As Jimmy McMillan might say: “The movie ticket prices are too damn high.” At least, that’s what consumers said to Hollywood this year–that and “most of the movies sucked.” The Los Angeles Times writes that the number of movie tickets sold in the U.S. and Canada is expected to hit 1.26 billion in 2017, which is well below 2016’s 1.31 billion. It’s the fewest amount of tickets sold in a year since 1995, when Toy Story and Batman Forever reigned¹ supreme².

就像Jimmy McMillan可能会说，“现在的电影票真是贵。”至少它说出了消费者的心声，今年的好莱坞电影“又贵又不好看”。根据《洛杉矶时报》今年美国和加拿大的票房总数估计在12.6亿美元，比2016年的13.1亿美元差一截。这是自1995年以来票房收入最低的一次，之前的《玩具总动员》和《蝙蝠侠》成了永恒的经典。

What’s going on here? It’s true that there were a few huge breakout successes this year. These include Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Wonder Woman, and Girls Trip. But more than a few of this year’s most anticipated movies–including Alien: Covenant³ and The Mummy–flopped.

怎么会落得如此田地？不可否认今年有几个成功的电影。包括星际大战系列：《最后的绝地武士》、《神奇女侠》、《嗨翻姐妹行》。但是有不少期待值很高的电影《异形：契约》、《新木乃伊》却不尽如意。

However, the long-term decline in attendance reflects systemic challenges facing the industry. Audiences are spending less time going to the movies and are consuming more entertainment on small screens and through streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon that are spending billions of dollars on original video content.

然而上座率的长时间的下降，说明电影行业正面临系统性的挑战。观众们去影院的次数减少，而在手机上观看流媒体网飞和亚马逊上花费数十亿美元制作的原创内容。

At the same time, while higher ticket prices have helped to offset⁴ attendance declines, they have made consumers pickier about what movies they’re willing to go see. And those increasingly discerning consumers turn to social media and Rotten Tomatoes to decide what’s worth their time and money.

同时，不断攀升的电影票价也让消费者止步，他们变得精明挑剔，看那些片子值得去影院一看。越来越多的消费者在确定去观影之前，会现在社交媒体上，或者烂番茄网上看下评分，把钱都花在刀刃上。

It seems that as ticket prices continue to get higher and higher, the only way to pry⁵ people away from their streaming services and smartphones–and into multiplexes–is by, well, giving them original, non-retreaded content.

随着电影票价的不断攀升，能让消费者使用流媒体服务，和手机以及多剧场影剧院等这些方式观影，那就拿出诚意给他们提供原创、而非翻拍的影片。