Aaron Sorkin’s ‘Social Reckoning’ is off to a weak start

Title: Aaron Sorkin’s ‘Social Reckoning’ is off to a weak start

“The Social Reckoning,” Aaron Sorkin’s follow-up to “The Social Network,” is on-track to make only $5.5 million at the domestic box office this weekend, according to Sunday estimates. That’s below the already underwhelming $7 million to $8 million the studio had projected, and it means Sorkin’s new movie is unlikely to become a “Social Network”-sized hit.

根据周日的预估数据，艾伦·索金（Aaron Sorkin）继《社交网络》（The Social Network）之后的续作《社交清算》（The Social Reckoning）本周末在北美票房预计仅能达到550万美元。这一数字低于制片方此前预期的700万至800万美元，而该预期本身已不尽如人意，这意味着索金的新片不太可能成为像《社交网络》那样的热门大片。

The earlier film had a $22 million opening weekend and made a total of $97 million domestically (and that’s at 2010 ticket prices). It also won Sorkin an Oscar and became one of most influential on-screen depictions of Silicon Valley and startup culture.

前作在首映周末获得了2200万美元的票房，北美总票房达到9700万美元（且这是按2010年的票价计算的）。它还为索金赢得了奥斯卡奖，并成为银幕上对硅谷和创业文化最具影响力的描绘之一。

Beyond the fate of a single film, the weekend box office could also offer hints about audience excitement, or lack thereof, as we kick off a fall full of movies starring villainous, real-world tech CEOs. There’s Alex Gibney’s four-hour documentary “Musk” (which also opened this weekend), Nathan Fielder’s apparently uncategorizable Elizabeth Holmes documentary “You Can See Everything” (coming next weekend!), and the OpenAI boardroom drama “Artificial” (which has a new distributor after being dropped by Amazon).

除了单部电影的命运外，本周末的票房表现或许也能折射出观众的兴奋程度（或缺乏兴奋感），因为我们正迎来一个充满以现实世界中反派科技巨头为主角的电影的秋季档。其中包括亚历克斯·吉布尼（Alex Gibney）长达四小时的纪录片《马斯克》（Musk，本周末也已上映）、内森·菲尔德（Nathan Fielder）那部似乎难以归类的伊丽莎白·霍姆斯（Elizabeth Holmes）纪录片《你可以看到一切》（You Can See Everything，下周末上映），以及OpenAI董事会题材剧情片《人工》（Artificial，在被亚马逊放弃后已找到新的发行商）。

Outside of theaters, Netflix also has a series called “The Altruists” coming in November, telling the story of Sam Bankman-Fried and the collapse of FTX. As for “The Social Reckoning,” while “The Social Network” was a notable success, the theatrical landscape has changed significantly in the last 16 years.

在影院之外，Netflix还将于11月推出一部名为《利他主义者》（The Altruists）的剧集，讲述萨姆·班克曼-弗里德（Sam Bankman-Fried）和FTX倒闭的故事。至于《社交清算》，虽然《社交网络》取得了显著成功，但过去16年里电影市场的格局已经发生了巨大变化。

And where the first film focused on the excitement and drama of Facebook’s early days, the sequel is darker and heavier — it’s all about whistleblower Frances Haugen’s decision to leak what became known as the Facebook files. So maybe a movie about Senate hearings and algorithm changes was never going to be a big hit.

第一部电影聚焦于Facebook早期的兴奋与戏剧性，而续集则更加黑暗和沉重——它讲述的是举报人弗朗西丝·豪根（Frances Haugen）决定泄露后来被称为“Facebook文件”的内容。所以，一部关于参议院听证会和算法变更的电影可能注定不会成为大热门。

Or maybe “The Social Reckoning”’s real audience is among older moviegoers who have only returned sporadically to theaters. And I wonder if critiquing Facebook feels a bit less urgent to audiences who are more likely to be losing sleep over AI. Maybe just as importantly, the new movie’s reviews just aren’t very good.

又或许《社交清算》真正的受众是那些偶尔才会回到影院的老年观众。我怀疑，对于那些更可能因人工智能而彻夜难眠的观众来说，批评Facebook是否显得没那么紧迫了。同样重要的是，这部新片的影评确实不太好。

(For what it’s worth, I enjoyed “The Social Reckoning” but will fully admit that it’s overloaded Sorkin’s trademark speechifying. And I couldn’t help dreaming about a version directed — like the original — by David Fincher, with a score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.)

（无论如何，我个人很喜欢《社交清算》，但我完全承认它充斥着索金标志性的长篇大论。我不禁幻想如果由大卫·芬奇（David Fincher）执导，并由特伦特·雷泽诺（Trent Reznor）和阿提克斯·罗斯（Atticus Ross）配乐，会是怎样的一部作品。）

“Musk,” meanwhile, made $69,000 during its opening weekend in four theaters. It will roll out more broadly in the coming weeks, but given its length and subject matter, the documentary will probably reach many more viewers once it starts streaming on HBO Max.

与此同时，《马斯克》在四个影院的首映周末票房为6.9万美元。未来几周它将扩大放映范围，但考虑到其时长和题材，这部纪录片可能在上线HBO Max流媒体平台后才会触达更多观众。