紐時賞析／從數據看好萊塢今夏的票房落差

Behind the Numbers: How Hollywood Missed Its Mark This Summer

從數據看好萊塢今夏的票房落差

This was supposed to be the summer when the North American box office returned to form — finally from the pandemic slump.

這本該是北美票房終於從疫情低迷中恢復，回歸正軌的夏天。

“We believe that a dramatic reawakening of the industrywide domestic box office has begun,” Adam Aron, chief executive of AMC Entertainment, the continent’s largest theater operator, gleefully told analysts in May. He predicted that Hollywood’s summer movies would be “barn burners, one after another.”

「我們相信，行業整體的國內票房已開始顯著復甦，」北美最大影院運營商AMC娛樂公司執行長阿隆5月興奮地對分析師表示。他預測好萊塢的夏季電影將「一部接一部地掀起熱潮」。

Moviegoers, alas, were not cooperative. Multiplexes in the United States and Canada had their worst summer since 1981, after adjusting for inflation and excluding the COVID pandemic years, when many theaters were closed for long periods.

然而，電影觀眾並未買帳。美國和加拿大的多廳影院迎來了自1981年以來最糟糕的夏天，這是經過通膨調整並排除疫情期間電影院長期停業的結果。

Is it time for Hollywood to concede that a lot of moviegoers in North America are never coming back? That movie theaters have permanently lost 20% to 25% of their customers?

好萊塢是否該承認，北美的許多電影觀眾再也不會回來了？電影院是否已永久失去了20%至25%的顧客？

Those questions, which started as horrified whispers in studio hallways last year, have become more openly discussed in recent months.

這些問題去年在電影公司內部走廊中還是驚恐的低語，近幾個月的討論已經浮上檯面。

Weekly ticket sales over the summer highlight the concern. There were only two weeks when theaters in North America collected more than $300 million. Theaters exceeded that threshold nine weeks in the summer of 2019 when adjusting for inflation.

夏季的每周票房數據凸顯這種擔憂。整個夏天，只有2周的北美影院票房收入超過3億美元。而2019年夏天，經通膨調整後，影院有9周超過這一門檻。

Even in 2024, also a year in which there were only two $300 million-plus weeks, total ticket sales for the summer were higher because of bigger hits, including “Inside Out 2” and “Deadpool & Wolverine.”

即便在2024年，同樣只有2周票房超過3億美元，但由於《腦筋急轉彎2》和《死侍與金鋼狼》等大片表現出色，夏季總票房仍高於今年。電影公司面臨的部分挑戰在於行銷：由於媒體碎片化，透過廣告觸及大眾觀眾變得更加困難。

Part of the challenge for movie studios is marketing: Reaching a mass audience with ads for new movies has become harder, a result of media fragmentation.

To cope, studios have increased their reliance on franchises with established fan bases. Over the summer, 26 movies collected at least $20 million in North America. Twenty of them were franchises of some sort — sequels, remakes, spinoffs, reboots or based on a hit video game.

為應對這一問題，電影公司愈來愈依賴擁有穩定粉絲基礎的系列電影。這個夏天，26部電影在北美票房至少達到2000萬美元，其中20部屬於系列電影：續集、重製、外傳、重啟或改編自熱門電玩遊戲。

But almost all of Hollywood’s franchises have been so overworked that they are delivering diminishing returns. More than half of the franchises released this summer have done worse than previous iterations.

但好萊塢幾乎所有的系列電影都已被過度開發，導致利潤遞減。本季推出的系列電影中，超過一半的表現不如前作。

Nothing is more valuable to a movie studio than a revived franchise. Disney successfully rebooted “Fantastic Four” superhero movie series, albeit on a more modest scale.

對電影公司而言，沒有什麼比復甦的系列電影更有價值。迪士尼成功重啟了《驚奇四超人》超級英雄電影系列，雖然規模沒那麼大。

Which is to say: Hollywood’s franchise strategy is not going anywhere. As of now, studios have at least 14 franchise films scheduled for summer 2026.

易言之，好萊塢的系列電影策略不會改變。目前，電影公司為2026年夏天安排了至少14部系列電影。

文／Christine Zhangand Brooks Barnes 譯／國際中心