‘The Wandering Earth’ is a 2019 Chinese sci-fi film loosely based on the 2000 short story of the same name by Liu Cixin. The film may not have been huge in domestic theaters, but it became a huge smash hit in China and throughout the world (earned $679 million in China ALONE; $701 million worldwide).
After taking a look at the film’s trailer, I felt intrigued by its trailer and plot and wanted to give it a look since I thoroughly enjoy science fiction films.
When the sun dies out, the people of Earth build giant thrusters to move the planet out of orbit and sail to a new star system.
After 2500 years, young people continue the fight for everyone’s survival.
Now, the plot for ‘The Wandering Earth’ isn’t exactly original. There have been quite a few apocalyptic sci-fi films that have plots that can be a little on the outlandish side. But, in my opinion, sometimes that’s what makes those films entertaining. This sci-fi epic delivers some exciting sequences that are quite thrilling and the effects are incredibly well done.
In this epic, we follow a brother and sister who end up getting themselves involved in a mission that involves replacing one of the Earth’s giant thrusters that broke down. There are quite a few things going on in this convoluted story, so there can be a few times here and there that could potentially lose you a little bit.
Sure, some of the plot points for ‘The Wandering Earth’ are flawed and a few things aren’t really explained. Yet, some of the tense action sequences will really make up for that. The action gets even more intense and chaotic as the planet flies past Jupiter, where the giant planet’s gravity slowly pulls Earth toward it, almost destroying Earth.
The film’s visual effects are also one of the big highlights of this film. During quite a few sequences, there are some incredible frozen landscapes and the space scenes look simply amazing.
So, overall, the concept of ‘The Wandering Earth’ can be awe-inspiring and emotional. The emotional core of the film also focuses on human resilience and sacrifice. If you are interested in this film, you can stream ‘The Wandering Earth’ on Netflix. It’s one of those hidden gems that you can find on streaming that is quite entertaining and the film is dubbed in English.
Trivia: According to The Hollywood Reporter, ‘The Wandering Earth’ is China’s “first full scale interstellar film.” Chinese sci-fi author and screenwriter Anna Wu says science fiction “is a new challenge for the Chinese film industry.” While there have been numerous fantasy films, she told The Verge that studios and investors have hesitated when it comes to the genre because of the perception that they need both a high level of special effects and to rake in lots of money in order to be successful.
There is also a prequel, ‘The Wandering Earth 2,’ that is currently streaming on the Tubi platform that I may check out soon!
The story is based on Hugo Award winning novelist Cixin Liu's novel of the same name.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Wandering Earth is China's "first full-scale interstellar" film. Chinese science fiction author and screenwriter Anna Wu says science fiction "is a new challenge for the Chinese film industry." While there have been numerous fantasy films, she told The Verge that studios and investors have hesitated when it comes to the genre because of the perception that they need both a high level of special effects and to rake in lots of money in order to be successful
Many may question the idea of moving the entire Earth rather than building some big spaceships. Actually as the novel originally tells, the United States proposed to build big spaceships to send mankind to settle in the new solar system. However, only the wealthy elites may get onboard due to space restraint. A ticket cost more than 30 million dollars. This plan got shot down during a huge civil unrest after word leaked out that people who can't pay 30 million dollars will be left to die. China and the rest of the world proposed to build giant engines to move the entire planet as we saw in the movie. Another consideration as mentioned in the novel is that risks for spaceships to sustain a biosphere for 2,500 years are too high.
In 2012, China Film Group bought the rights to three of Liu Cixin's best-known science fiction novels, The Wandering Earth, Supernova Era and The Micro-Age. The plan to turn The Wandering Earth into a film was first announced at China Film Group's 2014 film project promotion conference, which estimated the production cost would be $50 million.
The Wandering Earth released over the Chinese New Year holiday season, and earned more than CN¥2 billion (£232 million) in 6 days, setting a new record for a Chinese film. It also set the record for the highest-grossing Chinese film on IMAX. Second weekend box office dropped 53%, on par with all other currently playing films post Chinese holiday season, as expected. The film's total gross in China stands at CN¥4.655 billion.
On release, it topped the worldwide box office with a 3-day opening weekend gross of $172,718,000, and had a 6-day opening gross of $289,090,290. The film has grossed $693,371,204 in China, $5,875,487 in North America, and $1,575,366 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $699,992,512.
A prequel, The Wandering Earth 2, starring Andy Lau was announced for 2023 and began production in October 2021. The film was released on 22 January 2023.
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