好萊塢寄希望於年

LOS ANGELES — The delay of major movies from Pixar and Universal. The pirating of “The Expendables 3” and “Annie” before their release. Warner Bros. suffering one dud after another. Hackers forcing the cancellation of a big Sony comedy.

洛杉磯——皮克斯和環球影業的大片都遭到延期上映。《敢死隊3》(The Expendables 3)和《安妮：紐約奇緣》(Annie)上映前就有盜版流出。華納兄弟公司的影片相繼啞火。黑客迫使索尼公司撤下了一部重要喜劇。

Hollywood does not want a sequel to 2014.

好萊塢可不希望再延續2014年的狀況了。

For the year, ticket sales at North American theaters will total roughly $10.5 billion, a 4 percent decline from a year earlier, according to projections by the box-office data firm Rentrak. Attendance will drop by about the same percentage.

根據票房數據統計公司Rentrak公司的數據，這一年，北美影院票房銷售總額約在105億美元，比去年降低了4%，觀衆人數大約也降低了同樣的百分比。

Annual fluctuations of that size are not uncommon at the domestic box office, which rises and falls based on the strength of the movie lineup. Still, that total would give the movie business its lowest tally since 2000, after accounting for inflation.

年度統計數據出現這種幅度的動盪，對於國內票房市場來說是屢見不鮮的，它總是隨着上映片目而起落。然而，扣除通貨膨脹因素，今年的票房總額是電影業自2000年以來的最低點。

Despite some major successes — “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “The Lego Movie,” “Godzilla,” “Divergent,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and “The Maze Runner” all revived franchises or started new ones — box-office weakness stretched into nearly every genre and audience segment. There was no big-budget catastrophe like “The Lone Ranger,” but at least a dozen films underperformed in domestic theaters, suggesting structural weakness, analysts said.

《銀河護衛隊》(Guardians of the Galaxy)、《樂高大電影》(The Lego Movie)、《哥斯拉》(Godzilla)、《分歧者》(Divergent)、《忍者神龜》(Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)和《移動迷宮》(The Maze Runner)等影片取得了成功，它們不是翻拍的系列商業大片就是新系列的開頭之作，但是票房的疲軟幾乎蔓延到所有類型片和所有觀衆層次之中。雖然沒有《獨行俠》(The Lone Ranger)這樣的大製作災難，但至少有十幾部影片在國內影院表現不如預期，分析師們說，這是由結構性的缺陷所導致。

Expensive films like “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” and “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1” missed their box-office mark. So did midbudget comedies, including “Muppets Most Wanted,” “A Million Ways to Die in the West,” “Sex Tape” and “Horrible Bosses 2.” Once-reliable animated films hit a rough patch in 2014, as releases like “Penguins of Madagascar” and “Planes: Fire and Rescue” disappointed.

《神奇蜘蛛俠2》(The Amazing Spider-Man 2)和《飢餓遊戲：嘲笑鳥（上）》(The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1)等耗資巨大的影片沒有達到票房預期。《布偶大電影之最高通緝》(Muppets Most Wanted)、《死在西部的一百萬種方式》(A Million Ways to Die in the West)、《性愛錄像帶》(Sex Tape)和《惡老闆2》中等預算的喜劇也是如此。一度可靠的動畫電影在2014年也遇到困境，新片《馬達加斯加的企鵝》(Penguins of Madagascar)和《飛機總動員2：火線救援》(Planes: Fire and Rescue)都令人失望。

No arty drama was poised to match the kind of breakout status reached in recent years by “Black Swan” or “Lincoln.”

藝術電影中也沒有哪部影片能像近年來的《黑天鵝》(Black Swan)和《林肯》(Lincoln)一樣取得突破。

Hollywood’s primary worry is that moviegoing in North America is changing along generational lines. In particular, young ticket buyers traditionally turned out weekend after weekend — with the quality of the films mattering less than the opportunity to fraternize. But this group is staying home more often. Reasons include video games, YouTube, smartphone preoccupation and ever-increasing on-demand film alternatives.

好萊塢最主要的憂慮是，北美去影院觀影的情況正隨着世代的變遷而改變。特別是年輕的購票觀影者，在過去，這個羣體週末總會去影院看電影，不管電影質量如何，看電影爲他們提供結交朋友的機會。但如今這個羣體更多呆在家裏，打電子遊戲、看YouTube，玩智能手機，電視上的點播電影選擇也在不斷增加。

The Nielsen Company said this month that the moviegoing of Americans age 12 to 24 dropped 15 percent in the first nine months of 2014, compared with the same period a year earlier.

本月，尼爾森公司稱，在2014年的前九個月裏，和2013年同期相比，美國12至24歲的人羣中去電影院看電影的比例降低了15%

Female ticket buyers added financial sizzle to movies like “Maleficent,” “The Fault in Our Stars” and “Lucy.” But studios as a whole remain laser-focused on testosterone-fueled action extravaganzas because those pictures are the ones being gobbled in growing overseas markets.

女性購票觀影者爲《沉睡魔咒》(Maleficent)、《星運裏的錯》(The Fault in Our Stars)和《超體》(Lucy)做出了貢獻。但是總體而言，電影公司還是更關注刺激的動作大場面，因爲日益增長的海外市場對這樣的影片有着大量需求。

Paul Dergarabedian, a senior Rentrak analyst, said it was a series of unfortunate events that cumulatively resulted in an off year for the industry.

Retrak的高級分析師保羅·德加拉貝迪安(Paul Dergarabedian)說，一連串不幸的事件累積起來，導致這個行業經歷了低潮的一年。

“Studios and theater owners just couldn’t catch a break, with lots of little things adding up,” Mr. Dergarabedian said.

“很多小事加在一起，電影公司與影院的所有者們沒法鬆懈，”德加拉貝迪安說。

And some big things: Christmas is typically one of the busiest times of the year for Hollywood, but movie executives are worried that some consumers will stay home because of a recent terror threat to theaters.

另外還有一些大事：聖誕節通常是好萊塢一年中最忙碌的季節，但今年電影公司的行政人員都在擔心消費者們會因爲最近對影院的恐怖威脅而留在家裏。

Last week, hackers threatened violence against any theater showing “The Interview,” a $44 million Sony comedy about the assassination of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. When the vast majority of the country’s theaters backed out of playing the movie, Sony canceled all release plans, at least for now.

上星期，黑客威脅對放映《採訪》(The Interview)的影院採取暴力行動，這部喜劇片花費了索尼公司4400萬美元，講了一個刺殺北朝鮮領導人金正恩的故事。這個國家的大多數影院都沒有遵守合約放映這部影片，索尼也取消了所有放映計劃（本文發表於2014年12月22日）。

Weekend ticket sales at North American theaters gave studios mixed messages about consumer confidence.

關於消費者的信心，北美影院週末票房銷售向電影公司傳遞出複雜的信息。

“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” from Warner and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer took in $56.2 million over the weekend, for a strong total since opening on Wednesday of $90.6 million — slightly better than the five-day total for last year’s “Hobbit” installment.

華納公司與米高梅公司斥資5620萬美元拍攝的《霍比特人：五軍之戰》(The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies)在整個週末上映，自週三首映以來，獲得了9060萬美元的總票房，非常強勁，比去年的《霍比特人》系列上映五天後所獲得的總票房略高。

But “Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb” and “Annie” both opened to so-so results, and total weekend ticket sales dropped nearly 6 percent compared to the same three days last year.

但是《博物館奇妙夜3》(Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb)和《安妮：紐約奇緣》的票房都很一般，週末總票房比去年同期三天票房下降了6%。

“It’s been a rather sluggish market since Thanksgiving,” said Chris Aronson, president of domestic distribution for 20th Century Fox.

“自從感恩節以來，市場就很蕭條，”20世紀福克斯公司的國內市場分銷總裁克里斯·阿倫森(Chris Aronson)說。

Fox had a better year than its competitors. Powered by hits like “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” and “Gone Girl,” Fox will end 2014 as Hollywood’s No. 1 studio based on domestic box-office market share, according to the data company Box Office Mojo.

福克斯這一年的成績比其他競爭者們要好。根據數據統計公司“票房Mojo”的統計，憑着《X戰警：逆轉未來》(X-Men: Days of Future Past)、《猩球崛起2：黎明之戰》(Dawn of the Planet of the Apes)和《消失的愛人》(Gone Girl)等影片，2014年，福克斯公司成了好萊塢國內票房市場份額排名第一的電影公司

For the year, the No. 1 movie in the United States and Canada was Disney-Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy,” which took in $332.6 million, for a global total of $772.2 million. The second-biggest draw was “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1,” a Lionsgate film that has so far generated $289.2 million ($639.7 million globally).

今年，美國與加拿大市場票房最佳的電影是迪士尼-漫威的《銀河護衛隊》，拿到3.326億美元的國內票房，7.722億美元的全球票房，其次是獅門公司的《飢餓遊戲：嘲笑鳥（上）》，至今創造了2.892億美元國內票房和6.397億全球票房。

Disney-Marvel’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” was third, taking in $259.8 million ($714.1 million globally). The biggest film on a global scale was Paramount’s “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” with $1.1 billion in ticket sales.

迪士尼-漫威的《美國隊長2》(Captain America: The Winter Soldier)位居第三，獲得2.598億國內票房及7.141億全球票房。全球票房最高的影片是派拉蒙的《變形金剛：絕跡重生》，獲得11億票房收入。

On the opposite end of the scale, Sony’s year was difficult even before it was attacked by hackers, although its “22 Jump Street” and “Heaven Is for Real” were standouts. And Warner, until recently Hollywood’s strongest movie operation, slumped badly, with hits like “The Lego Movie” and “Annabelle” offset by a string of clunkers.

在另一端，索尼公司在黑客攻擊事件之前就已經面臨困境，儘管它的《龍虎少年隊2》(22 Jump Street)和《天堂真的存在》(Heaven Is for Real)非常突出。華納公司直到最近仍是好萊塢最強大的電影公司，但今年損失慘重，《樂高大電影》和《安娜貝爾》(Annabelle)兩部大熱影片的收入也被一系列錯誤之作所抵消。

Studio executives and theater owners primarily attributed the overall decline in ticket sales to the delay of several would-be blockbusters. The seventh installment in Universal’s “Fast and Furious” series was pushed back after the death of one of its lead actors. Warner rescheduled “Jupiter Ascending.” Pixar, for the first time in nine years, did not release a movie, sending “The Good Dinosaur” back to the drawing board.

電影公司的行政官員與電影院所有者們認爲，票房下滑的首要原因是幾部有可能成爲轟動大片的影片延期上映。環球的《速度與激情》系列第七部由於一位主演去世而被迫延遲。華納公司重新安排了《木星上升》(Jupiter Ascending)的上映時間。皮克斯九年以來第一次全年沒有發行電影，而是讓《恐龍當家》(The Good Dinosaur)重新開始。

“We were missing a couple of big movies, and it hurt,” said Gerardo I. Lopez, the chief executive of AMC Theatres.

“我們錯過了幾部大片，損失重大。”AMC劇場的首席執行官傑拉多·I·洛佩茲(Gerardo I. Lopez)說。

Whenever ticket sales take a tumble, Hollywood pulls the assertion of cyclicality out of its hip pocket: Just wait until next year — next year will be our best ever.

每當票房收入遇到挫折，好萊塢就會把循環論這一套拿出來說——明年會是我們最好的一年。

In the case of 2015, it might be true. Coming are expected box-office monsters like “Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens,” “Jurassic World,” “Furious 7,” “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Fifty Shades of Grey,” the James Bond film “Spectre” and animated entries like “Minions” and Pixar’s “Inside Out.”

到2015年，這個說法有可能成爲現實。明年會有幾部備受期待的票房大片上映，諸如《星球大戰7：原力覺醒》(Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens)、《侏羅紀世界》(Jurassic World)、《速度與激情7》、《復仇者聯盟2：奧創紀元》(Avengers: Age of Ultron)、《五十度灰》(“Fifty Shades of Grey”)、007系列電影《大破幽靈危機》(Spectre)，以及若干動畫片，如《小黃人》(Minions)和皮克斯的《頭腦大作戰》(Inside Out)等，。

“North America should be able to break through the $11 billion barrier next year,” Mr. Lopez said. “That’s an easy green given what’s coming. We should be able to hit it, even though we’re a lot of yards out.”

“明年的北美票房將會突破110億美元，”洛佩茲說，“鑑於即將上映的這些影片，這筆錢不難賺到。我們會取得這個成果，儘管目前差得還遠。”