This photo shows the posters of The Wandering Earth. (PHOTO / MTIME VIA CHINADAILY.COM.CN)
LOS ANGELES — China's first homemade sci-fi blockbuster The Wandering Earth opened throughout the "That was killer!" said Randy, 12, a young American sci-fi enthusiast,
who watched the film with his pal, Scott, in the Southern California city of
Burbank. "The Chinese totally saved the world this time!" he grinned.
The film is mainly being screened in limited theaters in cities with larger, overseas Chinese populations
The film, directed by Frant Gwo (Guo Fan), is co-produced by China Film Group
Corporation and hit-maker studio Beijing Culture. It was released by China Media
Capital (CMC) in 29 US cities on Chinese New Year's Day, in Mandarin Chinese
with English subtitles.
"The film is very impressive. It's the best
Chinese sci-fi film I've ever watched with great special effects and emotional
plot," said a Chinese-American moviegoer, Jenny Gao, who watched the film in an
AMC theater in the city of Monterey Park, after having to drive nearly an hour
from her Long Beach home.
READ MORE: The Wandering Earth takes box office by storm in China
The film is mainly being screened in limited
theaters in cities with larger, overseas Chinese populations, even stirring some
complaints among Chinese-Americans for the scarcity of film tickets in prime
time.
The Wandering Earth is based on a short story with the same
name by Liu Cixin, China's top Chinese science-fiction writer and the first in
China to win the prestigious Hugo Award. It takes place in a future on the brink
of apocalypse, where the dying sun threatens to extinguish all life on earth.
The United World Government opts for an audacious plan to physically move the
entire planet to orbit a safer, distant star.
Insane? Possibly. But
US-based Sciencefiction.com contended, "That's the fantastic and fascinating
premise ... and it's an idea so crazy that it might just work."
At a
cost of around 50 million US dollars - a hefty price tag for a Chinese film -
and an astonishing four-year production schedule and a crew of 7,000, The
Wandering Earth is China's most ambitious sci-fi film to date.
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From left: Actor Wu Jing, director Guo Fan and sci-fi novelist Liu Cixin promote The Wandering Earth, adapted from Liu's eponymous novella, in Beijing on Jan 28, 2019. (PHOTO / CHINA DAILY)
The Wandering Earth is China's most ambitious sci-fi film to date
"We are
very proud of our production team on The Wandering Earth. This film represents
a big step forward for Chinese production capabilities and our ability to create
global appeal," Lou Xiaoxi, Vice Chairman of Beijing Culture, told Xinhua.
Beijing Culture has been on an enviable winning streak with previous
box office favorites including Wolf Warrior 2 and the incandescent Dying To
Survive. It is emerging as one of China's leading studios, largely due to its
eye for good material and their willingness to take the risks needed to envision
and launch new genres.
The Wandering Earth has become the winner of
the Chinese box office during the week-long Spring Festival holiday that ended
on Sunday, taking in a huge 1.94 billion yuan (US$288 million) in just
six days. The success of the film in the box office is a clear indication of the
growing popularity of homegrown sci-fi in China.
The film attracted a
lot of attention outside of China for being China's first big budget sci-fi
blockbuster, a genre that Hollywood tentpoles have dominated for decades.
Deadline Hollywood (deadline.com), a popular industry news website,
reported that, "Word of mouth has been strong and buzz continues."
The
Verge.com contended, "The Wandering Earth has all the hallmarks of a big,
Hollywood-style genre movie: it features a dramatic story of the Earth in peril,
complete with eye-popping scenes of spaceships escaping Earth ... It could be
China's breakout sci-fi blockbuster film."
On the US website IMDB.com, the movie has a score of 7.9 out of 10, averaged from over 3,800 viewers, as of Wednesday
On the US website
IMDB.com, the movie has a score of 7.9 out of 10, averaged from over 3,800
viewers, as of Wednesday. Some IMDB users hailed the film as "the best science
fiction movie from China," "an epic science fiction movie," "a rare gem in the
field of sci-fi," and "fantastic story and graphics."
One of the users,
shellingf7, said the film "Could be better but it is definitely worth watching."
"The visual effects are impressive and goes well with the story. The
story is not everyday Hollywood style: Superhero saves the day; everyone else is
there to give a round of applause," wrote another user.
"Well, this
movie has a lot to improve for sure. But I still give it a 10/10," wrote user
Sylph_R, noting that the film is "great movie and a great point of view to know
more about Chinese culture."
"The movie actually shows lots of
differences between American culture (Hollywood movie) and Chinese culture. For
example, I'll accept sheltering spaceships in Hollywood movies when Earth is no
longer good for human survival. But in Chinese culture, we will never leave our
home. We will try our best and bring everyone together. This is what we saw in
the movie: we put 10,000 engines on Earth and run away together," wrote the
user.
A boy looks at a poster of The Wandering Earth at a cinema in Beijing. (ZHU XINGXIN / CHINA DAILY)
"If China can put out a quality sci-fi picture similar to a
Hollywood blockbuster, like The Wandering Earth, then there is real
opportunity for it to connect with global audiences and compete successfully for
worldwide box office release," said Jeff Most, an American film producer best
known for "The Crow" film series, adding that the film demonstrates a promising
future for big screen theatrical releases from China in the United States.
"In the past, Chinese movies have been arthouse releases and prestige
pieces. VFX-heavy tentpole pictures have not been the norm. But high-quality,
studio-style Chinese sci-fi and action adventure movies are likely to be
well-received in the global marketplace," he told Xinhua. VFX is the
abbreviation for visual effects.
"Audiences hunger for more diverse
material. And global streaming services like Netflix, Amazon, and YouTube are
pushing us to become more open to subtitled material," said Most.
"US audiences want to see diverse films from around the world, particularly sci-fi
and blockbuster VFX movies that appeal universally and are designed to be seen
on the big screen," he added.
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