A Chinese scenic park is suing US film studio Paramount Pictures over a product placement gone wrong, in the latest controversy to bedevil Hollywood’s love affair with China.
中国武隆景区正就产品植入广告中遗漏地标事件，起诉美国派拉蒙影业公司(Paramount Pictures)。这场最新的争议再一次让好莱坞与中国的恋情告急。
The grottoed landscape of southern China’s Wulong nature reserve caught the eye of Michael Bay, director of the fourth instalment of the Transformers franchise. He picked the site for a two-minute sequence during which its plunging chasms and natural flying buttresses are digitally incinerated in a fight between a giant alien robot and a mechanical, fire-breathing dinosaur.
中国武隆景区的岩溶地貌吸引了《变形金刚4：绝迹重生》(Transformers: Age of Extinction)导演迈克尔•贝(Michael Bay)的目光。他选择通过数字技术，将武隆景区植入擎天柱驯服机械喷火恐龙那场戏中，以两分钟的时间展示武隆景区迷人的地貌和天坑。
But yesterday it emerged that the Chongqing Wulong Karst Tourism Association, which administers the area, is suing Paramount, which produced Transformers: Age of Extinction , alleging that the sequence might be confusing to the audience due to the absence of the Wulong nature preserve’s logo.
但昨日爆出，武隆景区管理方——重庆市武隆喀斯特旅游集团(Chongqing Wulong Karst Tourism Association)，正起诉电影《变形金刚4：绝迹重生》的制片方派拉蒙，声称广告植入缺少“中国武隆”地标，可能让观众产生迷惑。
The organisation said the omission violates an agreement with Paramount, though the studio’s Chinese partners said the nature park did not deliver the required payment on time, resulting in a rushed production schedule.
武隆方面表示，缺少地标违反了它与派拉蒙的协议，不过派拉蒙的中方合作伙伴表示，武隆方面未能及时付款，导致电影制作时间紧张。
In its haste, the US production team mistook a sign reading “Green Dragon Bridge” for a rock engraved with the words “Wulong China”.
在高强度的工作状态下，美方制作团队误将“青龙桥”地标当成了刻有“中国武隆”字样的石头地标。
The tourism agency released a number of emails between it and Beijing-based 1905 Internet Technology Company, Paramount’s partner, which showed that the studio had agreed to “a prominent display” of the Wulong sign. Wulong said it paid Rmb6m ($967,000) for the product placement, and lost Rmb4m for the five-day shutdown of the park in 2013.
武隆方面公布了它与派拉蒙的合作方北京一九零五网络科技公司(1905 Internet Technology Company)的多封往来邮件，邮件显示派拉蒙曾同意“醒目地呈现”中国武隆字样。武隆方面表示，它支付了600万元人民币（合96.7万美元）的广告植入费用，在2013年还因摄制电影关闭景区5天，损失400万元人民币。
The dispute is the second that Paramount has faced over the film. Two weeks ago it faced a lawsuit from Pangu Plaza, a hotel in Beijing, alleging that a product placement deal for which it had paid had not been honoured. Among other things, it said it had been supposed to feature for at least 20 seconds in the film and host a display of Transformer robots at the hotel.
这场纠纷是派拉蒙就《变4》遇到的第二场。两周前，派拉蒙刚刚遭到了北京盘古大观(Pangu Plaza)的起诉，盘古大观称自己支付了广告植入费用，但派拉蒙未履行广告植入协议。协议规定，片中植入的盘古酒店时长不少于20秒，并在该酒店陈列《变形金刚》中的机器人。
Paramount rushed over a yellow model of Bumblebee, one of the Transformers, to the hotel and smoothed things over.
派拉蒙后紧急将一个大黄蜂机器人送至酒店，平息了事态。
The controversy has not dented the film’s success in the country: as of last Sunday, it had earned more in China than in the US, at $213m and $175m respectively, according to tracking website Box Office Mojo.
上述争议并未影响该片在中国的票房。根据票房数据网站Box Office Mojo，截至上周日，《变4》在中国的票房已超过该片在美国的票房，分别为2.13亿美元和1.75亿美元。