The Great Wall, China’s first effort at a western-style celebrity¹ blockbuster, starring actor Matt Damon, scored a box office success in its first weekend at home, making Rmb460m ($66m) since Friday.

由马特.达蒙(Matt Damon)主演的中国首部西方风格明星大片《长城》(The Great Wall)于上周五在国内上映，首周末即取得票房成功，周五至周末已拿下4.6亿元人民币（合6600万美元）。

The figure, announced on Monday by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, represented nearly half the film’s $150m budget and proved that, despite some controversy² over having a Hollywood star in the lead role in a Chinese film, it was a winner with domestic audiences.

该票房数据由中国国家广电总局周一公布，几乎达到本片1.5亿美元预算的一半，也证明尽管请一名好莱坞明星领衔一部中国影片存在争议，但赢得了国内观众的青睐。

Huang Guofeng, a film industry analyst³ with Analysys International, the Beijing consultancy, said having a pretty good opening weekend would be critical for the film’s future success.

北京咨询公司易观国际(Analysys International)的电影产业分析师黄国锋表示，

It would determine how much further screening time it received.

本片首周末表现相当好，对未来成功至关重要，它将决定影片能上映多久。

So far, the theatre managers have a positive outlook for this film based on its performance, he said.

他说：到目前为止，影院经理基于这部电影的表现，对其前景十分看好。

Despite generally poor reviews, the celebrity cast and the big budget would attract fans, said Mr Huang.

黄国锋表示，尽管评论普遍较差，但明星阵容和大制作会吸引影迷。

The Great Wall is the first major test for Legendary⁴ East, the Hollywood studio that made Jurassic World and which was bought in January by billionaire Wang Jianlin’s Dalian Wanda Group.

长城》是传奇东方(Legendary East)的首次大考，这家好莱坞电影公司曾制作过《侏罗纪世界》(Jurassic World)，于今年1月被中国亿万富翁王健林的大连万达集团(Dalian Wanda Group)收购。

Mr Wang, China’s richest man, has spent lavishly⁵ to break into movies, television and theme parks, and sees Legendary attempting more blockbuster films like The Great Wall, which was the largest China-US co-production to date.

中国首富王健林投入巨大资金进军影视及主题乐园产业，并希望传奇尝试更多像《长城》这样的大片，《长城》是迄今为止投资最高的中美合拍片。

Mr Wang spared no expense in seeing through the project.

王健林在《长城》项目上不惜成本。

The film was directed by Chinese director Zhang Yimou, whose last major film was the 2004 international hit House of Flying Daggers⁶.

本片由中国导演张艺谋执导，他的上一部主要作品是2004年在国际取得成功的《十面埋伏》(House of Flying Daggers)。

Along with Mr Damon, who plays a British mercenary, it stars Willem Dafoe and Pedro Pascal, along with a host of Chinese celebrities⁷ including Andy Lau, Lu Han and Lin Gengxin.

达蒙在本片扮演一名英国雇佣兵，除了他以外，片中明星还有威廉.达福(Willem Dafoe)、佩德罗.帕斯卡(Pedro Pascal)，以及刘德华(Andy Lau)、鹿晗、林更新等一众中国明星。

The plot sees Damon join Chinese defenders⁸ on the Great Wall to protect humanity against an attacking horde⁹ of mythical¹⁰ monsters.

长城》讲述了达蒙加入中国的长城守卫者，保卫人类抵抗一群神话怪物袭击的故事。

The controversy surrounding Damon’s lead role became the source of public debate in June, when Taiwanese-American actress Constance Wu tweeted about the film: We have to stop perpetuating¹¹ the racist¹² myth that [only a] white man can save the world.

围绕达蒙主演身份的争议在今年6月引发了一场公开辩论，台湾裔美国演员吴恬敏(Constance Wu)在Twitter上就本片发文：我们必须停止延续这种种族主义神话，即（只有一名）白人可以拯救世界。

Mr Damon responded that he did not take the role away from a Chinese actor.

达蒙回应说他并不是占了中国演员的角色。

Once people see that it’s a monster movie and it’s a historical fantasy and I didn’t take a role away from a Chinese actor, he said, the charge of whitewashing¹³ would go away.

他说：一旦人们看到这是一部怪兽片，是一部历史奇幻电影，而我并不是占了中国演员的角色，这种洗白(whitewashing)的指控就会消失。

It wasn’t altered because of me in any way, he told the Associated Press earlier this month.

本月早些时候达蒙向美联社(Associated Press)表示：这部电影没有因为我发生任何改变。