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Hang up your cape, Superman. Here comes the Annihilator–all the way from China.
超人，掛起你的披風吧。歡迎從中國遠道而來的"超能俠"(Annihilator)。
Perhaps seeking to promote the country as one of the good guys, China is financing a Hollywood movie featuring a Chinese superhero who saves the world. The character has been invented by Stan Lee, the 89-year-old creator of figures such as Hulk and Ironman.
或許是為了宣傳自身正義的國家形象，中國參與投資了一部講述中國超級英雄拯救世界的好萊塢電影。影片角色出自斯坦?李(Stan Lee)之手，這位89歲的老人創作了綠巨人(Hulk)、鋼鐵俠(Ironman)等經典形象。
The Annihilator, the protagonist of the 3D movie scheduled to open in 2014, "trains in Qigong in China and then comes to America, where he becomes a superman by coincidence," Wang Guowei, president of National Film Capital, the state-backed film fund, told the FT.
這部以"超能俠"為主角的3D影片計劃于2014年上映。國影投資管理有限公司(National Film Capital，簡稱國影投資)總裁王國偉對英國《金融時報》表示："超能俠在中國學習氣功，之后來到美國，并在美國偶然成為了超能力者。"國影基金是一只有政府背景的電影產業基金。
"Then he returns to rescue the world – including China – from a crisis. By including the idea of China rescuing the world, it competes with the "China threat" theory."
王國偉說："之后，他為整個世界——包括中國——化解了一場危機。影片融入了中國拯救世界的思想，以此對抗‘中國威脅論'。"
China's ruling Communist party has long lamented that its "soft" power falls far short of that of the US. Efforts to improve matters, however, have been hampered by an overeager propaganda agenda.
長期以來，中國執政黨共產黨一直有感于中美在"軟實力"方面的巨大差距。然而，過分急切的輿論宣傳攻勢對中國提升"軟實力"的努力構成了負面影響。
Mr Wang said this would change. "Our country puts too much emphasis on going out" – projecting itself abroad. "The harder you strive to do that, the less you will succeed," he added, noting that Chinese film exports were "almost zero".
王國偉指出，未來這種情況有望改觀。他表示，"我們國家太強調‘走出去'了"，在國外展示自己的文化，"但宣傳力度越猛，越難以取得好效果"。他補充說，中國電影的版權出口收入"幾乎可以忽略不計"。
It was a myth that Chinese ideology was always different from other peoples' thinking, Mr Wang said; 98 per cent of Chinese values were in line with global values.
王國偉稱，有關中國人的意識形態與其他國家不同的說法是毫無依據的，中國價值觀98%都與世界價值觀一致。
The Annihilator demonstrates China's fast-growing influence in the global film industry thanks to its booming market. The project tops a list of 10 international films National Film Capital said at the Shanghai Film festival it would co-finance, with a total investment of $230m.
"超能俠"的投拍反映出中國在全球電影業中的影響力正迅速增強，這主要得益于中國電影市場的蓬勃發展。"超能俠"是國影投資在上海電影節上宣布將參與投資的十部國際大片中的第一部。十部合拍片的計劃投資總額達到2.3億美元。
Most of The Annihilator's $100m budget will come from China, though much of the artistic input is from the US, with a script written by Dan Gilroy, author of The Bourne Legacy, and being developed by Hollywood-based Magic Storm Entertainment.
"超能俠"的1億美元制作預算將主要由中國提供，藝術創作投入則將主要來自美國。影片劇本將由《諜影重重4：伯恩的遺產》(The Bourne Legacy)編劇丹?吉爾羅伊(Dan Gilroy)操刀，制片方則是位于好萊塢的魔力風暴娛樂公司(Magic Storm Entertainment)。
Chinese box-office sales jumped 30 per cent last year to $1.2bn, compared with flat or shrinking sales in other major markets including the US. In the first quarter this year, China surpassed Japan as the world's second-largest movie market by ticket sales, making it the largest foreign market for Hollywood.
中國電影票房收入去年增長30%達到12億美元，包括美國在內的其他主要市場票房收入則持平或出現下滑。今年第一季度，中國超過日本成為按票房計全球第二大電影市場，中國也因此成為好萊塢最大的海外市場。
While more than 70 per cent of Chinese film ticket sales came from Hollywood productions, the country retains tight limits on such showings. That means that co-productions, which are exempt from the quota for foreign films, are Hollywood's best bet for a bigger piece of the pie – an expectation reflected in a wave of China-US co-production and film investment announcements over the past year.
雖然中國電影票房收入中來自好萊塢制作的比重超過70%，但中國對此類影片的放映仍有嚴格限制。這表明，免受進口電影配額限制的合拍片是好萊塢進一步提升其在中國電影市場份額的最佳選擇。從去年公布的一連串中美聯合制作及電影投資計劃中即可反映出好萊塢深挖中國電影市場的急切心情。
National Film Capital, founded by a number of state-backed institutions, is chaired by Yang Buting, a former head of China Film Group, the country's state-owned studio and distributor. After lying dormant for years following its 2008 creation, it got active in February with the creation of a new fund for Hollywood investments.
國影投資由數家具有政府背景的機構發起成立，楊步亭擔任董事長。楊步亭此前曾任國有電影制作與發行機構中國電影集團(China Film Group)董事長。國影投資自2008年成立以來經歷了數年沉寂。今年2月，它積極活動成立了一只投資好萊塢制作的新基金。
