Movie World May Have More Chinese Superheros

　　Superhero films have been quite successful recently here in China.

 

　　And it's now being said that this could lead to films with a more Chinese focus.

 

　　Marc Cavigli has more.

 

　　The prevalence and popularity of superheroes in today's culture has grown to an overwhelming degree.

 

　　One needs to just look at the top ten highest grossing superhero films of all time, which all appeared in the last ten years and so far have grossed over 8.5-billion US dollars worldwide.

 

　　Joe Ferrara is a superhero expert and comic book storeowner in Santa Cruz, California.

 

　　He explains why audiences find superheroes so fascinating.

 

　　"It crosses every demographic. The superhero genre¹ is the epitome² of the best in us and who set the tone for our morals and inspire us to be greater than we are."

 

　　As time goes on, China continues to prove to be a major contributing force to the success of superhero films.

 

　　Hollywood studios have taken note and have started catering³ to Chinese audiences.

 

　　The Chinese version of Iron Man 3 featured several additional minutes with Chinese actors Fan Bingbing and Wang Xueqi.

 

　　US director Michael Bay recently revealed the upcoming Transformers 4 will have a heavy Chinese element and feature Chinese actors.

 

　　American superheroes have struck a chord with Chinese audiences though some wonder why.

 

　　Ferrara offers insight into why superheroes are successful despite different cultures.

 

　　"The main reason why heroes are needed in any culture to give everyone something to aspire⁴ to and today's choice of hero is primarily the superhero."

 

　　Comic book guru Stan Lee, the man partly responsible for superheroes such as the Fantastic Four, Spiderman, and the X-Men is developing a new Chinese superhero called The Annihilator⁵.

 

　　His character is a young Chinese man named Ming who undergoes a series of experimental procedures that grant him extraordinary powers.

 

　　The character is being taken quite seriously as it will be the focus of a feature length film.

 

　　The Chinese state-run National Film Capital will co-produce the film with Lee to bring the Annihilator to theaters worldwide.

 

　　The big question on everyone's mind is whether The Annihilator will find international success, especially at the US box office.

 

　　Ferrara points out if it is a success we may begin to see more Asian influenced stories.

 

　　"Any artistic⁶ endeavor is going to fail or succeed on its own merits. Whose to say we're not going to have another whole mythos that comes out of a universe of heroes that come from an Asian influence?"

 

　　The Annihilator is only the beginning though as the National Film Capital plans to partly fund several more joint⁷ projects."

 

　　The relationship could be a big boon⁸ for Chinese-US entertainment ties and herald⁹ in a new era of creative international cooperation.

 

　　For CRI, I'm Marc Cavigli.

1 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

2 epitome   

n.典型，梗概

参考例句：

• He is the epitome of goodness.他是善良的典范。
• This handbook is a neat epitome of everyday hygiene.这本手册概括了日常卫生的要点。

3 catering   

n. 给养

参考例句：

• Most of our work now involves catering for weddings. 我们现在的工作多半是承办婚宴。
• Who did the catering for your son's wedding? 你儿子的婚宴是由谁承办的？

4 aspire   

vi.(to，after)渴望，追求，有志于

参考例句：

• Living together with you is what I aspire toward in my life.和你一起生活是我一生最大的愿望。
• I aspire to be an innovator not a follower.我迫切希望能变成个开创者而不是跟随者。

5 annihilator   

n.歼灭者，消灭者；灭火器；零化子

参考例句：

• Annihilator police helicopter: Collect all 200 pigeons (flying rats) . 一架警用直升机零化子：收集所有200只鸽子（飞鼠）。 来自互联网
• Annihilator plays an important role in studying dual-rings, quasi-dual rings and dual-bimodules. 零化子在研究对偶环，拟对偶环及对偶双边模中起着非常重要的作用。 来自互联网

6 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

7 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

8 boon   

n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠

参考例句：

• A car is a real boon when you live in the country.在郊外居住，有辆汽车确实极为方便。
• These machines have proved a real boon to disabled people.事实证明这些机器让残疾人受益匪浅。

9 herald   

vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎

参考例句：

• In England, the cuckoo is the herald of spring.在英国杜鹃鸟是报春的使者。
• Dawn is the herald of day.曙光是白昼的先驱。