《流浪地球》:中國電影業加入“太空競賽”大綱

BEIJing — China was a latecomer to space exploration, and in the movies, it has been a latecomer to science fiction, too. That is about to change.
北京——中國是太空探索的後來者，在電影領域，也是科幻片的後來者。這種局面即將發生改變。

The country’s first blockbuster set in space, “The Wandering Earth,” opens Tuesday amid grandiose expectations that it will represent the dawning of a new era in Chinese filmmaking.
中國首部以太空爲背景的超級大片《流浪地球》於週二上映，外界對此寄予厚望，認爲該片代表着中國電影製作新時代的曙光。

It is one in a series of ambitious, big-budget films tackling a genre that, until now, has been beyond the reach of most filmmakers here — technically and financially. Those movies include “Shanghai Fortress,” about an alien attack on Earth, and “Pathfinder,” about a spaceship that crashes on a desert planet.
這是中國即將推出的一系列雄心勃勃、耗資巨大的科幻電影中的一部。迄今爲止，這個類型的電影無論從技術上還是投資上，都是國內大多數電影人難以企及的。這些影片包括，關於外星人襲擊地球的《上海堡壘》和講述一艘太空飛船在沙漠星球墜毀的《拓星者》。

“Filmmakers in China see science fiction as a holy grail,” said Raymond Zhou, an independent critic, who noted that Hollywood had set the technological standards, and thus audience expectations, very high.
“中國的電影人把科幻片視爲聖盃，”獨立影評人週黎明說，他指出好萊塢已經樹立了技術標準，因此，觀衆的期待值非常高。

“The Wandering Earth,” shown in 3-D, takes place in a distant future in which the sun is about to expand into a red giant and devour the Earth.
3D電影《流浪地球》發生在遙遠的未來，太陽即將膨脹成一個紅色巨星，吞噬地球。

The impending peril forces the world’s engineers to devise a plan to move the planet to a new solar system using giant thrusters. Things go very badly when Earth has to pass Jupiter, setting off a desperate scramble to save humanity from annihilation.
迫在眉睫的危險迫使全世界的工程師制定了一項計劃，利用巨型推進器將地球送到一個新的太陽系。當地球不得不經過木星時，形勢變得十分危急，從而引發拯救人類免於滅亡的奮力一搏。

The special effects — like the apocalyptic climatic changes that would occur if Earth suddenly moved out of its cozy orbit — are certain to be measured against Hollywood’s, as ever here. And the preliminary reviews have been positive.
就像中國過去拍攝的科幻片一樣，影片中的特效——比如假設地球突然移出它的舒適軌道將引發的災難性氣候變化——肯定會被拿來和好萊塢電影進行對比。但初步反響是正面的。

“It’s like the coming-of-age of the industry,” Zhou said.
“這個行業正漸趨成熟，”周黎明說。

“The Wandering Earth” opens with the Lunar New Year, the beginning of an official, weeklong holiday that is traditionally a peak box-office period in China. It has a limited release in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
《流浪地球》上映於爲期7天的農曆新年法定假期開始之時，在中國這是傳統上的黃金檔期。該片在美國、加拿大、澳大利亞和新西蘭做有限上映。

At home, it will compete with “Crazy Alien,” a comedy inspired by “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” about two brothers hoping to capitalize on the arrival of a visitor from outer space.
在國內，它將和《瘋狂的外星人》競爭，這部受 《E.T.外星人》(E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial)啓發的喜劇片，講述的是兩個好兄弟希望借外太空訪客謀財的故事。

Both “The Wandering Earth” and “Crazy Alien” are adapted from works by Liu Cixin, the writer who has led a renaissance in science fiction here, becoming the first Chinese winner of the Hugo Award for the genre in 2015.
《流浪地球》和《瘋狂的外星人》均改編自劉慈欣的作品，這位作家在中國引領了一場科幻小說復興，2015年，他成爲首位獲得雨果獎的中國作家。

His novels are sprawling epics and deeply researched. That makes them plausible fantasies about humanity’s encounters with a dangerous universe. Translating them into movies would challenge any filmmaker, as the director of “The Wandering Earth,” Guo Fan, acknowledged during a screening in Beijing last week.
他的小說敘事宏大，同時研究深入細緻。因此，這些作品在講述人類在危險宇宙中的境遇時，幻想似乎是可信的。《流浪地球》導演郭帆上週在北京的看片會上承認，把這些作品搬上銀幕，對任何電影人都是個挑戰。

That has made the film, produced by Beijing Jingxi Culture & Tourism Company and the state-owned China Film Group Corp., a test for the industry.
這使得由北京京西文化旅遊有限公司和國有的中國電影集團公司聯合制作的這部影片，成爲行業的試金石。

Guo, who uses the name Frant Gwo in English, noted that Chinese audiences have responded coolly to many of Hollywood’s previous sci-fi blockbusters. Studios, therefore, have been wary of investing the resources required to make convincing sci-fi.
郭帆指出，中國觀衆對好萊塢此前的很多科幻大片反應平平。因此，電影公司對於投入資源製作有說服力的科幻電影一直很謹慎。

The film’s budget reportedly reached nearly $50 million, modest by Hollywood standards but still significant here in China. More than 7,000 people were involved in the production. Much of it was filmed in the new Oriental Movie Metropolis, an $8 billion studio in the coast city of Qingdao, built by the real estate and entertainment giant Dalian Wanda.
據報道，這部電影的預算接近5000萬美元，以好萊塢標準來看不算高，但在中國可以說是大手筆。7000多人蔘與了製作。其中大部分拍攝於新建的東方影都，這個影城位於沿海城市青島，由房地產和娛樂巨頭大連萬達耗資80億美元打造。

“I really hope that this movie will not lose money at least,” said Guo, whose previous film, “My Old Classmate,” was a romantic comedy. “As long as this one does not lose money, we can continue to make science-fiction films.”
“其實我個人來講是特別期望這部科幻片它至少不賠錢，“郭帆說，他之前的電影《同桌的你》是一部浪漫喜劇。“它只要不賠錢，我們就可以接着去拍科幻片。”

The popularity of Liu’s novels could help. So could two recent Hollywood films, “Gravity” and “The Martian.” Both included important plot twists that, not incidentally, cast China’s space program in a positive light, and both were huge hits here.
劉慈欣的小說大受歡迎可能也有所幫助。最近的兩部好萊塢電影《地心引力》(Gravity)和《火星救援》(The Martian)也起到推波助瀾的作用。這兩部電影中都有重要的情節轉折，從正面展現了中國的太空計劃（這絕非偶然），它們在中國都成了賣座大片。

The openings also come as China reached a milestone in space: the landing of a probe on the far side of the moon in January. Although decades behind Russia and the United States, China has now put astronauts in orbit and has ambitious plans to join — or even lead — a new age of space exploration.
這部影片的上映也正值中國太空計劃取得里程碑成就之際：今年1月，中國的一個探測器在月球背面着陸。儘管落後於俄羅斯和美國幾十年，中國現在已將宇航員送入太空軌道，並制定了雄心勃勃的計劃進入太空探索的新時代，甚至要在其中發揮領導作用。

“I think there is a very close connection between Chinese cinema and the nation’s fortunes,” said Sha Dan, a curator at the China Film Archive, who moderated a discussion with Guo.
“其實我覺得中國電影和中國的國運之間有非常緊密的一些聯繫，”中國電影資料館的節目策劃沙丹說。他主持了和郭帆的一次討論。

He cited the most popular film in China last year: “Operation Red Sea,” an action drama loosely based on the Chinese rescue of several hundred civilians from Yemen when war erupted there in 2015.
沙丹提起去年中國最受歡迎的電影《紅海行動》。這部動作片大體上取材於2015年也門內戰爆發時，中國從也門撤出數百名平民的故事。

“When we have the ability to go to war, we can make movies like ‘Operation Red Sea,’” he said, alluding to China’s military modernization in recent years. “Only when China can enter the space era can we make works like ‘The Wandering Earth.’”
“比如說有戰爭這種打仗能力的時候，我們才能拍出像《紅海行動》這樣的電影，”他說。他指的是中國近年來的軍事現代化。“中國可以進入到太空時代，我們才能拍出像《流浪地球》這樣的作品。”

Unlike “Operation Red Sea” or the two “Wolf Warrior” movies, which featured a Rambo-like hero battling Western villains, “The Wandering Earth” is not jingoistic, though it does star Wu Jing, the hero of the “Wolf Warrior” films, who put up his own investment in the project. He plays an astronaut aboard an international space station who has to contend with a HAL-like computer.
與《紅海行動》和兩部英雄痛打西方惡棍的蘭博式《戰狼》不同，《流浪地球》並不帶有沙文主義色彩，儘管該片中也有《戰狼》系列的主角吳京，他本人還投資了該片。吳京在《流浪地球》中扮演一名國際空間站的宇航員，必須和一臺有點像哈爾(HAL)的電腦做鬥爭。

Guo said he consciously avoided making Wu’s character a do-it-alone superhero. The fight to save Earth is fought instead by an ensemble, including an affable Russian cosmonaut who explains why his country prohibited alcohol in space, at least officially. (To say more would be a spoiler.)
郭帆說，他有意識地避免讓吳京的角色成爲一個單打獨鬥的超級英雄。相反，拯救地球的戰鬥是由一個團體進行的，其中包括一位和藹可親的俄羅斯宇航員，他解釋了爲什麼俄羅斯禁止在太空飲酒，至少官方規定是這樣。（再說就劇透了。）

“The Wandering Earth” takes for granted China’s central role in future space exploration, but it also has a vision of the international collaboration necessary to cope with the threats facing the planet, a theme that runs deeply through Liu’s fiction. Liu, who attended a screening last week, noted that science-fiction films in China dated as far back as the 1930s, when the director Yang Xiaozhong made ones like “Exchanged” and “Visiting Shanghai After 60 Years,” but those were largely forgotten here after the Communist revolution in 1949.
《流浪地球》默認中國在未來的太空探索中扮演核心角色，但它也看到，要應對地球面臨的威脅，國際合作是必需的，這一主題在劉慈欣的小說中貫穿始終。上週劉慈欣在參加一場放映會時指出，中國的科幻電影可以追溯到1930年代，當時導演楊小仲拍攝了《化身人猿》 和《六十年後上海灘》等電影，但1949年共產主義革命之後，這些電影在中國基本上被遺忘了。

A 1980 movie, “Death Ray on Coral Island,” was a campy, propagandistic flop. There have been few attempts since.
1980年的科幻電影《珊瑚島上的死光》是一部做作、充滿政治宣傳的失敗之作。從那以後就很少有人嘗試這個類型了。

“This is mainly because Chinese society is relatively closed and conservative,” Liu said in a written response to questions. “There were not the conditions for science-fiction movies to have an impact.”
“這主要是因爲以前的中國社會較爲封閉和保守，”劉慈欣接受書面採訪時說。“科幻電影不具備產生較大影響力的條件。”

A film project based on Liu’s best-known work, the trilogy that began with “The Three-Body Problem,” was optioned and even filmed in 2015 but has since languished in postproduction, reportedly because of technical challenges and costs.
將劉慈欣最著名的三部曲《三體》改編爲電影的計劃於2015年被選中，甚至進行了拍攝，但是據報道，由於技術上的挑戰和成本問題，後期製作一直處於停滯狀態。

The conditions now seem ripe. Seeing the “The Wandering Earth” on the screen, Liu said, was “soul shaking.”
現在條件似乎成熟了。劉慈欣說，在大屏幕上看到《流浪地球》，“震撼心靈。”