環球與迪士尼成今夏好萊塢最大贏家
Hollywood had one of its best summers ever at the domestic box office, but it was a sharply lopsided victory. Studios either thrived or withered, an outcome that reflects the winner-take-all nature of the mass-appeal movie business.
今年夏天，好萊塢的國內票房可以躋身史上最佳之列，但這卻是一個極爲不平衡的勝利。製片公司不是大賺特賺，就是大賠特賠，這個結果反映出迎合大衆的電影業贏者通吃的本質。
Ticket sales at North American cinemas rose an estimated 10.4 percent, to $4.48 billion, for the period between the first weekend in May and Labor Day, from the same period a year earlier, the analytics firm Rentrak said on Sunday. Hollywood’s summer, which was one week longer this year because of a calendar quirk, has historically accounted for up to 40 percent of annual domestic ticket sales.
星期日，統計公司Rentrak宣佈，從5月第一個週末到勞動節（9月的第一個星期一——譯註）期間，北美影院票房比去年同期約增長10.4%，達到44.8億美元。由於曆法巧合，今年好萊塢的夏天在統計上要長出一個星期，這段時期的國內票房達到全年國內票房40%，創下了歷史記錄。
But the strong season was overwhelmingly owing to movies supplied by just two of Hollywood’s six major studios. Twelve movies took in more than $100 million in the United States and Canada, and eight of them were from Universal Pictures, a division of Comcast’s NBCUniversal, and Walt Disney Studios. Together, Universal and Disney controlled 60 percent of the market, Rentrak said.
但這強勢的一季主要應歸功於好萊塢六大製片公司中的兩家。12部影片在美國和加拿大貢獻了超過一億美元的票房，其中八部來自康卡斯特的NBC環球(Comcast’s NBCUniversal)旗下的環球影業(Universal Pictures)，以及迪士尼公司(Disney Studios)。Rentrak稱，環球與迪士尼控制着60%的市場。
Universal’s “Jurassic World” was the No. 1 draw, taking in nearly $647 million, for a global total of $1.65 billion, and Imax theaters did particularly well.
環球的《侏羅紀世界》(Jurassic World)位居票房首位，國內票房近6.47億美元，全球票房16.5億美元，Imax影院票房表現尤佳。
“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” from Disney’s Marvel division, was second, selling $457.8 million ($1.4 billion worldwide).
迪士尼漫威部門的《復仇者聯盟2：奧創紀元》(Avengers: Age of Ultron)位居第二，國內票房達4.578億美元，全球票房達14億美元。
Third place went to one of the few original movies to hit big: “Inside Out,” from Disney’s Pixar unit, took in $348.2 million ($706 million worldwide).
第三名是少有的原創電影大片《頭腦特工隊》(Inside Out)，來自迪士尼的皮克斯公司，國內票房達3.482億美元，全球票房達7.06億美元。
But almost every other film studio struggled.
但其他公司就幾乎都不大妙了。
The once rock-solid Warner Bros. found hits in “San Andreas” and “Mad Max: Fury Road” but mostly suffered dud after dud, including “Magic Mike XXL,” “Entourage,” “Hot Pursuit,” “Vacation” and “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” After a stellar summer last year, 20th Century Fox had a major flop this time around with “Fantastic Four.” Sony Pictures was barely in the game at all.
曾經強勁穩定的華納兄弟公司推出的《末日崩塌》(San Andreas)和《瘋狂的麥克斯4：狂暴之路》(Mad Max: Fury Road)表現出色，但大多數影片一部不如一部，諸如《魔力麥克2》(Magic Mike XXL)、《明星夥伴》(Entourage)、《別惹得州》(Hot Pursuit)和《祕密特工》(The Man From U.N.C.L.E.)。經歷了羣星薈萃的去年夏季，20世紀福克斯公司今年帶來的《神奇四俠2015》(Fantastic Four)徹底失敗。索尼影業幾乎沒什麼值得一提的影片。
There are two major lessons from all of this, analysts say, one involving Hollywood as a whole and one concerning specific film companies.
分析師們從中總結出兩個教訓，一個是關於整個好萊塢的，另一個是關於個別電影公司的。
For years, Hollywood has pursued event-style movies intended to play to everyone — old and young, male and female, domestic and foreign. (“Old” is defined by the studios as anyone over the age of 35.) But some of these offerings have grown so colossal that other movies, even very expensive and heavily marketed ones that receive decent reviews, are having a hard time getting noticed.
多年來，好萊塢追求大片類型的電影，希望能吸引所有人——無論男女老幼，無論國內國外（對於製片公司來說，“老”意味着35歲以上）。但是這類影片當中，有些變得過於龐大，導致其他影片就算投入高昂成本、進行大量市場宣傳，口碑也不錯，但還是不太受人關注。
“We’re not seeing as many doubles and triples, and those movies are the ones that really keep the box office healthy,” said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior analyst at Rentrak. “It was an extremely top-heavy summer.”
“我們沒看的影片是已看的兩三倍，正是這些影片讓票房保持健康，”Rentrak的高級分析師保羅·德加拉貝迪安(Paul Dergarabedian)說。“今年夏天的票房實在是太頭重腳輕了。”
Last summer, nine of the top 10 movies in North America collected roughly $200 million or more in ticket sales. This year, only four movies did that: “Jurassic World,” “Age of Ultron,” “Inside Out” and Universal’s animated “Minions.”
去年夏天，在北美票房前10名影片中，前9部都得到了2億美元以上的收入。而今年，只有4部影片取得了這個成績，分別是《侏羅紀世界》、《復仇者聯盟2：奧創紀元》、《頭腦特工隊》和環球影業的動畫片《小黃人大眼萌》(Minions)。
“Jurassic World” ranked first or second for five weekends in a row. Universal’s “Straight Outta Compton” was No. 1 for three weekends straight. Because of the continued popularity of those films, some competing movies faced a limited chance to play in the biggest theaters, including those operated by Imax and a screen network known as Premium Large Format, both of which charge more for tickets.
《侏羅紀世界》一連五週保持在票房第一或第二的位置。環球影業的《衝出康普頓》(Straight Outta Compton)連續三個週末保持票房第一。因爲這些影片持續流行，同期競爭影片在大影院上映的機會就受到限制，包括那些由Imax運營的影院，以及提供優質大畫幅(Premium Large Format)的影院系統，二者都要收取更高票價。
It may only get worse: In the summer of 2017, for instance, Disney has new installments from its “Toy Story,” “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Star Wars” franchises opening back to back. That lineup is expected to leave little room for anything else to bloom.
這種局面可能會變得更糟：比如說，到2017年暑期，迪斯尼將持續推出《玩具總動員》(Toy Story)、《加勒比海盜》(Pirates of the Caribbean)、《銀河護衛隊》(Guardians of the Galaxy)和《星球大戰》(Star Wars)等系列大片的新作。估計這一系列影片給其他影片留下的空間會非常小。
The summer season that just ended also reflected specific problems at certain suppliers. Warner, for instance, has been struggling through a lingering shaky period resulting from upheaval in 2013, when the studio’s movie chief departed in a broader management overhaul.
剛剛結束的暑期放映季也反映出某些公司的特殊問題。比如華納公司，2013年，公司經歷了人事動盪，電影部門的主管在管理層的大改組中離開。如今公司仍在艱難地克服動盪期的餘波。
“Our business is cyclical, and we had a transitional summer,” Dan Fellman, Warner’s president of domestic distribution, said. “The good news is that Greg Silverman and his team are really lining up a series of movies that look to be huge box office hits,” including “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.” Mr. Silverman is Warner’s president of movie production.
“我們的經營有自己的週期，今年夏天是一個過渡，”華納公司國內發行部總裁丹·菲爾曼(Dan Fellman)說。“好消息是，格里格·席爾瓦曼(Greg Silverman)和他的團隊正在組織一系列既可能成爲票房大片的電影，”這其中包括了《蝙蝠俠大戰超人：正義黎明》(Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice)。席爾瓦曼是華納電影製作部門的總裁。
Sony, which as recently as 2013 found major warm-weather hits in “Men in Black 3” and “The Amazing Spider-Man,” had the most difficult summer of all. The studio did not have a single film among the season’s top 25 performers, according to Box Office Mojo, a database. “Pixels,” starring Adam Sandler, was Sony’s biggest draw, taking in roughly $73.3 million in North America.
索尼公司上一次在夏季取得成功的大片還要追溯到2013年的《黑衣人3》(Men in Black 3)和《神奇蜘蛛俠》(The Amazing Spider-Man)，今年夏天，它的日子比誰都難過。根據電影票房數據庫Box Office Mojo統計，該公司沒有一部電影躋身本季票房前25之列。亞當·桑德勒(Adam Sandler)主演的《像素大戰》(Pixels)是索尼最成功的一部影片，在北美獲得7330萬美元票房。
Sony, which declined to comment for this article, brought in a new movie chief, Thomas E. Rothman, in February. Mr. Rothman, who had been working to revive Sony’s TriStar label, replaced Sony’s longtime movie picker, Amy Pascal, who was edged out because of a shortage of hits and the fallout from last year’s cyberattack on the studio.
索尼公司拒絕了採訪要求，今年2月，公司迎來了新的電影部門主管托馬斯·E·羅斯曼(Thomas E. Rothman)。羅斯曼曾令索尼的TriStar品牌起死回生，他取代了索尼長期以來的電影主管艾米·帕斯卡(Amy Pascal)，她離職是因爲沒能推出足夠多的票房大片，此外還受到去年公司受黑客攻擊帶來的影響。
The fall promises to be better for Sony, which will release the next James Bond film, “Spectre,” on Nov. 6. Sony also got a bit of box-office help over the weekend. Its religious drama “War Room” took in about $9.4 million from Friday to Sunday, for first place.
今年秋季，索尼可能會有些起色，11月6日，它將推出007新片《007：大破幽靈危機》(Spectre)。這個週末，索尼在票房上也有不少收穫，關於宗教的新片《戰爭房間》(War Room)剛一上映，就在週五到週日的這段時間裏獲得了940萬美元的票房。
