續集撐起好萊塢票房掘金衆任
LOS ANGELES — “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” took in about $153.5 million in North America over the weekend, for an estimated $545 million total since opening in mid-December, putting Hollywood in position to set a full-year domestic box-office record.
洛杉磯――在剛過去的週末，《星球大戰：原力覺醒》(Star Wars: The Force Awakens)在北美獲得了1.535億美元票房，自12月中上映以來，它已經獲得了約5.45億美元的票房，好萊塢有望創下國內全年票房紀錄。
But reaching that summit was not easy: The “Star Wars” phenomenon notwithstanding, the film industry in many ways limped to the top. For the first time in at least 35 years, for instance, the once-impregnable Warner Bros. landed not one movie in the Top 15.
但是到達這樣的高峯並非易事：儘管有《星球大戰》現象，但是從很多方面來說，電影工業是很艱難地才行走到頂峯。比如說，35年來，一度堅不可摧的華納兄弟公司首次沒有一部電影打入票房前15名行列。
When the final returns are in, domestic ticket sales — currently at $10.89 billion, up 7.1 percent from the count at this time last year — are expected to exceed $11 billion, according to Rentrak, which compiles box-office data. The previous record was $10.9 billion in 2013.
Rentrak公司收集票房數據後統計得出：國內票房收入目前是108.9億美元，比去年同期上升了7.1%，隨着最後一批電影放映期到來，國內票房數字有望超過110億美元。上一個全年票房紀錄是2013年的109億美元。
Until the year’s average admission price is finally settled, strict adjustment for ticket price inflation is impossible. Theatrical attendance this year appears to have roughly matched the 1.34 billion tickets sold in 2013, and handily outstrips the one billion level of the late 1980s; but it remains behind a recent peak year, 2002, which had 1.57 billion admissions. That would translate into roughly $13 billion in sales at current ticket prices, although in reality today’s higher prices would probably have discouraged some consumers and trimmed admissions.
直到今年的平均電影票票價數據出來後，才能得出嚴格的票價通貨膨脹值調整。今年的影院觀影情況似乎與2013年賣出的13.4億張電影票大體相當，當然也超過20世紀80年代末期的10億張票的水平；但仍然比2002年售出15.7億張電影票的高峯要少。按照現在的票價，票房大概會達到130億。儘管事實上，如今較高的電影票價格很可能會令若干消費者不願走入影院，從而影響了觀影人數。
Two hand-me-down film properties drove this year’s results: The best-selling releases of the year are likely to be the seventh chapter in a “Star Wars” franchise that began 38 years ago, and the fourth entry in the 22-year-old “Jurassic Park” series.
兩部大片續集促成了今年的票房結果：今年最賣座的影片很可能是《星球大戰》系列片上映38年以來的第七部影片，以及擁有22年曆史的《侏羅紀公園》(Jurassic Park)系列的第四部。
Behind those nostalgia-driven megahits, however, dozens of high-profile films struggled, especially when they tried to take the moviegoing masses somewhere entirely new.
在這些懷舊驅動的超級大片背後，還有幾十部大片在競爭，特別是它們都想帶給觀影者全新的體驗。
“The Big Short,” centered on the housing collapse of the late 2000s, with $10.5 million in weekend box-office sales and $16 million to date, and “Concussion,” a hard look at the National Football League and brain injury, with $11 million in sales since opening on Friday, were fighting for attention. Both placed well behind “Daddy’s Home,” a comedy starring Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell that had $38.8 million in sales. But they beat “Point Break,” a critically derided 3-D action remake that became Warner’s latest collapse, with just $10.2 million in first weekend sales from about 2,900 theaters.
《大空頭》(The Big Short)關注21世紀10年代末期的房地產崩潰，上映當週週末獲得了1050萬美元票房，到目前共獲得1600萬美元票房。《腦震盪》(Concussion)正在努力獲得關注，它嚴厲地審視國家橄欖球聯盟與腦震盪之間的關係，自週五上映以來，共獲得1100萬美元票房。這兩部影片都位居《老爸當家》(Daddy’s Home)之後，這部喜劇由馬克·沃爾伯格(Mark Wahlberg)和威爾·法瑞爾(Will Ferrell)主演，已獲得3880萬美元票房。位居這三部影片之後的是《極盜者》(Point Break)，這部遭到取笑的3-D重拍動作片是華納公司最新的失敗之作，推出的第一個週末在約2900家影院上映，只獲得1020萬美元票房。
The year’s overriding lesson: Bold strokes, for the most part, don’t pay.
今年最大的教訓是：大刀闊斧的嘗試通常付之東流。
“I hope I have the nerve to do it again,” Thomas E. Rothman, Sony’s movie chairman, said of the drubbing he took on Robert Zemeckis’s “The Walk,” a daring 3-D spectacle that reconstructed a tightrope stunt between the World Trade Center towers in 1974.
“我真希望自己有勇氣重來一遍，”索尼影業主席托馬斯·E·羅斯曼(Thomas E. Rothman)談起自己在羅伯特·澤米吉斯(Robert Zemeckis)的《雲中行走》(The Walk)一片所遭到的失敗。這是一部大膽的3-D奇觀片，重現了1974年世貿雙子塔之間行走鋼索的情景。
That film took in a total of $10.1 million after its release in September. Speaking at the Paley Center for Media in New York last month, Mr. Rothman noted that original movie fare was being routinely ignored by viewers, who similarly turned away from “Everest,” a 3-D thriller from Universal Pictures. Other expensive “original” movies (though sometimes based on books or other source material) that went belly up included “In the Heart of the Sea” (Warner Bros.), the retro-themed “Tomorrowland” (Walt Disney Studios) and the space adventure “Jupiter Ascending” (Warner).
影片於9月上映，共獲得1010萬美元票房。上個月，羅斯曼在紐約帕利媒體中心指出，這部原創影片照例被觀衆忽略了，他們的注意力被類似題材的《絕命海拔》(Everest)所吸引，這是環球影業(Universal Pictures)推出的一部3-D驚悚片。其他昂貴而遭到失敗的“原創”電影（其中有些是根據書籍或其他素材改編的）還包括華納兄弟的《海洋深處》(In the Heart of the Sea)、沃爾特·迪士尼公司復古題材的《明日世界》(Tomorrowland)，以及華納影業的太空冒險題材影片《木星上升》(Jupiter Ascending)。
One original-minded film that bucked the trend was “The Martian,” starring Matt Damon as a kind of Robinson Crusoe on Mars. The film dominated the fall, taking in $225 million for Fox and setting up a possible Oscar run for its director, Ridley Scott.
原創電影《火星救援》(The Martian)突破了這一趨勢，它是由馬特·達蒙(Matt Damon)主演的太空魯濱遜片。它在秋季票房榜佔據統治地位，爲福克斯公司獲得2.35億美元票房，導演雷利·斯科特(Ridley Scott)有可能憑此片角逐奧斯卡獎。
The audience for the most part preferred to curl up in its comfort zone, turning out for new iterations of old screen stories, including “Creed,” in which Sylvester Stallone again played Rocky Balboa; the fifth “Mission: Impossible” movie, in which Tom Cruise was still Ethan Hunt; and “Spectre,” the 24th film in the 53-year-old James Bond series.
大部分觀衆情願留在舒適區，觀看以新的方式講述的舊故事，這其中包括了《奎迪》(Creed)，片中西爾維斯特·史泰龍(Sylvester Stallone)再度飾演洛基·鮑爾勃亞(Rocky Balboa)；《碟中諜》(Mission: Impossible)第五部，片中湯姆·克魯斯仍然飾演伊森·亨特(Ethan Hunt)；此外還有享有53年曆史的007系列的第24部影片《007：幽靈黨》(Spectre)。
But even the old stuff didn’t always work. Arnold Schwarzenegger sagged in “Terminator Genisys,” from Paramount, and nostalgia couldn’t make hits of Warner’s “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” and “Vacation.”
但老片新拍也並不總是奏效。阿諾德·施瓦辛格(Arnold Schwarzenegger)在派拉蒙的《終結者：創世紀》(Terminator Genisys)中表現不佳；懷舊情緒也未能令華納兄弟的《祕密特工》(The Man from U.N.C.L.E.)和《假期歷險記》(Vacation)走紅。
In his talk at the Paley Center, Mr. Rothman said studios are now firmly committed to finding their future in the past — something that will become fully apparent in 2017 when the next iterations of “Spider-Man,” “Wolverine” and “Star Wars” are scheduled to hit screens.
羅斯曼在帕利中心的談話中說，製片公司現在致力於從過去之中發掘自己的未來——2017年，這種趨勢將充分顯現出來，屆時《蜘蛛俠》(Spider-Man)、《金剛狼》(Wolverine)與《星球大戰》系列的新作都將上映。
“Every weekend of that summer now has a giant sequel on it,” Mr. Rothman said.
“到夏天，每個週末都有一部大片續集上映，”羅斯曼說。
While banking on nostalgia and growing international markets to make up for flat home-entertainment sales, studios and their indie competitors will find much to contemplate in the behavior this year of a domestic audience whose likes and dislikes were often startlingly pronounced.
製片公司期待懷舊情緒與日益增長的國際市場能彌補平淡的國內銷售，另一方面，國內觀衆的喜好通常非常明顯，今年，從他們的好惡之中，大製片公司與獨立製片公司可以發現很多值得深思的東西。
“The ceiling has risen, and the floor has dropped,” said Howard Cohen, a co-president of the indie distributor Roadside Attractions. That company did particularly well with two small prize contenders, “Love & Mercy” (released in partnership with Lionsgate) and “Mr. Holmes” (with Miramax). Mr. Cohen said the films succeeded in part because they opened for a long run in the summer months, rather than waiting for the fall awards season.
“天花板在上升，地板在下沉，”獨立發行公司Roadside Attractions聯合總裁霍華德·科恩(Howard Cohen)說。該公司推出了兩部小獎項競爭者：其一是與獅門公司(Lionsgate)合作推出的《愛與慈悲》(Love & Mercy)，其二是與米拉麥克斯(Miramax)合作推出的《福爾摩斯先生》(Mr. Holmes)。科恩說，這些電影獲得成功，部分是因爲它們在夏天上映了很久，沒有等到秋天的評獎季才上映。
“We saw a lot of lemmings jumping over the cliff into the fall,” he said of the box-office carnage in September and October, when “Spotlight” and “Brooklyn” were among the few survivors.
“我們看到很多片子前赴後繼地匆忙跳進秋季，”他談起九、十月份很多片子遭受票房慘敗，《聚焦》(Spotlight)和《布魯克林》(Brooklyn)是其中爲數不多的倖存者。
Viewers clearly were not interested in stories about hard-edged climbers, creative powers notwithstanding. “Steve Jobs,” with Michael Fassbender as the sometimes noxious Apple executive, bombed; “Burnt,” with Bradley Cooper as a manic celebrity chef, also found few takers.
然而，觀衆們顯然對犀利的攀登者與賦予創意的掌權者們的故事不感興趣。《史蒂夫·喬布斯》(Steve Jobs)一片由邁克爾·法斯賓德(Michael Fassbender)飾演這位時而名聲不佳的蘋果公司執行官，結果遭到慘敗；布萊德利·庫珀(Bradley Cooper)在《燃情主廚》中飾演一個瘋狂的明星大廚，該片同樣反響不佳。
As of Sunday, prospects looked better for a similar story of female ambition. “Joy,” in which Jennifer Lawrence plays the tough Miracle Mop inventor Joy Mangano, took in a fairly strong $17.5 million for Fox, though its ultimate commercial prospects were yet to be decided over the long holiday.
週日上映的《奮鬥的喬伊》(Joy)是類似反映女性野心的故事，反響似乎好了一些，詹妮弗·勞倫斯(Jennifer Lawrence)在其中飾演“魔力拖把”堅強的發明者喬伊·曼加諾(Joy Mangano)，該片爲福克斯贏得了不菲的1750萬美元票房收入，儘管它的商業價值仍然有待在漫長的假期中得到證明。
While some ensembles faltered — Warner’s “Magic Mike XXL” took in only a little more than half the box office of its 2012 predecessor — audiences for the most part responded to films with large casts. (The more Twitter followers, the merrier.) The car-racing ensemble movie “Furious 7,” with $353 million in domestic ticket sales, helped power Universal to No. 1 in studio market share after years of being an also-ran.
有些衆星雲集的大片遭到慘敗，比如華納公司的《魔力麥克2》(Magic Mike XXL)最終獲得的票房只合2012年《魔力麥克》票房的一半多一點，但觀衆大部分時間裏還是喜歡這樣的影片（Twitter上的粉絲越多越好）。追車大片《速度與激情7》(Furious 7)獲得了3.53億美元國內票房，幫助強大的環球影業在陪跑多年之後，終於躍居製片公司市場份額第一位。
Universal’s “Straight Outta Compton,” about the rap group N.W.A., took in $161.2 million, setting sales records for a musical biopic. And Disney struck pay dirt with “The Avengers: Age of Ultron,” which grouped together Marvel superheroes and delivered $459 million in domestic sales.
環球影業的《走出康普頓》(Straight Outta Compton)是關於說唱組合“N.W.A.”的影片，獲得1.612億美元票房，創下了音樂傳記片的票房紀錄。迪士尼公司找到了寶藏，它的《復仇者聯盟：奧創紀元》(The Avengers: Age of Ultron)集合了漫威超級英雄們，獲得4.59億國內票房。
The breakouts were often driven by female leads.
突破通常是由女性主角帶來的。
“Cinderella” was a major hit for Disney, which also got a boost from Pixar’s “Inside Out,” featuring the voice of Amy Poehler. (On the downside, Pixar’s unblemished track record ended with “The Good Dinosaur,” which was a box-office dud.)
《灰姑娘》(Cinderella)是迪士尼今年的重點大片之一，此外迪士尼也受到皮克斯的《頭腦特工隊》(Inside Out)一片的推動，埃米·波勒(Amy Poehler)在其中獻聲。不好的消息是，皮克斯完美的票房紀錄被《恐龍當家》(The Good Dinosaur)終結，它成了一場票房災難。
Amy Schumer, the devotedly inappropriate comedian, became a movie star with “Trainwreck.” “Pitch Perfect 2,” centered on a group of misfit a cappella singers, nearly tripled the performance of its 2012 predecessor, with $184.3 million in sales.
熱心而不靠譜的喜劇演員埃米·舒默(Amy Schumer)在《生活殘骸》(Trainwreck)和《完美音調2》中成了大明星，後者講述一羣不搭調的無伴奏合唱歌手，該片票房比2012年的《完美音調》高出將近三倍，達到1.843億美元。
“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2” (Lionsgate) kept Ms. Lawrence on top, no matter how her Miracle Mop movie fares. “Mockingjay Part 2” has so far collected $264.6 million.
不管詹妮弗·勞倫斯的魔法拖把電影反響如何，獅門公司的《飢餓遊戲3：嘲笑鳥（下）》(The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2)依然由她主演。《嘲笑鳥（下）》獲得2.646億美元票房。
Even the success of “The Avengers” could be traced to women, with Elizabeth Olsen stealing scenes as the Scarlet Witch, and Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow in a much more prominent role.
就連《復仇者聯盟》的成功也可以追溯到女人，伊麗莎白·奧森(Elizabeth Olsen)飾演的緋紅女巫(Scarlet Witch)非常搶戲，斯嘉麗·約翰松(Scarlett Johansson)飾演的黑寡婦(Black Widow)也是重要角色。
Ms. Johansson’s next film is more of a question mark, however. She will appear as a bawdy water ballet star in “Hail, Caesar!” — a dangerously original Hollywood spoof that will buck the trend of sequels with its release on Feb. 5.
不過約翰松的下一部影片還充滿疑問。她將在《凱撒萬歲》(Hail, Caesar!)中飾演一個粗俗的水上芭蕾明星，這是一部危險的好萊塢原創戲仿之作，於2月5日上映，是對系列大片風潮的一種抵抗。
