《肖申克的救贖》 20年的吸金利器

Bob Gunton is a character actor with 125 credits to his name, including several seasons of '24' and 'Desperate Housewives' and a host of movie roles in films such as the Oscar-winning 'Argo.' Vaguely familiar faces like his are common in the Los Angeles area where he lives, and nobody pays much attention. Many of his roles have been forgotten.

鮑勃・岡頓(Bob Gunton)是一位性格演員，共飾演過125個角色，包括《24小時》(24)和《絕望的主婦》(Desperate Housewives)中的數季劇集，在奧斯卡獲獎影片《逃離德黑蘭》(Argo)等多部電影中也出演過角色。在他所居住的洛杉磯地區，像他這樣有些眼熟的面孔很常見，沒有人會怎麼注意他。他的很多角色都已經被遺忘。

But every day, the 68-year-old actor says, he hears the whispers -- from cabdrivers, waiters, the new bag boy at his neighborhood supermarket: 'That's the warden in 'Shawshank.''

但是這位68歲的演員說，每天他都會聽到有人竊竊私語──出租車司機、餐廳服務員、附近超市裏新來的打包男孩：“那是‘肖申克’裏的典獄長。”

He also still gets residual payments -- not huge, but steady, close to six figures by the film's 10th anniversary in 2004. Since then, he has continued to get 'a very substantial income' long past the age when residuals usually dry up.

他仍然還會收到製作方的餘款──數額不多但很穩定，到2004年電影十週年時已經接近六位數。從那時起，雖然早就過了接受餘款的年齡，他還是會繼續收到“十分可觀的收入”。

'I suspect my daughter, years from now, will still be getting checks,' he said.

他說：“我懷疑多年以後我女兒還會繼續收到支票。”

'Shawshank' was an underwhelming box-office performer when it hit theaters 20 years ago this September, but then it began to redeem itself, finding an audience on home video and later becoming a fixture on cable TV.

20年前的9月上映時，《肖申克的救贖》的票房表現平平，但是後來開始自我救贖，在家庭錄像市場找到了大量觀衆，隨後成爲有線電視上的常客。

The film has taken a near-mystical hold on viewers that shows no sign of abating. Steven Spielberg once told the film's writer-director Frank Darabont that he had made 'a chewing-gum movie -- if you step on it, it sticks to your shoe,' says Mr. Darabont, who went on to create 'The Walking Dead' for AMC.

該片對觀衆擁有近乎神祕的吸引力，並且這種吸引力絲毫沒有減弱的跡象。該片編劇及導演弗蘭克・達拉邦特(Frank Darabont)說，史蒂芬・斯皮爾伯格(Steven Spielberg)曾對他說過，他拍了 “一部口香糖電影──踩上去會粘在鞋上”。後來達拉邦特爲AMC創作了《行屍走肉》(The Walking Dead)。

The movie's enduring popularity manifests itself in ways big and small. 'Shawshank' for years has been rated by users of as the best movie of all time (the first two 'Godfather' films are second and third). On a Facebook page dedicated to the film, fans show off tattoos of quotes, sites and the rock hammer Andy, played by Tim Robbins, used to tunnel out of prison. Type '370,000' into a Google search and the site auto-completes it with 'in 1966.' Andy escapes in 1966 with $370,000 of the warden's ill-gotten gains. The small Ohio city where it was filmed is a tourist attraction.

這部電影的長盛不衰在大大小小的方面都得到了展現。該片多年來一直被的用戶評爲史上最佳電影（《教父》(Godfather)前兩部位居第二和第三）。在該片的Facebook粉絲專頁上，粉絲們紛紛展示電影對白、場景和蒂姆・羅賓斯(Tim Robbins)飾演的安迪(Andy)用於挖隧道逃出監獄的石錘的紋身。在谷歌(Google)搜索裏輸入“370,000”，後面會自動出現“in 1966”。安迪在1966年拿着典獄長貪污的37萬美元逃出了監獄。該片拍攝所在地的那座俄亥俄州小城成了旅遊景點。

In the days when videocassettes mattered, 'Shawshank' was the top rental of 1995. On television, as cable grew, it has consistently been among the most-aired movies.

在錄像帶還盛行的時候，《肖申克的救贖》拿到了1995年錄像帶出租排行榜的冠軍。隨著有線電視的發展，該片持續躋身播出最多的影片之列。

In a shifting Hollywood landscape, film libraries increasingly are the lifeblood of studios. 'Shawshank's' enduring appeal on television has made it more important than ever -- a reliable annuity to help smooth the inevitable bumps in a hit-or-miss box-office business. When studios sell a package of films -- many of them stinkers -- a 'Shawshank' acts as a much-needed locomotive to drag the others behind it.

在好萊塢，形勢不斷髮生變化，影片庫日益成爲電影公司的命脈。《肖申克的救贖》在電視上經久不衰的吸引力讓這部影片比以往任何時候都重要──如同一筆可靠的退休金，幫助時好時壞的電影業渡過不可避免的低潮。電影公司將多部電影捆綁出售時──其中很多都是爛片──《肖申克的救贖》就是帶動其他電影必不可少的“火車頭”。

'It's an incredible moneymaking asset that continues to resonate with viewers,' said Jeff Baker, executive vice president and general manager of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment theatrical catalog.

華納兄弟家庭娛樂(Warner Bros. Home Entertainment)執行副總裁兼影片庫總經理傑夫・貝克(Jeff Baker)說：“這是一筆不可思議的盈利資產，持續讓觀衆產生共鳴。”

Warner Bros. wouldn't say how much money it has gleaned from 'Shawshank,' one of 6,000 feature films in a library that last year helped generate $1.5 billion in licensing fees from television, plus an additional $2.2 billion from home video and electronic delivery, according to SEC filings. But it's on the shortlist of films including 'The Wizard of Oz,' 'A Christmas Story' and 'Caddyshack' that drive much of the library's value, current and former Warner Bros. executives say.

華納兄弟不願透露公司從《肖申克的救贖》獲利的具體數額。 美國證券交易委員會(SEC)的文件顯示，包括這部影片在內，華納兄弟影庫中6,000部影片去年帶來了15億美元的電視授權費用，另外家庭錄像和電子傳輸也獲得了22億美元的收入。但華納兄弟現任及前任高管說，推動影庫價值的主要是包括這部電影、《綠野仙蹤》(The Wizard of Oz)、《 誕故事》(A Christmas Story)和《瘋狂高爾夫》(Caddyshack)等在內的片子。

'Shawshank' was adapted from a novella, 'Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption' by Stephen King, who sold the rights to then-unknown director Frank Darabont in the late 1980s for $5,000. When he wrote the script several years later, it circulated quickly through Hollywood.

《肖申克的救贖》改編自斯蒂芬・金(Stephen King)的中篇小說《麗塔・海華絲和肖申克的救贖》(Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption)。斯蒂芬・金在80年代以5,000美元將電影改編權賣給了當時尚不知名的導演弗蘭克・達拉邦特。幾年後劇本寫出來時，迅速在好萊塢傳開。

Martin Shafer, a co-founder of Castle Rock Entertainment, was at an airport when he got a call from a colleague. 'She said, 'You've got to read this script right away. This story pays off like a slot machine,'' Mr. Shafer recalls.

城堡岩石娛樂公司聯合創始人馬丁・舍費爾(Martin Shafer)在機場時接到同事的電話。他回憶說：“她說：‘你應該馬上看這個劇本。這故事會像老虎機一樣賺錢。’”

Castle Rock, which took its name from one of Mr. King's fictional settings, was interested and executives there reached a deal with Mr. Darabont. But when studio co-founder Rob Reiner read the script, he broached the idea of directing it himself. He'd already directed films based on Mr. King's work, 'Stand By Me' and 'Misery,' and he'd just made 'A Few Good Men' with Tom Cruise and was looking to team up with the actor on a new project. So Castle Rock offered Mr. Darabont a 'pay-and-play' deal under which he would get a few million dollars and a guarantee to direct another movie, if he agreed to turn 'Shawshank' over to Mr. Reiner. 'We were making [Mr. Darabont] a multimillionaire,' Mr. Shafer said.

城堡岩石的名字取自斯蒂芬・金的一個小說場景。公司很感興趣，於是高管和達拉邦特達成了交易。但公司聯合創始人羅布・雷內爾(Rob Reiner)看了劇本後，他提出要自己導演。他已經執導過改編自史蒂芬・金作品的影片《伴我同行》(Stand By Me)和《危情十日》(Misery)，並且剛和湯姆・克魯斯(Tom Cruise)合作拍攝《義海雄風》(A Few Good Men)，正打算與克魯斯合作拍攝新片。於是城堡岩石向達拉邦特提出了一項交易：若他同意將《肖申克的救贖》交給雷內爾，就可以得到幾百萬美元，並且保證可以導演另一部電影。舍費爾說：“我們是在把他變成百萬富翁。”

Mr. Darabont said he took a night to think about it. 'But it was never an option,' he said. 'Most of it boils down to, 'Why are we here?' That was a passion I was very determined to pursue and not just sell to the highest bidder.'

達拉邦特說，他考慮了一個晚上。他說：“我絕不會這樣做的。歸根結底在於‘我們爲什麼在這裏？’這是我下定決心要追逐的激情，而不會隨便賣給出價最高的人。”

Mr. Darabont cast Mr. Robbins as Andy Dufresne, a banker who is wrongly sent to prison for the murder of his wife and her lover, and Morgan Freeman as Red, an omniscient lifer who befriends Andy on the inside. In the book, he is a redheaded Irishman.

達拉邦特選擇羅賓斯飾演安迪・迪弗瑞恩(Andy Dufresne)和摩根・弗里曼(Morgan Freeman)飾演瑞德(Red)。安迪是一個因被誤判殺害妻子和及其情人而入獄的銀行家，瑞德是一個無所不能的無期徒刑犯，在獄中和安迪是朋友。瑞德在書中是一個紅頭髮的愛爾蘭人。

Mr. King recalls: 'I said, 'Frank, at that time there were like 16 black men in the state of Maine, and you still want this guy to be black?''

斯蒂芬・金回憶說：“當時我說：‘弗蘭克，那個時候緬因州只有16個黑人，你還想讓這個人是黑人嗎？’”

Mr. Darabont chose the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield to serve as the fictional 'Shawshank' prison, so the cast gathered there in the summer of 1993 to start filming. The prison, which had been closed a few years earlier due to inhumane conditions, was 'one of the creepiest places I've ever been in,' said William Sadler, who played the dimwitted inmate Heywood.

達拉邦特將虛構的“肖申克”監獄選在了曼斯菲爾德的俄亥俄州立管教所(Ohio State Reformatory)，於是劇組在1993年夏天到了那裏開始拍攝。由於環境太慘，監獄幾年前被關閉了。扮演笨蛋獄友海伍德(Heywood)的演員威廉姆・賽德勒(William Sadler)說，那座監獄是“我呆過的最恐怖的地方之一”。

Despite the grim surroundings, the actors sensed they were part of something big. During rehearsal, 'We were joking around and looking at each other in joyful wonder that we all ended up in this movie,' said Mr. Gunton, who played the sadistic Warden Norton.

儘管環境惡劣，演員們還是感覺到他們是在做大事。扮演殘忍成性的典獄長諾頓(Norton)的岡頓說，彩排時，“我們會鬧着玩兒，興奮地互相對視，很高興我們都參演了這部電影 。”

Then it came out and nobody seemed to notice. Though the film received mostly positive reviews (some complained it was too long and corny), it brought in just $18 million at the box office. 'Shawshank's' participants cite a variety of reasons for the film's early struggles, including a confusing title with religious connotations, no female roles and competition from the year's two megahits, 'Forrest Gump' ($330 million in domestic box-office) and 'Pulp Fiction' ($108 million).

然後電影上映了，但是似乎沒有人注意。儘管這部影片基本都是好評（有些人抱怨片子太長而且老土），但票房卻只有1800萬美元。參與《肖申克的救贖》拍攝的人員表示，這部片子最開始的不順有很多原因，包括有宗教含義的片名可能令人困惑，沒有女性角色，還有當年《阿甘正傳》（Forrest Gump）（美國票房3.3億美元）和《低俗小說》(Pulp Fiction)（1.08億美元）這兩部傑作的競爭。

'Shawshank' only began to get moviegoers' attention after the Oscars, where it received seven nominations (but won no awards) and promptly was rereleased in theaters. The second run grossed an additional $10 million and primed it for its debut on home video, which at the time was still a robust revenue source.

《肖申克的救贖》在奧斯卡後纔開始獲得電影觀衆的關注。該片獲得了奧斯卡七項提名（但並未獲獎），後來立即在影院上映。第二輪上映獲得了1,000萬美元的票房，併爲其在家庭影院的推出打造了聲勢。當時家庭影院仍然是一個強勁的收入來源。

If Andy Dufresne was the movie's on-screen hero, off screen it was Ted Turner, whose Turner Broadcasting System had acquired Castle Rock in 1993. His TNT channel took the cable-broadcast rights to the film in 1997 and made 'Shawshank' an anchor of its 'New Classics' campaign.

如果安迪・迪弗瑞恩是大熒幕上的英雄，熒幕外的英雄則是泰德・特納(Ted Turner)。他的特納廣播公司(Turner Broadcasting System)於1993年收購了城堡岩石。他的TNT頻道於1997年獲得了該電影的有線電視播出權，並且將《肖申克的救贖》作爲其“新經典”廣告的主力軍。

Over the next few years, TNT and other Turner channels ensured that 'Shawshank' never again would suffer from a lack of exposure. 'Mr. Turner, bless his heart, chose to show the movie every five minutes,' Mr. Darabont said.

接下來的幾年，TNT及其他特納頻道確保了《肖申克的救贖》再也不會缺少曝光度。達拉邦特說：“特納先生，上帝保佑他，選擇每五分鐘播出一次這部電影。”

'Shawshank' was becoming that priceless entertainment property -- a repeater. Viewers watched it again and again. Those who initially may have been turned off by the idea of a prison drama born out of a wrongful conviction were drawn in by likable characters who inhabit a world where the true horrors of prison are left largely to the imagination. The movie's wholly satisfying conclusion -- a universal fantasy -- gives people hope.

《肖申克的救贖》成爲了無價的永恆娛樂資產。觀衆看了又看。最初有些人對由於誤判而誕生的監獄故事反感，後來卻被討人喜歡的角色所吸引，在這些角色所處的世界裏，監獄真正的恐怖只能留待人們去想像。這部影片皆大歡喜的結局──一個普世的幻想──給了人們希望。

'It took a while,' said Mr. King. 'It was like that song, 'On the Dark Side' [by John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown band, 1983]. 'All at once, after a period of time, it became a big thing. So it wasn't like a Harry Potter thing that goes to the theater and boom. In that sense, I think it was like 'Casablanca.' It's one of those movies that we think of when we think of that iconic American movie experience.'

斯蒂芬・金說：“花了點時間才火起來。就像那首歌《On the Dark Side》〔John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown樂隊1983年創作〕一樣。”“過了一段時間後，突然間就火起來了。和進入電影院就紅起來的哈利波特不一樣。我覺得和《卡薩布蘭卡》(Casablanca) 很像。這是我們在想到標誌性的美國電影經歷時就會想到的那種電影。”

Mr. Sadler, like his co-star Mr. Gunton, says he can't go a day without someone mentioning the film. And yet when it comes on? 'I get stuck on it like everybody else,' he said.

和與他共同出演的岡頓一樣，賽德勒也說每天都有人會提到這部電影。那麼電影播出的時候呢？他說：“我和其他人一樣深陷其中。”

In Mansfield in north-central Ohio, tourism officials five years ago established a tour to capitalize on what had become the area's biggest draw. The prison, courthouse and oak tree where Andy leaves money for Red are among 14 stops on the Shawshank Trail, which one weekend last summer drew about 6,000 people.

在位於俄亥俄州中北部的曼斯菲爾德，旅遊部門五年前創建了一個叫“肖申克之路”(Shawshank Trail)的旅遊線路，以充分利用該地區最大的旅遊資源。該線路共有14站，其中包括監獄、法院以及安迪把錢留給瑞德的那棵橡樹。去年夏天一個週末就吸引了約6,000人。

'Shawshank's' last 20 years offer a guided tour through the myriad and evolving revenue streams of the entertainment business. After grossing $28 million at the box office in North America and another $30 million overseas, it went on to the video rental market and by the end had made about $80 million in sales, Warner Bros' Mr. Baker said. Television licensing fees to date likely have surpassed U.S. box-office receipts, according to a person familiar with the studio's finances.

《肖申克的救贖》的這20年就像一次有嚮導的觀光之旅，讓我們瞭解到娛樂行業的金字塔及其不斷演變的收入流。華納兄弟的貝克說，在北美和海外分別取得2,800萬美元和3,000萬美元的票房後，該片開始進入錄像租賃市場，最後獲得了約8,000萬美元的銷售收入。據一位熟知華納兄弟財務狀況的人士透露，電視授權費用迄今爲止可能已經超過了美國票房收入。

As a general rule, studios pocket about half of box-office revenue (less than that overseas), two-thirds of home entertainment sales, and almost all of TV licensing revenue. Based on those margins, 'Shawshank' has brought in more than $100 million.

約半數的票房收入（海外收入不到一半）、家庭娛樂銷售收入的三分之二以及幾乎全部的電視授權收入都會到電影公司的口袋，這是一般的規則。從這些利潤來看，《肖申克的救贖》爲華納兄弟帶來了超過1億美元的收入。

'Shawshank is the quintessential catalog movie,' said Tom McGrath, a veteran studio executive who spent more than a decade at Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures.

曾在維亞康姆(Viacom Inc.)旗下派拉蒙影業(Paramount Pictures)供職十多年的資深電影公司高管湯姆・麥克戈拉斯(Tom McGrath)說：“《肖申克的救贖》就是一部經典之作。”

As viewers watch movies in new ways -- streaming on Netflix and other services on different devices -- top-tier library films get new customers. Long term, that's good news for studios in a world where DVDs are disappearing. In the short term, studios are still treading carefully into new technologies, in part because there is 'some debate over how to know what some of this stuff is worth, digitally,' according to Rich Greenfield, a BTIG analyst. 'Shawshank' isn't available to stream on Netflix, like other valuable properties.

隨着人們開始以新的方式觀看電影──比如在不同設備上用Netflix等視頻應用觀看──優秀經典電影有了新的觀衆。長期來看，這對處在DVD正在逐漸消失的世界裏的電影公司來說是好消息。短期來看，電影公司仍然在小心翼翼地嘗試新科技。BTIG分析師裏奇・格林菲爾德(Rich Greenfield)表示，一個原因在於“對於如何瞭解這些電影在數字時代的價值仍有一些爭議”。

On cable, 'Shawshank' is at an age when the licensing value of many films diminishes, but its strength hasn't wavered. 'Shawshank' and other films are now being licensed for shorter periods to a bigger and hungrier universe of distributors. 'Shawshank' has aired on 15 basic cable networks since 1997, including six in the most recent season, according to Warner Bros. Last year, it filled 151 hours of airtime on basic cable, tied with 'Scarface' and behind only 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' according to research firm IHS. 'Shawshank,' despite its virtually all-male cast, was the most-watched movie on Oprah Winfrey's OWN network in the latest season and in the top 15% of movies among adults 18-49 on Spike, Up, Sundance and Lifetime.

在有線電視領域，《肖申克的救贖》正處於許多電影的授權價值逐漸削弱的階段，但這部電影的實力並未動搖。《肖申克的救贖》及其他電影現在正被授權給更多、更雄心勃勃的發行商以更短的時長播出。華納兄弟表示，該片從1997年開始在15個基礎有線頻道上播出，其中最新的一季有六個頻道播出。據研究公司IHS統計，去年這部電影在基礎有線頻道上的播出時間爲151個小時，和《疤面煞星》(Scarface)持平，僅次於《窈窕奶爸》(Mrs. Doubtfire)。儘管基本全部是男性角色，但這部電影是奧普拉・溫弗裏(Oprah Winfrey)的OWN電視網上最新季觀看次數最多的電影，在Spike、Up、Sundance和Lifetime頻道上，它位居18至49歲觀衆羣中觀看次數最多的電影前15%之列。

The movie's profits to date may sound small in a world where some films gross $100 million in a single weekend. But such figures only begin to show a movie like 'Shawshank''s long-term importance for a studio's financial picture. That's why there are six big studios: Smaller ventures that lack a reservoir of films have trouble surviving flops.

在某些電影一個週末就獲得1億美元毛票房的時代，這部電影迄今爲止的利潤似乎不算多。但這些數字纔剛剛開始體現《肖申克的救贖》這樣的電影對一個電影公司財務狀況的長期重要性。這就是爲何現在有六大電影公司：缺少電影庫存的小公司是無法在危機中存活下來的。

'Libraries are the basic profit engines,' said Edward Jay Epstein, author of 'The Hollywood Economist: The Hidden Financial Reality Behind the Movies.' 'When you license a movie from your library, the money goes directly to your bottom line,' he says.

《好萊塢電影經濟內幕》(The Hollywood Economist: The Hidden Financial Reality Behind the Movies)一書作者愛德華・傑伊・愛普斯坦(Edward Jay Epstein)說：“影庫是最基本的利潤引擎。從影庫中授權一部電影時，錢直接就變成了公司的利潤。”

Films like 'Shawshank' pad their studios' bottom lines in less-direct ways, too. Studios generally license movies in packages, sometimes bundling one or a small number of hits with dozens of lesser films. So-called 'package leaders' such as 'Shawshank' can give studios leverage in negotiations with licensees, and prop up the weaker films in the catalog.

《肖申克的救贖》這樣的電影也會以比較間接的方式爲公司盈利。電影公司一般會以打包的形式授權電影，有時會把一部或幾部大片和幾十部小片捆綁銷售。像《肖申克的救贖》這樣的所謂“龍頭電影”會讓電影公司擁有和被授權方談判的籌碼，同時較弱的電影也能得到支持。

'You say [to a cable executive], 'I can give you 'Shawshank' and their eyes light up,' a former distribution executive at Warner Bros. said. 'You don't market it. You don't spend any money pushing it.'

曾在華納兄弟任職的一位負責發行的高管說：“如果跟有線電視的高管說‘我可以給你《肖申克的救贖》’，他們就會兩眼放光。不需要推銷，不需要花錢爭取。”

Mr. King never cashed the $5,000 check Mr. Darabont sent him for the right to turn his story into a movie. Years after 'Shawshank' came out, the author got the check framed and mailed it back to the director with a note inscribed: 'In case you ever need bail money. Love, Steve.'

斯蒂芬・金一直沒有將達拉邦特給他的5,000美元電影改編權支票兌現。《肖申克的救贖》上映多年以後，他把這張支票裱起來寄給達拉邦特，附帶一張字條寫着：“需要保釋金的時候沒準用得上。愛你的斯蒂夫。”