“封神”揭榜、“美猴王”复出，中国神话电影宇宙雏形已现？

On Thursday, the forthcoming animated film JiangZiya: Legend of Deification, the follow-up of this year's highest-grossing hit Ne Zha, released its first trailer. As the latest installment of the so-called "Fengshen Cinematic Universe", the film has stirred a sensation online.

12月12日，接棒本年度票房最高爆款《哪吒》的动画片《姜子牙》终于露出了真面目。一段短短的预告片，很快把这部“封神宇宙”中的动画新作送上了热搜。

The film is adapted from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) novel Fengshen Yanyi (Investiture of the Gods). Jiang Ziya is depicted as a 72-year-old man who decides to assist the ruler of Xiqi kingdom to turn over the tyranny of Emperor Zhou. But in the trailer of the new film, Jiang looks much younger. He looks like a middle-aged man who insists on following his heart despite having a complex past.

按照明代小说《封神演义》中的描述，姜子牙出山助西岐伐纣时，已是72岁须发皆白的老翁。但在预告片里，姜子牙抵达颜值新巅峰，看上去更像一个历经沧桑但初心不悔的帅大叔。

Earlier this week, director Wuershan's live-action epic Fengshen Trilogy also announced the cast of two new roles, respectively actor Chen Kun as Yuanshi Tianzu and actress Yuan Quan as Queen Jiang. Before that, several major roles were also revealed, such as actor Huang Bo as Jiang Ziya, Kris Phillips as King Yinshou.

而本周伊始，乌尔善导演的真人巨制《封神三部曲》也放出了新消息：陈坤会演“元始天尊”，袁泉饰“姜王后”。这是继黄渤演姜子牙、费翔演商王殷寿等被宣布之后，最新获宣的两个新角色。

Besides, actor Liuxiao Lingtong will reportedly join hands with actor Ma Dehua to reprise their most classic roles — the Monkey King and Zhu Bajie — in the new movie Journey to the West. They will lend their faces for the motion-capture cinematography.

本月初，六小龄童也传出新消息，要携手“二师兄”马德华，以“动作捕捉”的表演方式复出大银幕，出演《西游记真假美猴王》。

Currently, China has the world's most theater screens and is the world's second-largest movie market in terms of annual box office receipts. The rise of domestic film industry means the fantastic spectacles fictionalized in China's most acclaimed literature works can be brought to big screen.

当中国银幕数位居全球第一，中国也成为全球第二大票房市场之时，中国电影工业的进步，也让中国文学史上瑰丽奇幻的史诗级想象有了成为活生生的画面的可能。

Interestingly, when China's film and TV industry was just taking off, the two novels were adapted to TV series in the late 1980s and early 1990s. But the special effects weren’t that good because the budgets were limited.

虽然在中国影视产业刚刚起步时，已经有了经典的央视86版《西游记》和90版《封神榜》，但毕竟当时制作经费有限，特效效果没有那么令人满意。

With the expansion of special effect sector in domestic film industry, insiders are now more confident to build a cinematic franchise to gather the most influential characters in Chinese mythologies. It is also believed that only Chinese filmmakers can convey the cultural spirit and capture the aesthetic nuance rooted from their own civilization.

但现在中国特效工业已经起步，也让业内对建立“中国神话电影宇宙”充满信心。毕竟，中国人的文化遗产，恐怕还是中国人自己才能拍出东方韵味和自己独有的文化精神。