对中国市场，好莱坞需要重新做功课了|Sixth Tone
本文为英文新媒体Sixth Tone专栏约稿，原题：Sorry Hollywood, The Chinese Market is No Longer Easy Money，全文中英对照
文/陈昌业
As more and more imported blockbusters fail to catch on in China, Hollywood must wake up to its audiences’ changing tastes.
在北美暑期档票房扑街的《宾虚》转战中国——依然难逃厄运，上映14天（23日），仅收获不足2000万元票房。全球第二大市场过去几年来常常上演的“西方不亮，东方亮”的票房戏码（比如《敢死队2》《敢死队3》《环太平洋》均是中国票房高于北美票房）已经开始渐渐不灵了。
对于好莱坞来说，过去对好莱坞大片“来者不拒”的中国观众似乎不见了，不止是《宾虚》，比如今年的《蝙蝠侠大战超人》在3月市场火爆余温仍存的时候不过6亿票房，作为一部超级英雄大战的电影这个成绩无法令人满意；比如6月的《独立日2》，中国票房仅仅5亿……当然，也有即便在中国市场今年降速的冷风下，仍然能够在中国市场有满意收获的，比如《疯狂动物城》《美国队长3》《奇幻森林》，在北美、中国两地双线飘红，关键原因当然是片子本身质量过硬，才经得住两大市场的考验。
观众在成长，对于诚意不足、粗制滥造的电影的耐受性在不断提高，特别是在今年票补退潮之后，且观众购票价格上涨之后，观众对影片质量的挑剔程度明显增加——不止是对好莱坞电影，国产片同样遭遇到了意料之外的严苛批评，譬如说国庆档的《王牌逗王牌》，同样是王晶的搞笑喜剧，在过去三年的春节档里连战连捷，仅今年年初的第三部就砍下11亿票房，但《王牌逗王牌》十一开画后便颓势尽显，上映15天票房不足2.5亿。
事情已经很明显了，中国市场正在完成一次调整和改变，主要的力量当然来自于观众的变化。银幕红利在过去的两三年时间里消化了大量的好片以及烂片，但随着被错误信号引导生产出的大量烂片的“破坏”，观众的“报复”逐渐显现，好莱坞相信也已经有了明显的感知。
此外，另一个与之相似的来自于观众的“报复”反映在了对观影体验要求的日渐增加，比如中国观众今年对伪3D的强烈不满成功地遏制了《谍影重重5》3D版在中国市场的’横行“。一部全片几乎都是手持摄影风格的”摇晃“电影，摄制的时候就是2D版，但到了中国内地市场却几乎均以转制的3D版发行，以致于大量的中国观众冲着经典系列回归进入影院后，却眩晕着吐槽而去。
毫无疑问，3D的票价更高，转制成本在3D票价所带来的高票房吸引下当然是一本万利的好买卖，而且中国观众这么些年来又一直这么“喜欢”3D电影，包括好莱坞在内、港片（合拍片）和国产片都是这么野蛮倾销着3D制作。今年迄今为止票房TOP25的影片票房总计超过20亿元，其中20部影片是3D版，再其中有12部是进口片（国产片《功夫熊猫3》品相上算进口片）。很多电影转制3D堪称莫名其妙，《谍影重重5》即是一例。
在观众、影评人和媒体的一致批评和声讨下，环球影业在《谍影重重5》上映次日即迅速发表声明，“……不同制式的观影体验在观众中引发了广泛的讨论。作为影片出品方，我们完全理解并尊重观众的需求……因此，环球国际影业中国正紧密的与中影及华夏两家发行公司合作，并与影院协商，争取尽快为观众提供更丰富的2D观影场次，满足观众多元化的观影需求。”
这是一记警钟，中国观众的挑剔需要得到制片方、发行方的充分尊重，否则观众已经有足够的能力去用脚投票，也可以用口水令更多的人走不进影院。
好莱坞走进中国的同时，也需要中国走进好莱坞——中国观众过去对中国厂商在好莱坞大片中的广告植入感到兴奋，比如《变形金刚3》和《变形金刚4》系列里出现过的中国品牌植入广告”联播“，到了这两年，中国演员在好莱坞大片的露脸也令中国观众感到中国走进好莱坞似乎更进了一步。但很快，中国观众发现好莱坞其实不过是在用几分钟甚至是几秒钟的中国明星“打酱油”做叩开中国市场大门的敲门砖罢了。《钢铁侠3》里的范冰冰只在中国市场“特供”，杨颖在《独立日2》里的迷之微笑究竟对故事有什么作用呢？这些令人不快的观影体验都让中国观众开始意识到赤裸裸的商业交换背后，好莱坞对中国观众的诚意究竟几何？当然，这背后也有中国企业、中国影人对进入好莱坞的盲目迷信。
中国市场仍然在向千亿票房的目标迈进，尽管在增速上比去年降低明显，但这一目标不过是会再稍晚些到达，趋势仍是不可阻挡。无论是对中国市场雄心勃勃的好莱坞“六大”（majors），还是早就与中国多家公司盘根错节的mini majors，好莱坞对对中国市场的信心和决心相信并不会因为减速有所削弱。但，中国市场正在愈来愈成熟，至少在观众这方面，对好莱坞电影不再一味迷信，甚至开始苛刻——就像麦当劳、肯德基十几年前要面临的在中国市场的本土化转型一样，好莱坞对中国市场需要更加用心、用情，为中国开发尊重中国观众、认同中国文化的中美合拍片，不仅仅是使用中国演员，不仅仅是与中国企业的合作，不仅仅是与中国资本成立合资公司。
除了在中国市场掘进之外，另一个值得好莱坞考量的中国电影生意经应是与中国电影企业、中国电影人共同成长——帮助中国电影在创作、生产、发行上接入全球标准、全球语言。对于中美两个电影大国而言，电影这门生意终究都需要全球化去支撑其越来越庞大的预算和营收压力，而中美政府也都需要电影这一媒介去进行全球化的文化传播。
交易总是讲究互利共赢、予取予求的嘛，发现中国市场的新需求，好莱坞需要重新做功课了。
The recent remake of “Ben-Hur” by Paramount Pictures was a box office flop in North America. Its fate in China was no better, generating a mere 15 million yuan ($2.2 million) in revenue during its first week.
China is currently the second-largest movie market in the world, and Hollywood films have profited here in recent years, even if they have failed at home. The second and third installments in the “Expendables” series, for instance, all took more at the Chinese box office than in North America.
Chinese audiences used to be known as omnivorous consumers of Hollywood blockbusters, but tastes are beginning to change. The failure of “Ben-Hur” is not an isolated case: Back in March, “Batman v Superman” also made a mere 60 million yuan — a paltry sum for a major superhero release. In June, “Independence Day: Resurgence” barely hit the 50 million yuan mark.
Despite the chilling market, there have still been some success stories. “Zootopia,” “Captain America: Civil War,” and “Into the Woods” all made huge profits on both sides of the Pacific. Yet it can be argued that the critical acclaim they garnered ensured their resilience to the vicissitudes of the market.
The evidence indicates that the tastes of Chinese moviegoers are maturing. No longer are people willing to tolerate “inauthentic” works which privilege commercial success over artistic merit. As movie ticket prices this year have increased, audiences are becoming pickier about what they go watch.
The Chinese market is undergoing an audience-driven transformation. The bull market of the past few years put money in the pockets of good and bad filmmakers alike. Now, people are getting punished for putting out a dud — and Hollywood can sense it, too.
As they come to wield more power over the global development of the movie market, Chinese audiences are raising their demands on the cinematic experience. Earlier this year, for example, cinemagoers reacted with fury over the release of so-called fake 3-D movies.
The box office potential of 3-D movies makes them highly desirable products, and ticket prices accordingly are higher than with conventional 2-D releases, especially since Chinese audiences have welcomed 3-D in recent years. The upshot is that many movies made in Hollywood, Hong Kong, or even in mainland China are being made into 3-D editions, even when it is counterintuitive to do so. “Jason Bourne,” for example, was shot almost entirely with a low-fidelity handheld camera, yet it screened across China in 3-D. Those who went expecting a retro-style masterpiece were left feeling disappointed, not to mention rather dizzy.
Such movies are often released as a “special Chinese 3-D edition,” which runs counter to how the projects are originally conceived. Of the top 25 films at the Chinese box office so far this year, 20 have been released in 3-D. Twelve of those were imported films.
Following the panning of “Jason Bourne” by critics and audiences alike, its distributor, Universal Studios, released a statement saying: “Different forms of cinematic experience have sparked widespread debate among audiences. As film producers, we fully understand and respect our audiences’ demands, and truly hope that every customer in the market is able to choose a film format that corresponds to their viewing preferences.” This should be a wake-up call for producers to pay more heed to the tastes of Chinese audiences. If not, cinemagoers will simply vote with their feet.
Hollywood films have gained a large degree of access to China, but conversely, China needs to be represented better in Hollywood as well. Previously, audiences used to be excited by the presence of Chinese product placement in Hollywood blockbusters, such as the Yili low-lactose milk and China Construction Bank advertisements in the third and fourth “Transformers” films. Similarly, the casting of Chinese actors in Hollywood films furthered the impression that the country’s star was on the rise.
Now, however, audiences are beginning to suspect that Hollywood broadly sees Chinese actors as stepping stones into the country’s vast market. This claim is given weight by the fleeting cameos given to Chinese stars: Fan Bingbing, for example, appears only in the Chinese release of “Iron Man 3,” while Yang Ying’s role in “Independence Day: Resurgence” bears no real relevance to the story. As these movies morph into ever more thinly veiled moneymaking exercises, they have also become less satisfying artistically. Chinese viewers can therefore be forgiven for feeling that Hollywood — once a watermark of quality for most filmgoers — has given up trying to understand what they want to watch.
The Chinese film industry still has its sights trained on growing past the 100 billion yuan mark, but the speed of this process is going to be slower than last year. The size of the market is unquestionable, and it is anticipated that it will become the world’s largest movie sector in three to four years. Hollywood producers, whose eyes once lit up at this still-untapped market, must now ride out the transition away from narrow commercial gain and toward releases of real merit. As the only ones whose opinions truly count, audiences will be key to the process of uncovering films that are sincere and of high quality.
While it goes without saying that Hollywood will continue to make money in China, it won’t be as easy as before. In the same way that major brands were forced to localize their products over a decade ago, moviemakers will have to carefully consider what they offer the Chinese. Hollywood must combine its expansion into the market with good business sense. For this to happen, its most pressing task will be to understand the changing demands of its audiences.
(Header image: People watch a movie at a cinema in Shenyang, Liaoning province, March 1, 2014. Shen Ying/Sixth Tone)
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