最後致命的一擊」。卡斯特雷恩並未參與上述新研究。

These experimental triglyceride-reducers are in early stages of development, however, and human trials have only just begun. At the moment, the optimism of researchers is rooted less in clinical trial data than in the fact that nature has produced strong evidence they should work.
然而，這些實驗性降三酸甘油酯藥物尚處於早期研發階段，人體試驗也才剛開始。就現階段而言，研究人員所以感到樂觀，主要的依據是大自然為此事可行提供的有力證據，而非臨床試驗所獲數據。

Even more significant may be the way in which these drugs were identified. Finding people who are impervious to a disease like heart disease can open a door to letting the rest of the population share their genetic luck.
更重要的可能是找出這些藥物的方式。找出不會患心臟病或他種疾病的人可開啟一扇門，讓他人可分享他們的遺傳福氣。

原文參照：
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/24/health/heart-drugs-gene-mutations.html

2017-06-04．聯合報．D4．紐約時報賞析 陳韋廷