2019必将是大片云集的一年，许多备受期待的高成本电影都将于明年上映，包括《复仇者联盟4》、《玩具总动员4》、《星战9》、《终结者6》等。这些大制作电影能否满足观众的期望值呢？要知道一旦掉链子，后果真是难以想象，整个系列都可能随之终结。

Avengers 4

复仇者联盟4》

Avengers 4 has just about everything to prove, and that's not hyperbole. First and foremost, it has to provide a satisfying conclusion to one of the most jarring cinematic cliffhangers of all time. Effectively undoing¹ "the snap" in a way that will please hundreds of millions of fans is no small undertaking², after all. The film also has studio pressure to outperform Avengers: Infinity³ War, the culmination⁴ of a decade's worth of storytelling and the proud owner of a $2 billion haul at the box office. Who knows what Marvel⁵ will do to get more butts⁶ in seats than they did for Infinity War, but what's for certain is that the marketing⁷ team for Avengers 4 has a mountain of expectations to climb.

复仇者联盟4》几乎要证明所有东西，这么说并不夸张。首先最重要的是，它得为影史上最令人不快的一个电影悬念提供令人满意的结局。毕竟，要想以让亿万粉丝满意的一种方式有效地抹去“响指”的影响不是一件容易事儿。而且还有来自漫威影业的压力，《复联4》要超越《复联3》。作为漫威十周年巅峰之作，《复联3》狂揽了20亿美元（合139亿元人民币）的票房。为了让更多人来观影，谁知道漫威会干出点什么，但我们可以肯定的是，《复联4》的营销团队必然要攀登观众期望值的高峰。

And, of course, this movie is going to pave the way for the rest of the MCU moving forward. In that sense, Disney has tens of billions of dollars riding on its success. Will Kevin Feige's massive, property-spanning vision pan out according to plan? Can Disney outdo its previous box office behemoth? Will Avengers 4 be a satisfying finale to Infinity War?

当然，这部电影将会为漫威电影宇宙其他电影的进展铺平道路。从这层意义上来说，迪士尼数百亿美元的投资能否获得回报都要仰仗于这部电影的成功。凯文·费吉庞大的跨产业憧憬能否按计划实现？迪士尼的这部作品能超过先前的票房巨兽吗？《复联4》是否会给《无限战争》一个令人满意的结局？

Captain Marvel

惊奇队长》

Captain Marvel is Marvel's big shot at showing it can match DC's Wonder Woman. If the studio fails, it'll be tough for the studio to come back from — they're planning to make this character the center of the MCU, after all.

惊奇队长》是漫威的大手笔，目标是匹敌DC的《神奇女侠》。如果漫威影业这次失败了，想爬起来可就难了——毕竟他们打算让惊奇队长站在漫威电影宇宙的C位。

That's an awful lot of responsibility for a hero who's never been mentioned by name in the franchise⁸ thus far, and although they've certainly got star power in the title role — Brie Larson took home an Oscar for her work in Room not that long ago — it isn't unreasonable⁹ to argue that Captain Marvel is, in its own way, just as big a gamble as Avengers 4. Marvel's made billions at the box office with gambles that occasionally seemed outlandish at the time, but this picture is a cornerstone of the post-Infinity War MCU, and it's bearing more weight than most of the studio's releases. We've learned not to bet against the company that made movie stars out of a foul-mouthed raccoon and a tree-shaped alien, but still — if Captain Marvel tumbles, it could have a major ripple¹⁰ effect on everything that follows.

对于一个这么久以来在系列影片中从未被提及的英雄角色来说，这个责任真是太大了，尽管这个角色有大牌明星保驾护航——惊奇队长的扮演者布丽·拉尔森几年前凭借《房间》拿到了奥斯卡奖，但如果说《惊奇队长》是和《复联4》一样大的赌局也不无道理。漫威过去也曾用风格怪异的影片做赌注赢得数十亿票房，但这部电影作为《无限战争》之后漫威电影宇宙的基石，背负着比漫威影业以往多数影片都要沉的重担。虽然我们知道不要和一个能把满嘴脏话的浣熊和一个树形的外星人都打造成影星的公司对赌，但是，如果《惊奇队长》垮了，那将会对漫威之后的作品产生巨大的连锁反应。

Toy Story 4

玩具总动员4》

Toy Story 4 might just be the biggest risk Pixar has ever taken. The formerly¹¹ sequel-averse studio has expanded a number of its hits into franchises¹², but going beyond a trilogy — and with the series that started filmgoers' love affair with Pixar in the first place — has a lot of potential downside. Unless this long-gestating fourth installment¹³ can somehow bring back the old crew in a way that makes sense and is justified¹⁴ beyond all doubt, Toy Story 4 will be seen as a cash grab from a studio that made its sterling¹⁵ reputation by conditioning its audience to expect much more. No one wants Pixar to dip back into the well solely¹⁶ to make money off Woody's and Buzz Lightyear's iconic mugs. The Toy Story trilogy has defined many peoples' childhoods — and many adulthoods as well. Grown men wept in theaters because of Toy Story 3. No one wants that sort of cinematic magic to be retroactively undone¹⁸ by a corporate¹⁹ quest for bigger bucks²⁰.

玩具总动员4》或许是皮克斯下过的最险的一步棋。过去不愿意拍续集的皮克斯已经为几部热门电影拍摄了续集，但是考虑到许多影迷就是看了《玩具总动员》三部曲才喜欢上皮克斯的，第四部很有可能会走下坡路。除非酝酿已久的第四部作品能以合理的方式带回原班人马并且打破所有质疑，否则《玩具总动员4》就会被视为皮克斯故意拉高观众期待值的抢钱之作了。如果只是为了再次靠伍迪和巴斯光年的马克杯赚钱，那么大家都宁愿皮克斯不要拍续集。《玩具总动员》三部曲成为了很多人的童年回忆——以及很多人的成年记忆。因为《玩具总动员3》，很多成年人在电影院里哭红了鼻子。毕竟，没人愿意看到这样的电影魔力因为公司时隔数年后想再多赚点钱而被抹去。

Star Wars: Episode 9

星球大战9》

Disney tapped a box office bonanza²¹ when it bought Lucasfilm from Star Wars creator George Lucas, but it also shouldered the weight of some of the heaviest expectations any franchise has ever faced. For the most part, things have gone pretty well — The Force Awakens²² started a new trilogy in style, and the first "anthology" effort, Rogue²³ One, proved these movies could work just as well on a smaller scale by delving²⁴ into unexplored corners of the canon.

迪士尼从《星球大战》创造者乔治·卢卡斯手中买到卢卡斯影业以后，就相当于买回来一个票房金矿，但同时也背负起了其他系列影片从未面临过的巨大期望。在多数情况下，迪士尼拍得还挺不错——《原力觉醒》炫酷地拉开了新三部曲的帷幕，而第一部外传《侠盗一号》则证明了细心探索剧集中从未触及的角落也能在较小的范围内发挥作用。

It would be disingenuous²⁵ to ignore the ups and downs the studio's also faced along the way, however. The Last Jedi was a critical hit that brought in an impressive sum, but it was also infamously²⁶ divisive among fans; just a few months later, the anthology outing Solo: A Star Wars Story emerged from a troubled production to lukewarm reviews and disappointing ticket sales.

不过，要是忽略迪士尼电影工作室一路以来经历的起伏，那就太不实诚了。《最后的绝地武士》捞了一大笔，但是口碑也在粉丝之间两极分化；几个月后的星战外传《游侠索罗》票房口碑均惨败。

All of which is to say that with the still publicly untitled Episode IX, the franchise — and director J.J. Abrams, returning after taking a one-chapter hiatus following The Force Awakens — faces a ton of responsibility. Not only will the pundits²⁷ be waiting to see whether this chapter can reunite the fanbase, it also has to tie up the Skywalker saga²⁸ and pave the way for the next trilogy to follow. If it stumbles, the future of this once unstoppable series will no doubt be called into question.

啰嗦这么多就是想说《星战9》以及导演J·J·艾布拉姆斯——在拍完《原力觉醒》后再次执导，中间隔了一部《星战8》——背负着巨大的责任。不仅权威人士想等着看这部影片是否会重获粉丝的芳心，而且这一部影片还得完美衔接天行者的冒险故事并为接下来的三部曲铺平道路。如果这部影片败了，曾经势不可挡的星战系列的香火或许就要灭了。

The New Mutants

X战警：新变种人》

The New Mutants has a couple of things to prove, including the studio's assurances that it'll eventually come out. It's suffered repeated delays and various troubling rumors³⁰ — and if or when it does arrive, everyone will be trying to spot the seams while deciding whether the end result lives up to what's being billed as a superhero horror film.

新变种人》需要证明一堆事儿，其中包括福克斯曾保证这部影片最终一定会上映。它经历了反复的推迟以及各种令人不安的传言，而且假如有一天它真的上映了，观众们都会试着找出情节中的瑕疵，同时评判这部电影是否像宣传时所说的那样是一部超级英雄恐怖片。

We've already seen the genre³¹ prove it can pull off comedy, thanks to Deadpool and Guardians³² of the Galaxy³³, but we've yet to see a superhero movie go full-on horror. Rumor²⁹ has it that New Mutants is eyeballing R-rated territory, and if this ends up being the case, it'll be a crucial test for just how far filmmakers are able to push the limits of moves about our favorite costumed crimefighters. Even if it forgoes³⁴ an R rating, that just makes its job of delivering effective horror even harder. Can this be another X-Men spinoff to nail a new genre hybrid³⁵ concept, or is this destined³⁶ to be nothing more than millions of dollars being funneled³⁷ down the drain?

我们已经见识过超级英雄电影可以拍成喜剧，比如《死侍》和《银河护卫队》，但我们还从未看过一部非常恐怖的超级英雄电影。有传言称《新变种人》要定为R级，如果真是这样，那对于制片人将会是个决定性的考验：他们将在多大程度上挑战我们所喜爱的超级英雄的极限。假如他们放弃了R级的分级，那么想要上映真正的恐怖片将会更难。这部电影会成为另一部能够实现体裁新混搭的《X战警》续作么？还是一部注定要血本无归的影片呢？

Terminator 6

终结者6》

The Terminator movies haven't been doing well for quite some time. The series' reputation has been in decline with every movie after Terminator 2, and it hit a new nadir³⁸ with Terminator: Genisys. Fans of the classic movies have decried³⁹ these not-so-hot sequels quite vocally⁴⁰, though the recent outings' woeful box office hauls probably spoke⁴¹ even louder to the studio execs in charge. Between critical discontent and disappointing financial figures, the Terminator franchise hangs in the balance. Can the creative team currently at the reins⁴² make it work, or is the series destined to remain an icon¹⁷ of the '80s?

终结者》电影系列走下坡路已经有一段时间了。这个系列的口碑自第二部之后一直在不断下降，而《终结者：创世纪》则创下了新低。《终结者》粉丝大声谴责这些平庸的续作，尽管最近几部的惨淡票房或许更能让片方意识到这一点。在不满的批评声和令人失望的票房之间，《终结者》系列命悬一线。这部新片的主创能否让这一系列重获生机？还是说这个系列注定只能成为上世纪80年代的一个标志？

That's the question dangling⁴³ over the upcoming Terminator outing, which has been saddled with the responsibility of saving the franchise from itself. That's not an easy cross to bear — especially when you consider the torturously⁴⁴ tangled⁴⁵ timeline that's been woven around this saga over the last few sequels and/or reboot attempts. Hopefully the trailers — and the movie itself, when it eventually comes out — represent a solid rebound⁴⁶ and provide us with an action blockbuster that saves its franchise from extinction⁴⁷.

这些就是在即将上映的《终结者6》头上悬而未决的问题，新片也背负着拯救这个系列的重担。这不是一件易事——尤其是当你考虑到在最近几部续集和/或重启尝试里围绕这个冒险故事编织出的令人痛苦的犹如乱麻的时间线。但愿它的预告片——以及最终上映时的影片本身——能让《终结者》口碑有力反弹，为我们带来一部让该系列免于完结的动作大片。