Conquering the Chinese market is a lucrative business, and that’s exactly what the creators of The Wandering Earth have managed to do.

For the first time in Chinese cinematic history, Beijing and Shanghai were destroyed on screen, with the state-run news agency Xinhua calling it a “new dawn for China’s sci-fi filmmaking”.

During its first week in China alone, having opened on February 5, the film raked in a mammoth $405 million, which means it is well on its way to becoming the highest-grossing film in the country’s history.

CNN has this to say:

Based on works by novelist Liu Cixin, it tells the story of a group of Chinese astronauts working to save Earth from a dying and rapidly expanding sun…

Reaction has been startling. “I didn’t expect China could make such a large-scale science-fiction film,” said one of the top comments on Chinese film review site Douban…

Director Guo Fan says “The Wandering Earth” has been so popular because it has human emotions at its core.

“I made the lead role (played by Wu Jing) in memory of my father,” Guo told CNN.

“It tells the story of a typical Chinese father’s love. It’s always forbearing and without too many words, but it’s so powerful. That’s my understanding of a father’s love.”

We head to the trailer:

Hollywood best start taking notice, because China looks set to become the world’s largest cinema market in the coming years.

The sci-fi genre, in particular, could start rising to prominence:

…Zhou believes the success of “The Wandering Earth,” which has received positive reviews, could create a “new popular genre” of Chinese filmmaking.

Certainly, Chinese audiences can expect more sci-fi. University of Macau film expert Tan See Kam said “The Wandering Earth” had broken a trend for Chinese New Year releases, which were traditionally almost entirely either comedies or action movies.

Building of the success of “The Wandering Earth,” more sci-fi projects are in the works. “Shanghai Fortress,” about a major alien invasion, and intergalactic adventure “Pathfinder” are both expected to be released in 2019.

“‘The Wandering Earth’ is about to become a legend in the Chinese film industry,” Tan said.

Sadly, the demand for Hollywood garbage is also rampant in China, evident in the fact that The Fate of the Furious is the country’s sixth highest-grossing film of all time, raking in around $380 million.

Sies, man.

Local is lekker, China.

[source:cnn]