China’s Film Industry Finally Joins the Space Race中國(guó)電影產(chǎn)業(yè)加入太空競(jìng)賽

史蒂文·李·邁爾斯 英士

The country’s first blockbuster set in space， The Wandering Earth， opens amid grandiose expectations that it will represent the dawning of a new era in Chinese filmmaking.

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.

“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. 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. 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.

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. “It’s like the coming-of-age of the industry，” Zhou said.

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. 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.

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. 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.

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. 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.

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.

“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.” 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.

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.

“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. 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. “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.”

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.

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.

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， 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. “There were not the conditions for science-fiction movies to have an impact at the time.”

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. The conditions now seem ripe. Seeing the The Wandering Earth on the screen， Liu said， was “soul shaking.”

中國(guó)第一部以太空為背景的大片《流浪地球》在萬(wàn)眾期待之中隆重上映，人們普遍認(rèn)為它將代表中國(guó)電影制作新時(shí)代的來(lái)臨。

直到現(xiàn)在，無(wú)論從技術(shù)還是資金上，科幻片都一直令絕大多數(shù)中國(guó)電影制作人難以觸碰。有不少中國(guó)電影人勇于嘗試，拍攝了一系列內(nèi)容宏大且耗資巨大的科幻片，包括講述外星人襲擊地球的《上海堡壘》和講述太空船在荒漠星球墜毀的《拓星者》，而《流浪地球》就是其中之一。

獨(dú)立影評(píng)人周黎明說(shuō)：“中國(guó)的電影制片人視科幻片為‘圣杯’。”他指出，好萊塢已樹(shù)立了很高的技術(shù)標(biāo)桿，觀眾的期望也因而抬高。3D電影《流浪地球》的故事發(fā)生在遙遠(yuǎn)的未來(lái)，那時(shí)的太陽(yáng)即將膨脹成紅色巨星吞噬地球。危險(xiǎn)迫在眉睫，全世界的工程師不得不制訂計(jì)劃，利用巨型推進(jìn)器將地球轉(zhuǎn)移到新的太陽(yáng)系。當(dāng)轉(zhuǎn)移不得不經(jīng)過(guò)木星時(shí)，情況變得十分危急，引發(fā)了拯救人類(lèi)免于滅絕的拼力一搏。

與以往一樣，影片中的特效——比如假設(shè)地球突然離開(kāi)舒適軌道而引發(fā)的災(zāi)難性氣候變化——肯定會(huì)被拿來(lái)與好萊塢的對(duì)比。初步的反響是積極的。周黎明認(rèn)為：“該行業(yè)似乎正逐步走向成熟?！?/p>

《流浪地球》于中國(guó)農(nóng)歷新年法定假期首日上映，這七天假期是中國(guó)傳統(tǒng)上的票房黃金期。該片在美國(guó)、加拿大、澳大利亞和新西蘭會(huì)小規(guī)模上映。在國(guó)內(nèi)，它將與喜劇片《瘋狂的外星人》競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，后者受《外星人E.T.》啟發(fā)，講述了兩兄弟希望借外太空訪客獲利的故事。

《流浪地球》和《瘋狂的外星人》均改編自劉慈欣的作品。劉慈欣在中國(guó)引領(lǐng)了一場(chǎng)科幻小說(shuō)的復(fù)興。2015年，他成為首位斬獲雨果獎(jiǎng)的中國(guó)作家。他的小說(shuō)是恢弘的史詩(shī)，博大精深，那些關(guān)于人類(lèi)面對(duì)危險(xiǎn)宇宙的幻想因而變得頗為可信?！读骼说厍颉返膶?dǎo)演郭帆在北京的一場(chǎng)放映會(huì)上坦承，把這些作品搬上銀幕對(duì)任何電影人都是個(gè)挑戰(zhàn)。

這部由北京京西文化旅游有限公司和國(guó)企中國(guó)電影集團(tuán)公司聯(lián)合出品的影片因此成為行業(yè)的試金石。郭帆（英文名Frant Gwo）指出，中國(guó)觀眾對(duì)此前的很多好萊塢科幻大片反應(yīng)平淡。正因如此，電影公司對(duì)投入各種資源制作令人信服的科幻電影一直非常謹(jǐn)慎。

據(jù)報(bào)道，該片預(yù)算近5000萬(wàn)美元，以好萊塢標(biāo)準(zhǔn)來(lái)衡量并不算高，但在中國(guó)可以說(shuō)是大手筆了。參與制作的有7000多人。影片大部分場(chǎng)景拍攝于新建的東方影都。該影都位于沿海城市青島，由房地產(chǎn)和娛樂(lè)巨頭大連萬(wàn)達(dá)耗資80億美元打造。

曾執(zhí)導(dǎo)浪漫喜劇《同桌的你》的郭帆說(shuō)：“我真心希望這部片子至少不賠錢(qián)。只要不賠錢(qián)，我們就可以接著拍科幻。”劉慈欣小說(shuō)廣受歡迎可能對(duì)影片票房會(huì)有所幫助。最近的兩部好萊塢電影《地心引力》和《火星救援》也可能起到助推作用。這兩部電影在中國(guó)都是賣(mài)座大片，片中的重要情節(jié)不約而同從正面展現(xiàn)了中國(guó)的太空計(jì)劃。

《流浪地球》上映正值中國(guó)在太空領(lǐng)域取得具有里程碑意義的成就：今年1月，中國(guó)的一個(gè)探測(cè)器在月球背面著陸。雖然落后俄羅斯和美國(guó)幾十年，但中國(guó)現(xiàn)已將宇航員送入太空軌道，并制訂了遠(yuǎn)大計(jì)劃邁入甚或引領(lǐng)太空探索新時(shí)代。

中國(guó)電影資料館的電影策展人沙丹主持了一場(chǎng)和郭帆的討論，他說(shuō)：“我認(rèn)為中國(guó)電影和國(guó)家命運(yùn)有著非常緊密的聯(lián)系?！鄙车ぬ崞鹑ツ曛袊?guó)最受歡迎的電影《紅海行動(dòng)》，那是一部動(dòng)作片，大體取材于2015年也門(mén)內(nèi)戰(zhàn)爆發(fā)時(shí)中國(guó)救援?dāng)?shù)百名中國(guó)公民的撤僑行動(dòng)。“當(dāng)我們具備了作戰(zhàn)能力，就能拍出像《紅海行動(dòng)》這樣的電影。”他說(shuō)，意指中國(guó)近年的軍事現(xiàn)代化，“只有中國(guó)具備了進(jìn)入太空時(shí)代的能力，我們才能拍出像《流浪地球》這樣的作品?！?/p>

與《紅海行動(dòng)》和蘭博式英雄痛打西方反派的兩部《戰(zhàn)狼》系列片不同，《流浪地球》并無(wú)大國(guó)主義色彩，不過(guò)該片主角吳京也是《戰(zhàn)狼》的主角，他本人還投資了這部影片。吳京在《流浪地球》中扮演一名登上國(guó)際空間站的宇航員。

郭帆說(shuō)，他有意避免讓吳京的角色成為一個(gè)單打獨(dú)斗的超級(jí)英雄。相反，拯救地球是一項(xiàng)全體參與的行動(dòng)，其中包括一位和藹可親的俄羅斯宇航員。

《流浪地球》自然而然將中國(guó)作為了未來(lái)太空探索的核心，但也展現(xiàn)了應(yīng)對(duì)地球面臨威脅時(shí)國(guó)際合作的必要——這一主題在劉慈欣的小說(shuō)中貫穿始終。劉慈欣在參加一場(chǎng)放映會(huì)時(shí)指出，中國(guó)的科幻電影可以追溯到1930年代，導(dǎo)演楊小仲拍攝了《化身人猿》和《六十年后上海灘》等影片。“當(dāng)時(shí)的條件下，科幻電影無(wú)法產(chǎn)生多大影響?！?/p>

將劉慈欣最著名的三部曲改編為電影的計(jì)劃在2015年立項(xiàng)并投拍第一部《三體》，但據(jù)報(bào)道，由于技術(shù)原因和成本問(wèn)題，后期制作一直處于停滯狀態(tài)。如今，條件似已成熟。劉慈欣說(shuō)，在大銀幕上欣賞《流浪地球》令人“心靈震撼”。

（感謝讀者賈慶文推薦原文）