好莱坞寄希望于年

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.

洛杉矶——皮克斯和环球影业的大片都遭到延期上映。《敢死队3》(The Expendables 3)和《安妮：纽约奇缘》(Annie)上映前就有盗版流出。华纳兄弟公司的影片相继哑火。黑客迫使索尼公司撤下了一部重要喜剧。

Hollywood does not want a sequel to 2014.

好莱坞可不希望再延续2014年的状况了。

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.

根据票房数据统计公司Rentrak公司的数据，这一年，北美影院票房销售总额约在105亿美元，比去年降低了4%，观众人数大约也降低了同样的百分比。

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.

年度统计数据出现这种幅度的动荡，对于国内票房市场来说是屡见不鲜的，它总是随着上映片目而起落。然而，扣除通货膨胀因素，今年的票房总额是电影业自2000年以来的最低点。

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.

《银河护卫队》(Guardians of the Galaxy)、《乐高大电影》(The Lego Movie)、《哥斯拉》(Godzilla)、《分歧者》(Divergent)、《忍者神龟》(Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)和《移动迷宫》(The Maze Runner)等影片取得了成功，它们不是翻拍的系列商业大片就是新系列的开头之作，但是票房的疲软几乎蔓延到所有类型片和所有观众层次之中。虽然没有《独行侠》(The Lone Ranger)这样的大制作灾难，但至少有十几部影片在国内影院表现不如预期，分析师们说，这是由结构性的缺陷所导致。

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.

《神奇蜘蛛侠2》(The Amazing Spider-Man 2)和《饥饿游戏：嘲笑鸟（上）》(The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1)等耗资巨大的影片没有达到票房预期。《布偶大电影之最高通缉》(Muppets Most Wanted)、《死在西部的一百万种方式》(A Million Ways to Die in the West)、《性爱录像带》(Sex Tape)和《恶老板2》中等预算的喜剧也是如此。一度可靠的动画电影在2014年也遇到困境，新片《马达加斯加的企鹅》(Penguins of Madagascar)和《飞机总动员2：火线救援》(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.”

艺术电影中也没有哪部影片能像近年来的《黑天鹅》(Black Swan)和《林肯》(Lincoln)一样取得突破。

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.

好莱坞最主要的忧虑是，北美去影院观影的情况正随着世代的变迁而改变。特别是年轻的购票观影者，在过去，这个群体周末总会去影院看电影，不管电影质量如何，看电影为他们提供结交朋友的机会。但如今这个群体更多呆在家里，打电子游戏、看YouTube，玩智能手机，电视上的点播电影选择也在不断增加。

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，尼尔森公司称，在2014年的前九个月里，和2013年同期相比，美国12至24岁的人群中去电影院看电影的比例降低了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.

女性购票观影者为《沉睡魔咒》(Maleficent)、《星运里的错》(The Fault in Our Stars)和《超体》(Lucy)做出了贡献。但是总体而言，电影公司还是更关注刺激的动作大场面，因为日益增长的海外市场对这样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的高级分析师保罗·德加拉贝迪安(Paul Dergarabedian)说，一连串不幸的事件累积起来，导致这个行业经历了低潮的一年。

“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，电影公司与影院的所有者们没法松懈，”德加拉贝迪安说。

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.

另外还有一些大事：圣诞节通常是好莱坞一年中最忙碌的季节，但今年电影公司的行政人员都在担心消费者们会因为最近对影院的恐怖威胁而留在家里。

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，黑客威胁对放映《采访》(The Interview)的影院采取暴力行动，这部喜剧片花费了索尼公司4400万美元，讲了一个刺杀北朝鲜领导人金正恩的故事。这个国家的大多数影院都没有遵守合约放映这部影片，索尼也取消了所有放映计划（本文发表于2014年12月22日）。

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

关于消费者的信心，北美影院周末票房销售向电影公司传递出复杂的信息。

“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.

华纳公司与米高梅公司斥资5620万美元拍摄的《霍比特人：五军之战》(The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies)在整个周末上映，自周三首映以来，获得了9060万美元的总票房，非常强劲，比去年的《霍比特人》系列上映五天后所获得的总票房略高。

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《博物馆奇妙夜3》(Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb)和《安妮：纽约奇缘》的票房都很一般，周末总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.

“自从感恩节以来，市场就很萧条，”20世纪福克斯公司的国内市场分销总裁克里斯·阿伦森(Chris Aronson)说。

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.

福克斯这一年的成绩比其他竞争者们要好。根据数据统计公司“票房Mojo”的统计，凭着《X战警：逆转未来》(X-Men: Days of Future Past)、《猩球崛起2：黎明之战》(Dawn of the Planet of the Apes)和《消失的爱人》(Gone Girl)等影片，2014年，福克斯公司成了好莱坞国内票房市场份额排名第一的电影公司

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，美国与加拿大市场票房最佳的电影是迪士尼-漫威的《银河护卫队》，拿到3.326亿美元的国内票房，7.722亿美元的全球票房，其次是狮门公司的《饥饿游戏：嘲笑鸟（上）》，至今创造了2.892亿美元国内票房和6.397亿全球票房。

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《美国队长2》(Captain America: The Winter Soldier)位居第三，获得2.598亿国内票房及7.141亿全球票房。全球票房最高的影片是派拉蒙的《变形金刚：绝迹重生》，获得11亿票房收入。

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，索尼公司在黑客攻击事件之前就已经面临困境，尽管它的《龙虎少年队2》(22 Jump Street)和《天堂真的存在》(Heaven Is for Real)非常突出。华纳公司直到最近仍是好莱坞最强大的电影公司，但今年损失惨重，《乐高大电影》和《安娜贝尔》(Annabelle)两部大热影片的收入也被一系列错误之作所抵消。

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.

电影公司的行政官员与电影院所有者们认为，票房下滑的首要原因是几部有可能成为轰动大片的影片延期上映。环球的《速度与激情》系列第七部由于一位主演去世而被迫延迟。华纳公司重新安排了《木星上升》(Jupiter Ascending)的上映时间。皮克斯九年以来第一次全年没有发行电影，而是让《恐龙当家》(The Good Dinosaur)重新开始。

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

“我们错过了几部大片，损失重大。”AMC剧场的首席执行官杰拉多·I·洛佩兹(Gerardo I. Lopez)说。

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.

每当票房收入遇到挫折，好莱坞就会把循环论这一套拿出来说——明年会是我们最好的一年。

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，这个说法有可能成为现实。明年会有几部备受期待的票房大片上映，诸如《星球大战7：原力觉醒》(Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens)、《侏罗纪世界》(Jurassic World)、《速度与激情7》、《复仇者联盟2：奥创纪元》(Avengers: Age of Ultron)、《五十度灰》(“Fifty Shades of Grey”)、007系列电影《大破幽灵危机》(Spectre)，以及若干动画片，如《小黄人》(Minions)和皮克斯的《头脑大作战》(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.”

“明年的北美票房将会突破110亿美元，”洛佩兹说，“鉴于即将上映的这些影片，这笔钱不难赚到。我们会取得这个成果，尽管目前差得还远。”