天气太差也好，怪电影不好也罢，不管怎么说，假日季开始之际，电影票房并没有好莱坞预期的那么强劲。

大制作续集电影《霍比特人2：史矛革荒漠》(The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug)轻松拿下第一名的位置，据估计上映首周末票房为7,370万美元，不过，这仍比第一部《霍比特人》一年前上映首周末的票房低了逾1,000万美元。

与 此同时，泰勒·佩里(Tyler Perry)执导的《黑疯婆子的快乐圣诞节》(A Madea Christmas)录得了这位演员兼制作人的所有电影中上映首周末最低票房纪录。佩里的电影一直对非洲裔美国人有着很大的吸引力。该片上映首周末票房为 1,600万美元，在票房榜上排名第三。排名第二的是动画片《冰雪奇缘》(Frozen)，上映第三周的票房收入为2,220万美元。

《霍比特人》的发行方华纳兄弟(Warner Bros.)负责影片发行的总裁费尔曼(Dan Fellman)说，他认为天气寒冷让票房受到了一些影响。他说，在新英格兰，天气尤其恶劣，《史矛革荒漠》相比第一部《霍比特人》的票房下降得尤其多。

相比去年上映的《霍比特人：意外旅程》(The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey)，观影者对《史矛革荒漠》的评论更好，这意味着良好的口碑可能令这部新片至少接近前作创下的3.03亿美元的国内票房。

在海外，这部续作上映首周末在49个市场斩获1.312亿美元的票房。华纳兄弟说，这一成绩与前作在这些国家获得的票房相当。

费尔曼说，他认为在全球范围来看，《史矛革荒漠》应该能与《意外旅程》不相上下，获得总计10亿美元的票房。

知 情人士说，华纳兄弟和米高梅公司(Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.)花费了大约2亿美元打造每部《霍比特人》电影。当初筹拍第一部和第二部电影时，据预计每部电影的成本将接近2.75亿美元。但导演彼得•杰克逊 (Peter Jackson)决定还要再拍一部电影，主要使用已经拍过的一些镜头，这使得三部曲的总预算仅仅上涨了5,000万美元，为6亿美元。

上 周，制作人哈维·温斯坦(Harvey Weinstein)和鲍勃·温斯坦(Bob Weinstein)以及这两兄弟过去运营的独立电影制片室Miramax LLC起诉华纳兄弟，索赔逾7,500万美元，称按照一项存在了15年的交易，应向其支付每一部《霍比特人》总票房的5%。华纳兄弟说，原告方只能获得第 一部《霍比特人》票房收入的分成。

Blame bad weather or the movies, but the holiday box office didn't get off to quite as big a start as Hollywood hoped.

Big budget sequel 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' easily took the No. 1 spot with an estimated opening of $73.7 million, but that was still more than $10 million behind the debut of the first 'Hobbit' film on the same weekend a year ago.

'Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas,' meanwhile, posted one of the lowest openings ever for the actor-filmmaker who has consistently drawn large African-American crowds. Its $16 million debut put the film in third place, behind the animated hit 'Frozen,' which grossed $22.2 million on its third weekend in theaters.

Dan Fellman, president of domesticdistribution for 'Hobbit' studio Warner Bros., said he believed cold weather depressed box office returns a bit. Ticket sales for 'The Desolation of Smaug' were down particularly far from the first 'Hobbit' movie in hard hit New England, he said.

Reviews have been somewhat stronger for 'Smaug' than last year's 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,' meaning positive word-of-mouth could help drive the new film at least close to the $303 million domestic box office total of its predecessor.

Overseas, the 'Hobbit' sequel opened to $131.2 million in 49 markets, which the studio said was on par with the openings of the previous film in the same countries.

Mr. Fellman said he believed that on a global basis, 'The Desolation of Smaug' should be able to match the $1 billion box office total of 'An Unexpected Journey.'

Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. spent about $200 million to make each 'Hobbit' film. When a pair of movies were planned, each was expected to cost close to $275 million. But director Peter Jackson's decision to make a third film, primarily from footage he already shot, brought the total budget for the trilogy up only about $50 million, to $600 million, said a person familiar with the matter.

Last week, producers Harvey and Bob Weinstein and independent film studio Miramax LLC, which the brothers used to run, sued Warner for more than $75 million, alleging that a 15 year-old deal gives them 5% of the gross receipts from every 'Hobbit' movie. Warner has maintained that the plaintiffs are only entitled to a revenue share on the first movie.

• holiday [´hɔlidi]   n.假日，假期，节日   (初中英语单词)
• opening [´əupəniŋ]   n.开放；开端 a.开始的   (初中英语单词)
• meanwhile [´mi:n´wail]   n.&ad.其间；同时   (初中英语单词)
• domestic [də´mestik]   a.家庭的；本国的   (初中英语单词)
• distribution [,distri´bju:ʃən]   n.分配；分布(状态)   (初中英语单词)
• previous [´pri:viəs]   a.先，前，以前的   (初中英语单词)
• director [di´rektə]   n.指导者；....长；导演   (初中英语单词)
• unexpected [ʌniks´pektid]   a.突然的；意外的   (高中英语单词)
• hollywood [´hɔliwud]   n.好莱坞   (高中英语单词)
• budget [´bʌdʒit]   n.&vi.(做)预算；安排   (高中英语单词)
• studio [´stju:diəu]   n.画室；照相室   (高中英语单词)
• positive [´pɔzətiv]   a.确定的   (高中英语单词)
• billion [´biljən]   num.万亿   (高中英语单词)
• revenue [´revinju:]   n.税收；收入   (高中英语单词)
• desolation [desə´leiʃ(ə)n]   n.荒凉   (英语四级单词)
• weekend [´wi:kend, ,wi:k´end]   n.周末休假   (英语四级单词)
• primarily [´praimərəli, prai´merəli]   ad.首先；主要地   (英语四级单词)
• consistently [kən´sistəntli]   ad.一致地；始终如一地   (英语六级单词)
• animated [´ænimeitid]   a.栩栩如生的；活跃的   (英语六级单词)
• depressed [di´prest]   a.消沉的；萧条的   (英语六级单词)