China sci-fi blockbuster set to break records
SHANGHAI: China’s first spaceage blockbuster is on a trajectory to become its highest grossing movie ever and is being held up as evidence that big budget homegrown films can hold their own with Hollywood on pure spectacle.
The Wandering Earth has made more than 3.9 billion yuan (RM2.35 billion) in domestic box office as at yesterday, putting it on course to eclipse the 5.7 billion yuan earned in 2017 by current champion, Wolf Warrior 2.
Based on a novel by Chinese science fiction writer Liu Cixin, the film tells the story, through the eyes of Chinese protagonists, of a project to move the earth away from a dying sun using giant fusion-powered engines.
Reportedly made with a US$50 million (RM204 million) budget, the movie draws on pride in China’s space programme and is packed with special effects.
Director Guo Fan said threequarters of the more than 2,000 special effects shots were created by Chinese staff.
Noted film commentator Wang Hailin said The Wandering Earth showed that “the historic moment to rival Hollywood has arrived”.
The Wandering Earth has made US$3.8 million in North America in the 11 days since its release, the highest for a Chinese film in nearly five years, the film’s official social media account said on Sunday.
The film’s overall message is to encourage international collaboration. In a pivotal scene, a Chinese astronaut played by martial artist and actor Wu Jing, the star of the Wolf Warrior franchise, works closely with a Russian counterpart to save the world.
The film shows — rare for a Chinese movie — a destroyed Beijing and collapsing landmarks in Shanghai as apocalypse hits.
Liu, the Hugo Award-winning author of the story, said China lacked good original science fiction, but that the strong “sense of future” in the rapidly modernising country bode well for the genre.
Director Guo conceded that Chinese sci-fi films had a long way to go to keep pace with Hollywood, but he was hopeful.
“Science fiction is the barometer of a nation... If this nation wants to embrace the world and dream of the future, then the journey of Chinese sci-fi will be an ocean of stars and (have) a broad future.”