好莱坞电影票房想叫座？还得女性观众说了算！.

　　Heading into the all-important summer moviegoing season, two converging box-office trends are startling studios: Women are driving ticket sales to a degree rarely, if ever, seen bore, while young men — long Hollywood’s most coveted audience — are relatively AWOL.

　　正当迎来非常重要的夏日暑期档之际，两股票房潮流的融合令电影制片公司大吃一惊：女观众在票房升温方面一定程度上发挥了难得的巨大作用;然而，长久以来好莱坞最为青睐的年轻男观众却相对减少。

　　With the release of “The Divergent Series: Insurgent” over the weekend, women have delivered the three biggest live-action openings of the year. The audience for “Insurgent,” which took in an estimated $54 million from Friday to Sunday, was 60 percent female. The opening-weekend crowd for “Fifty Shades of Grey” was 67 percent female, and women made up 66 percent of the audience for “Cinderella.”

　　至今，本年度共有三次由女性观众引起，最为轰动的真人电影上映周末。周末上映的《分歧者2：叛乱者》(The Divergent Series: Insurgent)便是其中一次。《分歧者2：叛乱者》从周五上映到周日约赚得5400万美元的票房，而观影群体中，60%为女性观众。《五十度灰》(Fifty Shades of Grey)上映的首个周末，观影者有67%为女性。《灰姑娘》(Cinderella)的观众中有66%为女性。

　　It would be easier to dismiss those percentages as a fluke — three big female-oriented movies just happened to arrive in proximity — if a parade of movies aimed at young men had not bombed over the same period. Among the carnage: “Jupiter Ascending,” “Seventh Son,” “Hot Tub Time Machine 2,” “Chappie” and, over the weekend, Sean Penn’s “The Gunman.”

　　我们可能会认为女性观众在这些电影票房中占据高比例的现象是昙花一现，可能只是因为这三部以女性观众为目标的电影恰好同期上映，但与此同时，以年轻男性观众为目标群体的一大堆电影，其票房却让人大跌眼镜，包括《木星上行》(Jupiter Ascending)、《第七子：降魔之战》(Seventh Son)、《热浴盆时光机2》(Hot Tub Time Machine 2)、《超能查派》(Chappie)以及周末上映的肖恩·潘(Sean Penn)的《卧底枪手》(The Gunman)。

　　《分歧者2：叛乱者》(The Divergent Series: Insurgent)。图片来源：凯迪·安德鲁·库伯/狮门影业(CreditAndrew Cooper/Lionsgate)

　　The shift has been noticeable enough to prompt movie executives and producers to ruminate about the causes and consider whether the big film factories should recalibrate their assembly lines. Counting on the stability of young men, studios have nearly 30 superhero movies on the way by the end of 2015, each costing well over $100 million to make. But young men are more easily distracted by other forms of entertainment, and women may now be the more reliable opening-weekend audience.

　　这种转变如此注目，足以令电影公司高管和制片人思考其原因，同时考虑大型电影制片公司是否需要重新调整原本的生产线。电影公司指望年轻男观众群体较为稳定，到2015年底，近30部超级英雄大片将会上映，每一部的制作费用都远超1亿美元。但年轻男人更容易被其他形式的娱乐活动吸引，所以相较之下，女性观众才可能是更可靠的上映周末(opening-weekend)观众。

　　“You can never put your finger on it entirely, but you have to ask the questions,” said Dan Fellman, president of domestic distribution at Warner Bros. “Is this just the cyclical nature of the movie business? Or does it point to a more serious shift in habits?”

　　“你无法说清到底是怎么回事，但你要试着找出原因。”华纳兄弟(Warner Bros)国内发行总裁丹·费尔曼(Dan Fellman)说，“这是电影行业的自然周期发展所致?还是一种重大的习惯变化?”

　　The uncertainty comes as Hollywood tries to bounce back from a terrible 2014. Admissions fell 6 percent at North American theaters last year, to 1.27 billion, compared with the previous year; ticket sales declined 5 percent, to $10.4 billion. Ticket sales are up about 4 percent so far in 2015, but the high-risk summer months — packed with male-centric movies like “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Terminator: Genisys” and “Ant-Man” — usually set the pace for the year.

　　这种不确定性出现在好莱坞设法从行情惨淡的2014年重振雄风期间，去年，北美的观影人数跌至12.7亿人次，相比前年下跌了6%;票房销售跌至104亿美元，同比下跌5%。截至日前，2015年票房销售增长约4%，但因为夏季排满了以男性观众为目标市场的电影，比如《疯狂的麦克斯4：狂暴之路》(Mad Max: Fury Road)、《终结者：创世纪》(Terminator: Genisys)和《蚁人》(Ant-Man)，高风险的夏季放映档常常主宰着一年的发展态势。

　　Studios awoke to the power of female ticket buyers in 2008, when the “Twilight” action romances became a global phenomenon. Since then, women have turned films like “The Hunger Games,” “Bridesmaids” and “Frozen” into smash hits. But the muscle of women at the multiplex has recently gone “from sporadic to continuous,” said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior analyst at Rentrak, which tracks box-office data.

　　2008年，魔幻爱情电影《暮光之城》(Twilight)获得全球观众追捧，这使电影制片公司开始注意到女性购票观众的力量。从那以后，《饥饿游戏》(The Hunger Games)、《伴娘》(Bridesmaids)和《冰雪奇缘》(Frozen)等电影在女性观众的推动下名声大噪。保罗·德加拉伯迪安(Paul Dergarabedian)是Rentrak 公司(美国最大票房信息提供商，负责追踪票房数据)的高级分析师，他说：“最近，女性在电影院的影响力已经由‘零散性变为持续性’。”

　　Young men used to be Hollywood’s most reliable audience, in part because they tended to be less discriminating than women. “No story? No problem! As long as people got blown up, guys showed up,” Mr. Dergarabedian said.

　　年轻的男人曾经是好莱坞最可靠的观众，一部分是因为他们并不像女人那么有识别力。德加拉伯迪安先生说：“没有故事?没问题!只要有人被炸飞，型男会出现就行。”

　　But studio research executives say young men are the most likely to be lured by alternative activities like video games, sports and YouTube comedy clips. Research indicates that teenage boys in particular do not want to be told when and where they have to consume entertainment, which makes herding them into a movie theater difficult.

　　但是，电影制片公司的调查主管则说年轻的男人是最有可能被其他的活动所吸引，例如电子游戏，运动和YouTube(美国的一个影片分享网站)上的喜剧短片。调查表明，青少年男孩特别不想在特点的时间和地点进行娱乐活动，所以，要让他们聚集在一个电影院里很难。

　　In contrast, “teenage girls still seem to want the experience of going to the movies as a group,” said Terry Press, president of CBS Films, which recently hit specialty film pay dirt with “The DUFF,” an $8 million comedy about a high school pecking order that is closing in on $35 million in ticket sales, overwhelmingly because of female moviegoers.

　　相反的是，“青少年女孩似乎还是喜欢一起去看电影的体验，”CBS电影公司总裁特里·普莱斯(Terry Press)这么说道。她的公司最近凭借特色电影《丑女也有春天》(The DUFF)狠赚了一笔。该部喜剧片成本制作费用为800万美元，讲述的是高中里的社会等级。而最终，电影的票房收入为3500万美元，观影者多为女性观众。

　　The recent box-office gyrations also expose a flaw in studio strategy, analysts say. At a time when so many movies turn themselves inside out trying to attract everyone (a plan that could be summed up as “wide and shallow” in industry parlance), it is clearly possible to fill a big tent by picking a couple of demographics, in particular underserved ones, and superserving them (“narrow and deep”).

　　分析人士称，最近发生的票房波动也揭露了电影制片公司策略的不足。许多电影曾为了吸引所有人，选择颠覆自身(这种计划可用行内术语概括为“广泛而肤浅”);如果想要有所成效，电影公司理应明确地选择目标群体，尤其是那些没有享受到应有服务的人，让他们享受优待(“集中而深刻”)，

　　“Cinderella,” for instance, was not aimed at everyone. But by being a perfect version of something narrower — a costume romance aimed at mothers and girls — “Cinderella” has sold a stout $122 million in tickets in the United States and Canada in just two weeks. (“Empire,” aimed initially at often-ignored African-American viewers, offers a corollary example from television.)

　　《灰姑娘》无疑是最有力的的证明。其目标市场并不是所有人。但正因为该部通俗爱情电影以母亲和女孩为目标观众，受众面不广，仅仅2周内，北美票房便进账12.2亿美元。电视业内也有类似的成功例子，如《嘻哈帝国》(Empire)最初的目标群体是常被忽略的非裔美国观众，播出后也大放异彩。

　　“What has been happening at the box office sends a message loud and clear that you don’t need four quadrants to be a massive hit,” said Phil Contrino, chi analyst at BoxOffice.com. In movie jargon, a four-quadrant movie is one that attracts men and women, young and old; Hollywood considers anyone over 25 to be old.

　　美国电影票房统计网站BoxOffice.com的首席分析师菲尔·康特里诺(Phil Contrino)说：“票房的情况向我们发出了一个清晰而明确的信号，要大获成功，我们不一定要选择四象限电影(four-quadrant movie)。”用电影业行话来说，四象限电影就是既吸引男女，又吸引年轻人和老一辈的电影;而好莱坞把25岁以上的人都视作“老一辈”。

　　When it comes to the male-female divide, the recent overreliance by studios on visual fects may play a role. The bar for visual fects has been raised so high, experts say, that nothing less than a prolonged smackdown between a raging Hulk and a supersize Iron Man has much hope of turning male heads.

　　在有关男女区别方面，电影制片公司近期过度依赖视觉效果大概也有一定影响。行家认为，一味追求视觉效果，除非是像愤怒的绿巨人(Hulk)和超大型钢铁侠(Iron Man)之间的长时间对决，否则难以引起男人的强烈兴趣。

　　“You used to be able to go to movies and see something that you never saw bore — a giant shark, dinosaurs,” said Allison Shearmur, a producer of “Cinderella” and a former senior executive at Lionsgate, Paramount and Universal. “But spectacular visual fects have become routine.”

　　“你曾经因为想去看一些从没看到过的东西去电影院，比如说巨鲨，恐龙等，”《灰姑娘》制片人之一——艾莉森·夏尔摩(Allison Shearmur)说。她曾担任狮门电影公司(Lionsgate)、派拉蒙影视公司(Paramount)和环球影片公司(Universal)的高级执行官，“如今，壮观的视觉效果已不足为奇。”

　　Ms. Shearmur continued: “So what does that mean? It means that we’ve got to make more movies that have a compelling core story. The audience still comes when the story is strong, when we can laugh or cry or be afraid in a theater together.”

　　夏尔摩小姐继续补充道：“所以这意味着什么?这其实是说我们应该制作更多具有引人入胜的核心故事的电影。只要故事足够吸引，能够让观众在电影院里一起大笑，大哭或者感到恐惧，观众还是乐意购票进场的。”

　　Mr. Fellman of Warner Bros. predicted that boys would return en masse for coming PG-13 event movies like “Furious 7” and “The Avengers: Age of Ultron.”

　　华纳兄弟影视公司的费尔曼先生预计，男孩们会选择抱团到电影院观看即将上映的PG-13级电影，比如《速度与激情7》(Furious 7)和《复仇者联盟2：奥创纪元》(The Avengers: Age of Ultron)。

　　“Outside of ‘American Sniper,’ which started older and got younger, and ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service,’ there has been a noticeable lack of young men,” Mr. Fellman said. “But a lot of the so-called guy movies recently have been rated R, and you lose a lot of tweeners that way,” he noted.

　　“除了《美国狙击手》(American Sniper)和《王牌特工：特工学院》(Kingsman: The Secret Service)(前者起初面向年纪大的观众，后来变成面向年轻群体)，现在明显缺少了以年轻男人为目标观众的电影，”费尔曼先生说，“但很多所谓的“男性电影”最近都被列为限制级(R级)，因此也失去了许多的青少年观众。”

　　Warner will add another R-rated comedy to the mix on Friday with “Get Hard,” which has been generating solid interest from men in prerelease surveys.

　　周五，华纳影视公司将在自己的上映组合中加入另一部限制级喜剧——《狱前教育》(Get Hard)。这部电影在预映调查中已经引起了男性观众的强烈兴趣。

　　But the success of Hollywood’s summer box office may well rest with women. Nestled among the superheroes and action movies are an unusually large number of pictures aimed at a female audience, including “Pitch Perfect 2,” an estrogen-heavy musical comedy; “Spy,” an action comedy starring Melissa McCarthy; “Pan,” a splashy adaptation of the Peter Pan story; and the male stripper sequel “Magic Mike XXL.”

　　但是，好莱坞夏季档的票房要获得成功，还得要女性观众说了算。在超级英雄大片和动作电影中总会有异常多的以女性观众为目标市场的电影，包括女性气息浓厚的音乐喜剧片《完美音调2》(Pitch Perfect 2);梅利莎·麦卡锡(Melissa McCarthy)主演的动作喜剧片《密探》(Spy);引人注目的改编电影《彼得·潘》(Pan)和关于脱衣舞男的续集影片《魔力麦克2》 (Magic Mike XXL)。

　　“The whole notion of the summer blockbuster has always been built around young men,” Mr. Dergarabedian said. “I think we’re about to see that change. The clout and importance of the female audience has never been bigger.”

　　“一直以来，年轻的男性观众都被视为夏季档大片热卖叫座的重要主力军，”德加拉贝迪安先生说，“我们将要看到这种情况发生变化了，女性观众的影响力和价值从未像如今这般强大。”