But the public favours the Digital Life Project, which would enable mankind to ‘live on’ through technology.įrustration peaks with terrorist attacks on the UEG headquarters and the Space Elevator, where Liu Peiqiang (Wu) is undergoing astronaut training.

If it has less novelty value as a big screen experience, this prequel should still attract plenty of eyeballs on streaming.įacing the challenge of building towards a largely foregone conclusion, Gwo has taken scale to the next level while doubling down on the significance of land in Chinese culture and the necessity of global collective action (with China at its centre). The first half mostly takes place in 2044 when the United Earth Government has selected the Moving Mountain Project to solve the solar crisis: 10,000 engines will propel the Earth on a 2,500-year journey into the Alpha Centauri system. Bolstered by its status as China’s first sci-fi blockbuster, The Wandering Earth delivered decent numbers in limited overseas release before being acquired by Netflix. Internationally, the prequel is rolling out in multiple territories, including 30 IMAX screens across the US and Canada.

A better comparison may be 2022’s local sci-fi smash Moon Man, which tallied $460 million following a lockdown period. Covid-19 is now rife around China and those unconvinced by the government’s messaging pivot will be skittish about visiting a crowded multiplex. It’s uncertain whether this prequel can reach the stratosphere of its predecessor, which is the fifth most successful film of all time domestically with a gross of $691 million. Meanwhile, Liu Cixin’s fanbase continues to grow with recent animated and live-action television adaptations of his landmark novel The Three-Body Problem being enthusiastically received. While the original was a box office dark horse, The Wandering Earth II is this year’s frontrunner - and China’s biggest local release in months due to industry uncertainty surrounding the disruptive ’Zero Covid’ policy, which was suddenly dismantled in December. Technically exceptional, with space station and moon-based sequences to rival Gravity or Ad Astra There is certainly much to admire about this ambitious homegrown sci-fi saga, even if it feels rather protracted with the running time clocking in 45 minutes longer than its predecessor. Four years on, this eagerly anticipated prequel reunites the key creative team and star Wu Jing for an expansion of the original’s prologue, which explained how the Earth embarked on an interstellar journey to avoid being snuffed out by a rapidly expanding sun.

Lunar New Year 2019 saw Chinese science fiction cinema achieve lift off when Frant Gwo’s adaptation of Liu Cixin’s novella The Wandering Earth became a box office phenomenon.

The Wandering Earth by Liu Cixin