中國政府對電影明星片酬設(shè)限
香港——中國的電影明星們賺的錢不遜于他們的好萊塢同行，甚至更多。中國政府對此可不怎么高興。
So officials moved this week to cap how much A-listers can make, citing potential damage to a fast-growing movie industry.
于是，官員們本周采取行動，以可能傷害快速增長的電影行業(yè)為由，對一線明星的酬勞設(shè)限。
Movie star pay may seem like an issue for producers and trade magazines rather than for the Chinese Communist Party. But the government hopes to nurture the industry into an economic and cultural force to rival the soft power that Hollywood has long enjoyed around the world. Extravagant paychecks and waste could hinder that effort.
看上去，電影明星的片酬本應(yīng)該是制片人和行業(yè)雜志關(guān)注的問題，而非中國共產(chǎn)黨會在乎的問題。但政府希望能將這個行業(yè)培養(yǎng)為一股經(jīng)濟、文化力量，與好萊塢在世界各地一直以來擁有的軟實力相抗衡。過高的片酬和浪費可能會阻礙這一努力。
China’s movie industry has blossomed in recent years, as economic growth and a rising middle class have put more people in theater seats. Ticket sales in China totaled about $8 billion last year, Chinese media reported, compared with $11 billion for the North American market. The Chinese box office even exceeded North America’s in the first few months of this year, according to one report.
隨著經(jīng)濟增長、中產(chǎn)階級壯大、越來越多的人進入電影院，中國的電影產(chǎn)業(yè)近年來發(fā)展迅速。據(jù)中國媒體報道，中國去年的票房達到了約80億美元，而北美市場的票房則是110億美元。據(jù)一份報告顯示，今年頭幾個月，中國的票房甚至超過了北美。
With those numbers have come some Hollywood-style paychecks — many of them going to actors who are not well known outside China. The Chinese actress Fan Binbing, for example, earned $17 million in 2016, according to a Forbes magazine ranking of the world’s best-paid actresses — more than familiar Hollywood faces like Charlize Theron and Julia Roberts. (She did not appear on the 2017 list.)
伴隨著這一成績的，是一些好萊塢式的片酬——其中許多都給了名氣并未走出中國的演員。例如，根據(jù)《福布斯》(Forbes)雜志一項對全球片酬最高女演員的排名，中國演員范冰冰2016年掙得1700萬美元——比查理茲·塞隆(Charlize Theron)和茱莉亞·羅伯茨(Julia Roberts)這樣的好萊塢熟面孔的片酬還高(她沒有出現(xiàn)在2017年的排名中)。
Ms. Fan, 36, has had largely superfluous parts in “X-Men: Days of Future Past” and a version of “Iron Man 3” meant for audiences outside the United States, as Hollywood finds supporting roles for Chinese actors in hopes of selling more tickets in a hot new market. She is set to appear in the all-female espionage thriller “355,” which also stars Jessica Chastain and Lupita Nyong’o.
好萊塢為了在熱門新市場里取得好的票房，會為中國演員安排配角，現(xiàn)年36歲的范冰冰曾在《X戰(zhàn)警：逆轉(zhuǎn)未來》(X-Men: Days of Future Past)和海外特供版的《鋼鐵俠3》(Iron Man 3)中扮演過基本上是花瓶的角色。她還將出現(xiàn)在全為女性主角的間諜驚悚片《355》中，出演該片還有杰西卡·查斯坦(Jessica Chastain)和露皮塔·尼永奧(Lupita Nyong’o)。
In China, however, Ms. Fan is one of the country’s most familiar faces. She shot to fame after appearing in the popular imperial palace drama “My Fair Princess” in the late 1990s. She has appeared in numerous films, such as “Chongqing Blues,” which competed at the Cannes Film Festival in 2010. One woman has even had plastic surgery to look like Ms. Fan, according to local news outlets.
然而，范冰冰在中國是知名度最高的明星之一。上世紀90年代末，她在參演廣受歡迎的宮廷戲《還珠格格》而一舉成名。她還出現(xiàn)在多部電影中，例如2010年的戛納電影節(jié)參賽片《日照重慶》。據(jù)地方新聞媒體報道，一名女子甚至以范冰冰為模版做了整容手術(shù)。
Ms. Fan drew less welcome headlines in May, when a popular television presenter accused her of trying to dodge taxes. As evidence, the presenter, Cui Yongyuan, posted on social media what he said were two versions of a contract for the same film. According to one, she was paid about $1.6 million for four days’ work; in the other, she was paid an extra $7.8 million.
五月，范冰冰因為負面新聞登上頭條，當時一位著名主持人崔永元指控她試圖逃稅。作為證據(jù)，崔永元在社交媒體上貼出了他所說的同一部電影的兩個合約版本。據(jù)其中一份合同顯示，她工作四天就獲得了約160萬美元的報酬;在另一份合同中，她又獲得了780萬美元的額外報酬。
It is not clear whether the contracts are real, and Ms. Fan accused Mr. Cui of slandering her. But soon after Mr. Cui made his accusations, the Chinese tax authorities began investigating whether the movie industry was giving big-time actors two contracts, a public one to be reported to the tax authorities and a covert one promising a large bonus. In China, the practice has come to be known as “yin and yang contracts.”
尚不清楚這些合同的真實性，范冰冰則指控崔永元誹謗。但就在崔永元作出指控不久后，中國的稅務(wù)部門開始調(diào)查電影行業(yè)是否跟大牌演員簽兩份合同，公開的一份上報給稅務(wù)局，秘密的一份則許以巨額獎金。在中國，這種做法被稱為“陰陽合同”。
In an announcement on Wednesday, the Chinese tax authorities said such practices made China’s film industry too focused on money. It said that leading actors would not be permitted to earn more than 70 percent of the full cast, or to be paid more than 40 percent of production costs. Ms. Fan was not mentioned.
周三，在一則聲明中，中國稅務(wù)部門表示，此類行為導(dǎo)致電影行業(yè)過于著重金錢。當局表示，主要演員的片酬不能超過總片酬的70%，或者超過制作總成本的40%。聲明中沒有提及范冰冰。
The announcement also criticized the film industry as “distorting social values” and “fostering money worship tendencies” among young people who are “blindly chasing celebrities.”
這則聲明還批評電影行業(yè)誤導(dǎo)青少年“盲目追星”，“扭曲社會價值觀念”以及“滋長拜金主義傾向”。
The Chinese government has long been both cheerleader and disciplinarian when it comes to the movie business. It restricts how many foreign-made movies can be shown in China, in part to leave room for domestic productions. But it also limits the kinds of stories that directors, writers and actors can tell — for example, forbidding themes like spirituality, or showing crime in anything other than a negative light. Increasingly, Hollywood filmmakers have bowed to Chinese box-office pressures and removed material that could offend officials.
中國政府長期以來都是電影行業(yè)的啦啦隊長和紀律執(zhí)行者。它對在中國上映的外國電影數(shù)量嚴加限制，部分是為了給國產(chǎn)片留有空間。但政府也對導(dǎo)演、編劇和演員們能講述的故事設(shè)限——例如，禁止靈性信仰類，或以負面角度之外的方式呈現(xiàn)犯罪。好萊塢的電影制作人越來越多地屈服于中國票房的壓力，刪除可能冒犯官員的內(nèi)容。
While the Chinese market has grown, Chinese movies still trail far behind Hollywood in terms of global viewership. “Wolf Warrior 2,” a Rambo-style film about Chinese action heroes, was one of the biggest movies in the world last year, according to Box Office Mojo, which tracks ticket sales. But it still trailed American blockbusters like “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and the latest installments of “The Fast and the Furious” and the “Spider-Man” franchises, among others.
在中國電影市場增長的同時，但中國電影的全球觀眾人數(shù)遠遠落后于好萊塢。據(jù)追蹤票房的Box Office Mojo的數(shù)據(jù)，蘭博風(fēng)格的動作英雄片《戰(zhàn)狼2》是去年全球最成功的作品之一。但它仍落后于一眾好萊塢影片，包括《星球大戰(zhàn)：最后的絕地武士》(Star Wars: The Last Jedi)、《速度與激情》(The Fast and the Furious)最新的一部以及《蜘蛛俠》(Spider-Man)系列。
