每日跟讀#492: ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Has Affluent Fans Opening Their Wallets

每日跟讀#492: ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Has Affluent Fans Opening Their Wallets

Last month, a group of Silicon Valley venture capital and tech minds gathered for an exclusive dinner at Chef Chu’s, an old-school Chinese restaurant in Los Altos, California.

上個月，一群矽谷創投和科技業人士在加州洛思阿圖斯市老派中餐廳「喜福居」聚餐。

Tucking into Peking duck and Dungeness crab in kung pao sauce, the diners, most of them Asian-American and some fierce competitors with one another, set about to tackle a common goal.

這些食客把北京烤鴨和裹著宮保醬汁的珍寶蟹往嘴裡送，他們大多是亞裔美國人，有些彼此還有激烈競爭關係，他們要著手達成一個共同目標。

“The question to all of them was, ‘How can this be successful, sustainably?'” said Bing Chen, an entrepreneur who organized the event.

舉辦這場宴會的企業家陳宗彬說：「對我們所有人來說，問題是『這要如何才能成功，並且持續下去？』」

They were not discussing a startup, a scholarship program or a political campaign. The task at hand was to take one of the summer’s most anticipated new movies, “Crazy Rich Asians,” and turn it into a bona fide cultural phenomenon.

他們並不是在討論新創事業、獎學金或競選。他們手邊的任務是，去觀看今夏最受期待的新電影之一「瘋狂亞洲富豪」，並讓這部電影成為一個實在的文化現象。

From that meeting a social media hashtag campaign called #GoldOpen was born in anticipation of the movie’s opening nationwide on Wednesday. But that would not be enough — a number of those at the dinner, after all, were rich Asians themselves.

為了迎接這部電影8月15日（星期三）在全美上映，一個名為「#金包場」的社群媒體標籤推廣活動在那場聚會中誕生了。但這可能還不夠，畢竟這場晚宴上有很多人自己就是亞裔富人。

So from New York City to Los Angeles, Houston to Honolulu, these industry leaders and others have spent many thousands of dollars renting out dozens of theaters for special screenings of the movie before and during its opening week. The campaign aims to fuel widespread interest in a film that could blaze a pathway for greater Asian-American representation in Hollywood, which organizers as well as the film’s creators and stars say is long overdue.

於是，從紐約到洛杉磯，從休士頓到檀香山，這些產業界領袖和其他人花了數以千計美元，包下數十個影廳，在上映首周當中和之前舉行特別放映活動。這麼做目的是引發外界對這部電影的廣泛興趣，而該片可能為提高亞裔美國人在好萊塢的能見度開闢道路，放映活動組織者以及這部片子的創製者和演員們都說，這是早就該實現的事了。

“High tides raise all boats, so we wanted to see if we could be that high tide,” said Andrew Chau, a co-founder of Boba Guys, a bubble tea chain. He chipped in for screenings in San Francisco and in Texas.

珍珠奶茶連鎖店「波霸人」共同創辦人安德魯·周說：「俗話說水漲船高，我們想看看自己能不能成為高漲的水。」他為舊金山和德州的放映活動貢獻了資金。

The backers have been spending $1,600 to $5,100 per screening, depending on the size of the theater, its location and whether the film is shown during prime time. Those tickets have then been distributed free to Asian-American youth and community groups, friends and the occasional VIP.

這些支持者在每場放映活動上花費1600到5100美元，具體金額取決於影廳的大小、地點和影片放映時間是否為黃金時段。這些放映活動的電影票免費分發給亞裔美國年輕人、社區團體和朋友，偶爾還把票發給貴賓。

“When’s the last time you’ve seen so many Asians in a theater?” said Tim Lim, a 33-year-old political consultant, after a screening in Washington on Monday. His friend helped pay for the screening, and Lim vowed to see the movie on his own at least three more times.

33歲的政治顧問提姆·林13日（星期一）在華府的一場放映活動結束後說：「你上一次看到這麼多亞洲人在一家電影院裡是什麼時候？」他的朋友出了放映費，而他發誓至少還會自掏腰包去看三遍。

“I want this to make as much money as possible,” he said. “I’m going to watch the IMAX, 3D, $25 version to get the cost up.”

林先生說：「我想讓這部電影盡可能多賺錢，我要看IMAX巨型螢幕版、3D版和25美元版本，推高票房」。

Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/330887/web/