Chinese state media had hailed it as the country’s answer to Lord of the Rings. The fantasy film Asura was meant to be the biggest hit of the year but became its fastest flop. Despite costing more than $110m, the most expensive film wholly made by a Chinese studio was pulled from cinemas after earning just over $7m in its opening weekend.
曾被中国官媒吹嘘为中国版《指环王》(Lord of the Rings)的奇幻电影《阿修罗》(Asura)，原希望成为中国今年最卖座的电影，结果却只用了最短的时间就遭遇票房扑街。尽管成本超过1.1亿美元，但这部最昂贵的国产电影在第一个周末票房仅获700多万美元后，突然从院线撤挡。
Equally unprecedented was the film-makers’ explanation for the flop, blaming it on a mysterious “water army”. That’s the name given in China to the hordes of fake online accounts used by companies and celebrities to inflate their social media followings or criticise rivals — so-called because they “pour water” into the online discourse.
同样史无前例的是制片方对此次完败的解释，他们将之归咎于一支神秘的“水军”。在中国，“水军”指大量存在的虚假网络账号，企业或名人可以利用这些账号扩充自己在社交媒体上的粉丝量，或抨击竞争对手——这些虚假账号可以被视为向在线舆论“灌水”，因而得名。
Asura’s producers, which include the film division of tech giant Alibaba, alleged that an influential ratings platform had hosted many fake comments, which brought the movie’s rating down.
包括科技巨头阿里巴巴(Alibaba)旗下影业公司在内的《阿修罗》制片方指称，一家有很大影响力的评分平台上冒出了很多虚假评论，导致该片评分下降。
