中國電影走向世界,不缺金錢缺故事

LOS ANGELES — Investment capital? They're loaded.

洛杉磯——投資？他們多的是。

Film studios? They are promising to build the world's fanciest.

電影工作室？他們承諾要修建世界上最先進的。

As for movie stars, few are more dazzling than Li Bingbing, who was an honored guest here on Tuesday at the annual U.S.-China Film Summit.

說到電影明星，沒幾個人能比李冰冰更加引人注目，而她也應邀參加了週二在洛杉磯舉行的中美電影年度峯會。

But China's ambitious new film entrepreneurs, dozens of whom gathered in the Los Angeles area this week for the summit meeting, the American Film Market and other events, are still searching for something that has largely eluded them: a homemade global hit.

但是，中國野心勃勃的新電影企業家仍在尋找一樣很難找到的東西：中國自制的國際大片。本週，數十名這樣的企業家聚在洛杉磯參加此次峯會、美國電影市場大會(American Film Market)和其他活動。

"We have 5,000 years of history. We have lots of stories," said Yang Buting, the chairman of the China Film Distribution and Exhibition Association, who spoke on a panel at the gathering on Tuesday.

中國電影發行放映協會會長楊步亭在週二的一次小組會議上說，“我們擁有5000年的歷史。我們有很多故事。”

But, Mr. Yang added, "to create movies that are universally appealing, that is an issue for us."

但是，楊步亭補充說，“怎樣創作具有普遍吸引力的電影，對我們來說是個問題。”

China's domestic box office is now the world's second-largest, behind the United States, with an expected $3.5 billion in sales this year. That growing market has been pursued aggressively, and with considerable success, by Hollywood, whose studios — to capture a mainland audience for films like "Iron Man 3" or "Pacific Rim"— have worked with Chinese partners, added Chinese subplots and bent over backward to satisfy China's watchful censors.

目前，中國國內的票房收入排名世界第二，僅次於美國，今年的票房收入預計爲35億美元（約合213億元人民幣）。好萊塢(Hollywood)一直在大力爭取這個不斷增長的市場，而且也取得了很大的成功。爲了讓《鋼鐵俠3》(Iron Man 3)和《環太平洋》(Pacific Rim)等電影吸引內地觀衆，好萊塢的電影工作室與中國夥伴進行了合作，增加了有中國元素的情節，還爲滿足高度警惕的中國審查者的要求而做出了讓步。

But a perhaps tougher struggle confronts Chinese film executives who dream of making movies that will be seen not just at home, but also by a measurable number of viewers in the United States and elsewhere.

然而，要想製作不僅在中國放映，還能在美國和世界其他地區獲得大量觀衆的電影，中國電影業高管還面臨着一個或許更艱難的挑戰。

"We lack international experience, in general," said Yu Dong, the chief executive of China's Bona Film Group, which is about 20 percent owned by 21st Century Fox.

“總體上說，我們缺乏國際經驗，”中國博納影業集團的首席執行官於冬說。該集團約有20%的股份歸21世紀福克斯(21st Century Fox)所有。

Mr. Yu, who spoke over coffee at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills this week, referred to a growing group of film companies that are smaller than the giant state-owned China Film Group, but share ambitions to play on the world stage.

本週，在貝弗利山莊(Beverly Hills)半島酒店(Peninsula Hotel)喝咖啡時，於冬提到了一些規模小於國有的中國電影集團(China Film Group)的電影公司，這些公司也希望能在世界舞臺上有所作爲，數目還越來越多。

"Every producer I've met has told me they want to reach the world audience," said Rob Cain, a film consultant who is working with Chinese companies that hope to crack the global market, despite robust growth at home.

“我遇到的每個製片人都告訴我，他們希望走進世界市場，”正在與一些中國公司進行合作的電影顧問羅伯·凱恩(Rob Cain)說。雖然國內市場增長強勁，但這些公司還希望進軍國際市場。

At home, ticket sales have been rising about 35 percent annually. And they show no sign of letting up, as the number of movie screens, which has been rising at a similar rate and promises to reach about 18,000 this year, continues its expansion into smaller markets. Also, China's domestic box office has recently tilted toward Chinese films rather than foreign imports.

中國國內票房的年增長率約爲35%。這個勢頭似乎不會減弱，因爲正在以相似速度增長的電影銀幕仍在向較小的市場進軍，有望在今年達到1.8萬塊左右。此外，中國國內的票房近期已經向中國電影而非進口電影傾斜。

But the urge to export movies, Mr. Cain said, has much to do with the Chinese government's promotion of what is often called "soft power"— the ability to project influence through nonmilitary means, including, of course, the film business.

但是，凱恩說，出口電影的慾望與中國政府宣揚的所謂“軟實力”有很大關係。軟實力即通過非軍事手段施加影響力的能力，其中當然包括電影。

"If you're trying to score points with the Communist Party and the central government, you want to support their soft-power agenda, to help spread the culture," he said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

週三，他在電話採訪中說，“想讓共產黨和中央政府喜歡你，你就要支持他們的軟實力議程，幫他們傳播文化。”

Wang Jianlin, chairman of the Dalian Wanda Group, staged a remarkable show of such strength in September, when he hosted Nicole Kidman, Leonardo DiCaprio, Harvey Weinstein and other Hollywood luminaries at his company's celebration of a planned studio and entertainment complex in the beach city of Qingdao.

今年9月，大連萬達集團的主席王健林通過一場引人注目的表演展示了這種力量。在萬達於海濱城市青島舉行的工作室和娛樂產業園區開工典禮上，他成功邀請到了妮可·基德曼(Nicole Kidman)、萊昂納多·迪卡普里奧(Leonardo DiCaprio)和哈維·韋恩斯坦(Harvey Weinstein)，以及其他一些好萊塢大腕。

Styled the "Qingdao Oriental Movie Metropolis," Wanda's proposed development is projected to cost as much as $8.2 billion, and would match or surpass the capacity of studios in the United States.

萬達的開發項目名爲青島東方影都，預計耗資82億美元(約合500億元人民幣)，製作能力將達到或超過美國的製片廠。

But nothing would speak louder than a globe-spanning hit.

但是，什麼也不如一部全球熱映的影片有說服力。

In the United States, the best-selling Chinese-language film to date remains "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," which had about $128 million in North American ticket sales after its release by Sony Pictures Classics in 2000. Since then, some international blockbusters have had Chinese backers, co-stars and settings; but they mostly have been Hollywood products with a Chinese veneer.

在美國，迄今爲止最暢銷的中文電影仍是《臥虎藏龍》(Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)。索尼經典電影公司(Sony Pictures Classics)於2000年發行《臥虎藏龍》，在北美收穫了大約1.28億美元的票房。此後，一些國際大片利用了中國的贊助商、演員及背景，但它們大多隻是包含中國元素的好萊塢製作。

In a next wave, China's emerging film companies are proposing to reverse the equation, by finding Chinese stories with global appeal and just enough American content or backing to attract viewers who have grown comfortable with Hollywood-style movies.

在下一個浪潮中，中國的新興電影公司打算扭轉這個模式，尋找具有全球吸引力的故事，其中要包含適當的美國內容或背景，以便吸引那些已經習慣好萊塢式電影的觀衆。

As Mr. Yu puts it, any Chinese film with international ambitions must be rooted what he called "an American way of looking at China."

就像於冬說的那樣，有國際抱負的中國電影都必須根植於他所謂的“美國看中國的方式”。

His own company's best bet, Mr. Yu said, is a planned action thriller, called "Moscow Mission," about six Chinese police officers who tackle crime on the Beijing-to-Moscow train. "There will be a lot of English dialogue, but with a Chinese story," he said of the film, which is still in the script stage.

於冬表示，他自己公司最有希望的項目是一部計劃中的動作驚悚片。這部名爲《莫斯科任務》(Moscow Mission)的影片講述了六名中國警察在北京至莫斯科的列車上抗擊罪行的故事。他提到該影片時說，“會有大量英文對白，但這是一箇中國故事。”該影片還在編劇階段。

Still, the difficulty of marketing such hybrids was underscored last weekend by the modest performance of "Man of Tai Chi," a Chinese-American co-production that starred Keanu Reeves.

不過，上週末，由基努·裏維斯(Keanu Reeves)主演的中美合拍影片《太極俠》(Man of Tai Chi)表現不佳，突顯出此類混合製品存在營銷困難。

The film, which has dialogue in English, Mandarin and Cantonese, sold few tickets when it was released on a handful of screens in the United States by Radius-TWC. It was nonetheless featured as a model Chinese-American co-production in a Monday night presentation at Universal Studios by Chinese officials and filmmakers, as well as Christopher J. Dodd, the chief executive of the Motion Picture Association of America.

這部包含英語、國語及粵語對白的影片在北美一些影院上映，只售出了少量影票，影片的發行商是Radius-TWC。儘管如此，環球影城(Universal Studios)還是於週一晚間呈現了這部電影，中國官員、中國電影製作人以及美國電影協會(Motion Picture Association of America)首席執行官克里斯托弗·J·多德(Christopher J. Dodd)都稱之爲中美聯合制作的典範。

An enduring challenge for Chinese filmmakers who want to go global is their own government's insistence on tight control of film content through a still-rigorous censorship apparatus.

想進軍國際市場的中國電影製作人面臨一個持久的挑戰，即中國政府堅持通過依舊嚴厲的審查機構來嚴格控制影片內容。

"We want to see positive Chinese images," Zhang Xun, president of the China Film Co-Production Corporation, told those assembled at the film conference on Tuesday. To underscore her point, Ms. Zhang ticked off "hot spots" to be avoided, including excessive violence and horror, scenes that might offend third countries and potentially volatile religious references.

週二，中國電影合作製片公司總經理張恂告訴此次電影會議的與會人士，“我們希望看到正面的中國形象。”爲了強調她的觀點，張恂列舉了一些需要避開的“危險地帶”，比如過度的暴力和恐怖內容，可能冒犯第三國的場景，以及可能引發不滿的宗教內容。

Some executives have concluded that the fantasy or historical adventure genres, which largely sidestep those concerns, are likely to spawn the next real Chinese global blockbuster.

一些高管已經斷定，奇幻或歷史冒險題材可能會催生下一部真正的中國產國際大片，此類影片在很大程度上避開了這些擔憂。

Zhang Zhao, the chief executive of Le Vision Pictures, for instance, said in a Tuesday interview that his company was developing what it hoped would be a universal hit, based on the classic Chinese novel "Water Margin," about outlaws and spirits during the Song Dynasty, a thousand years ago.

例如，樂視影業首席執行官張昭週二接受採訪時表示，該公司計劃根據中國古典名著《水滸傳》拍攝一部國際大片，《水滸傳》講述了1000年前的宋朝一些亡命之徒的故事。

Mr. Zhang said he believed the global breakthrough for China would come "very soon," though, earlier in the day, he sounded a cautious note on the subject.

張昭表示，他認爲，中國電影的全球性突破“很快”就會到來。不過，當天早些時候，他對此持謹慎態度。

"I don't think Chinese films can travel the world all that well," he warned peers during a panel discussion.

他在參加小組討論時提醒同行，“我認爲，中國電影的世界之旅不會一帆風順。”

But, Mr. Yu, of the Bona Film Group, contended that to conquer the movie universe, it is really only necessary to prevail in two places, the United States and China.

但博納影業集團的於冬認爲，要征服電影世界，在兩個地方取得成功就行了——美國和中國。

"If we are able to play a part in these two markets, we pretty much control a majority of the world," he said.

他說，“如果能在這兩個市場佔據一席之地，我們就在很大程度上控制了過半的全球市場。”