’Shanghai Fortress’ collapses at box office

　　《上海堡垒》票房扑街

　　It was anticipated to be the top sci-fi film this summer, but Shanghai Fortress has flopped, triggering online debate about the future of Chinese sci-fi films.

　　原本有望成为今年夏天最热门的科幻电影的《上海堡垒》惨遭滑铁卢，这也引发了网上关于中国科幻电影未来的讨论。

　　Starring A-list actress Shu Qi and pop idol Lu Han, the movie opened on 33 percent of the country’s nearly 65,000 screens on Friday, knocking down the phenomenal hit Ne Zha to 27 percent that day.

　　这部由一线女星舒淇和流行偶像鹿晗领衔主演的电影于周五在国内近6.5万家影院上映，首日排片率达33％，力压现象级电影《哪吒》的27％。

　　But, a flood of negative reviews soon pulled Shanghai Fortress down from the top slot, with the screening rate shrinking to 14.4 percent by the next day.

　　但潮水般的负面评论很快将《上海堡垒》从榜首的位置拉了下来，该影片次日的排片率仅为14.4％。

　　On popular film review site Douban, a reference for many theatergoers, Shanghai Fortress also saw its score fall from 4.2 points out of 10 on its debut day to 3.2 points as of Wednesday.

　　在热门影评网站豆瓣（对于许多观影者来说，该网站具有参考价值）上，《上海堡垒》的评分也从上映首日的4.2分（总分为10分）跌至周三的3.2分（总分为10分）。

　　Even worse news was that the film, which reportedly cost around 360 million yuan ($51.1 million) to make, has grossed just 116 million yuan by Wednesday.

　　但更糟糕的是，据报道称，该影片耗资近3.6亿元（约合5110万美元），截至周三电影票房仅为1.16亿元

　　Based on online feedback, the live box-office tracker Maoyan has estimated that the film’s final box office will not surpass 150 million yuan, indicating that its financers will suffer a big loss.

　　实时票房追踪平台猫眼基于网上的反馈预估，这部电影的最终票房不会超过1.5亿元，这意味投资方将血亏。

　　Among all of the unflattering reviews, one comment in particular sums up popular opinion, "While the door for Chinese sci-fi films to thrive was opened by The Wandering Earth, it is being closed by Shanghai Fortress."

　　在所有负面评论中，有一条评论总结了大众的观点：“《流浪地球》打开了中国科幻的一扇门，而《上海堡垒》又给关上了。”

　　Earlier this year, The Wandering Earth, a film based on the novella of the same name by Hugo Award-winning Chinese writer, Liu Cixin, smashed box-office records to rake in 4.66 billion yuan, making it China’s second highest-grossing film of all time and a game changer.

　　在今年年初，根据雨果奖得主、中国作家刘慈欣同名中篇小说改编的电影《流浪地球》以46.6亿元的票房打破了票房纪录，成为了中国有史以来票房第二高的电影，也改变了游戏规则。

　　Shanghai Fortress’ director Teng Huatao, a veteran known for portraying urban romances in films, posted on Sina Weibo about being "upset" that "he had let down the audience".

　　《上海堡垒》的导演滕华涛是一位以描绘都市爱情故事闻名的资深导演，他再新浪微博上对“他让观众们失望了”表示“抱歉”。

　　"As the director, I have an inescapable responsibility ... But I still hope there is a future (production) and that Chinese sci-fi films become better," writes Teng.

　　滕华涛表示：“作为一名导演，我有着不可推卸的责任……但我仍希望未来还有机会（拍摄科幻电影），也希望中国科幻电影会越来越好”。

　　A similar statement on Sina Weibo came from novelist, and the film’s scriptwriter, Yang Zhi, better known by his pseudonym Jiang Nan: "To those who don’t like the film, I am sorry that it didn’t live up to your expectations."

　　原小说作者、该影片编剧杨治（其笔名“江南”更为人所知）在微博上称：“致歉于那些不喜欢电影的朋友，辜负了你的等待。”

　　(全文共365个词，China Daily)

　　重难点词汇：

　　collapse  v. 倒塌；倒下，昏倒；崩溃 n. 崩溃；倒塌

　　unflattering  adj. 不吸引人的，不好看的；耿直的；有损形象的

　　novella  n. 中篇小说；短篇故事

　　pseudonym  n. 笔名；假名