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To judge by the premiere, every movie is a triumph. Wider audiences often take a different view. Yesterday, shares in Wanda Cinema Lines jumped one-tenth as it reopened from a trading suspension. Ignore the air-kissing on the red carpet: Wanda could have done better things with the $5.7bn it is spending to acquire Wanda Pictures Media from its parent group.
按照首映式判断，每部电影都是成功佳作。广大的观众则往往有不同的看法。昨日万达院线(Wanda Cinema Line)股票复牌后，股价大涨十分之一。别理会红地毯上的飞吻：万达院线用来从母公司收购万达影视(Wanda Pictures Media)的57亿美元，本来可以派上更好的用处。
Wanda Pictures Media owns Legendary Entertainment, a US media group bought by Wanda in January for $3.5bn, as well as other content-related businesses. Wanda Cinema will issue new shares to its unlisted parent and other shareholders at a discount, raising $6.8bn.
万达影视拥有传奇娱乐(Legendary Entertainment)——万达在今年1月斥资35亿美元收购的美国制片集团——以及其他一些与内容相关的业务。万达院线将向其未上市的母公司和其他股东折价发行新股，以募集68亿美元。
Marrying content and distribution can make sense in mature or highly competitive distribution channels. Apple locks in users by providing ever more software and apps. Television networks, too, ensure viewers do not defect to rivals by offering exclusive content. But China’s cinema industry is far from mature. Box-office revenues have been growing at double digits annually; the market may overtake the US next year. The ratio of screens to population is less than one-fifth that of the US, according to HSBC.
将内容和发行融为一体，对于成熟或高度竞争的发行渠道可能是合理的。苹果(Apple)通过提供越来越多的软件和app来锁定用户。电视网络也通过提供独家内容来确保观众不投奔竞争对手。但是中国的影院行业远未成熟。票房收入近年以两位数的年度增速增长；整个市场有望在明年超越美国。但据汇丰(HSBC)估计，中国的银幕块数与人口之比尚不及美国水平的五分之一。
The industry is also very fragmented. The top three players take one-third of ticket sales in China; in the US they control nearly twice as much of the market. Up to three-fifths of China’s cinemas lose money. Wanda, whose movie houses make more than twice the average cinema’s revenue, could gain much from buying and turning around the underperformers. Owning blockbuster studios whose movies can be distributed through affiliated cinemas may be more glitzy, but the hitherto steady growth of Wanda Cinema Lines looks less attractive with lumpy revenues from film hits (and misses) attached.
该行业还高度碎片化。前三大影院运营商占中国票房总收入的三分之一；在美国前三大影院运营商的市场份额高出近一倍。多达五分之三的中国电影院处于亏损状态。旗下影院收入超过行业平均水平一倍多的万达院线，本来可以收购业绩不佳的影院，然后将其扭亏为盈，从中大赚一把。拥有大片迭出的制片厂、由自家旗下影院发行该制片厂出品的电影，这种模式也许比较光鲜，但万达院线之前的稳定增长在与来自叫座或不叫座影片的不稳定收入绑定之后，看上去吸引力下降了。
Wanda has sweetened the deal by pledging to underwrite a minimum net profit contribution of $775m for three years. That does not make it worthy of the red-carpet treatment.
万达为了使这笔交易更诱人，承诺在三年里保证最低7.75亿美元的净利润。这并不使它配得上红地毯待遇。
