Coming to the U.S.

[Randy W]

from Abacus

 

The Wandering Earth is China’s biggest sci-fi blockbuster (and it’s coming to the US)

 

But the film that’s coming to America doesn’t actually have any Americans in it

 

 

 

So the Sun’s about to die. And Earth is the only planet we have. What do we do?

That is the basic premise of The Wandering Earth, which is billed as China’s biggest science fiction blockbuster to date.

The movie depicts the solution: Build enormous thrusters around the planet to slingshot it into a new star system. And in the meantime, we’ll live in underground cities during the centuries-long voyage.

If you find it insane but bizarrely interesting, well, you might be able to see the film this weekend: It’s set to have a theatrical release in select cities in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The movie has already done gangbusters in China, pocketing over US$74 million in just three days. There’s tremendous amount of hype around it -- it’s a marquee title for the Lunar New Year holiday in China, and the story is adapted from Hugo Award winner Liu Cixin's novel of the same name. (For you sci-fi geeks out there, Liu is the one behind the famed Three-Body Problem).

 

 

[amberjack1234]

I am a sci-fi buff if it is well done. Nothing worse that a bad one. I would go see it.

[Randy W]

I'm not sure that I'd recommend it - too much Hollywood blockbuster-type CGI, and kind of a cheesy plot - but I will say that if you're willing to go see it, you won't be disappointed. But you probably won't be disappointed if you DON'T go see it, either - that is, it's not a runaway best-seller, don't miss kind of movie.

 

Someone recommended Operation Red Sea (2018), which also looks good, but also Hollywood blockbuster style.

[amberjack1234]

I wouldn't go out of town to see it. Most sci- Fi's are kinda B rated anyway. Very few ever win Oscars.

Edited February 9, 2019 by amberjack1234 (see edit history)

[Dennis143]

I wonder if they plan to take the moon with them on their search for another solar system... knowing how important the moon is to Chinese and all.

[amberjack1234]

As with most of these movies they can get a little far fetched. Some more than others.

[Mick]

Is the book by any chance out in English translation? I often find the books better than the movies.

[Randy W]

Is the book by any chance out in English translation? I often find the books better than the movies.

 

 

Wikipedia says about the author Liu Cixin, " In English translations of his works, his name is given in the form Cixin Liu.", so maybe it will be.

 

- and -

 

"Liu's most famous work, The Three-Body Problem, was published in 2007 (it is the first novel in the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy). American author Ken Liu's 2014 translation (published by Tor Books) won the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Novel.[9] Liu Cixin thus became the first author from Asia to win Best Novel."

[Randy W]

A fairly good review - Nathan says he works for one of the special effects companies that worked on this movie

 

 

from the comments

 

Vincent KKC

12 hours ago

This man very humble....can see from video...what he say is true....not like wiston serpentza big lies

 

 

He (Nathan) had done a real hatchet job on Winston a couple of days ago - https://youtu.be/GRqcA04FtmM

[Randy W]

from China Daily

 

China’s The Wandering Earth: sci-fi movie No 1 worldwide

By AI HEPING in New York | China Daily Global | Updated: 2019-02-13 23:57

 

Quote

In China, the movie earned $304 million in its first six days, with IMAX screens accounting for 12 percent of the film’s total estimated gross, Variety said. It opened on Lunar New Year, the beginning of the weeklong holiday that is traditionally a peak box-office period in China.

 

In the US, where it was released on Feb 8 and will be shown at AMC theaters in 22 cities, the box-office take is a little more than $2 million, according to box office tracker Mojo. The film also will be shown in three cities in Canada and throughout Australia.

 

. . .

 

At an AMC theater in Santa Clara, a box office employee told China Daily that the film has been the No 1 movie there in the past week. “It’s been showing for a week, and it’s almost sold out every show time,” she said.

 

. . .

 

The film’s budget reportedly reached nearly $50 million. Much of it was filmed in the new Oriental Movie Metropolis, an $8 billion studio in the coastal city of Qingdao, built by the real estate and entertainment giant Dalian Wanda. The Wanda Group is the majority owner of AMC theaters in the US.

 

Edited November 17, 2023 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

. . . and coming to Netflix

 

Netflix buys streaming rights for world’s biggest movie, Chinese sci-fi blockbuster The Wandering Earth

 

 

It’s not clear how much Netflix paid for the film’s international streaming rights, though the company reportedly plans to translate the movie into 29 different languages.

 

 

which I assume means dubbing - it already has English subtitles.

[Randy W]

More about the Chinese movie industry - I'm not sure that the American industry is doing any better, though

 

from the SCMP

 

Chinese censorship is stifling country’s film industry

 

• Box office totals headed for their first year-on-year decline in at least a decade
• Figures hit by cancellation of potential summer blockbusters

 

Tougher censorship by the Chinese government has blocked potential hits and forced filmmakers to stick with safe formulas that are not winning audiences, while a tax evasion crackdown has made some investors reluctant to back films, crimping output even further.

 

In the year after Chinese President Xi Jinping put the Communist Party’s propaganda office in charge of regulating films, the country’s box office totals are headed for their first year-on-year decline in at least a decade. Further hurting the industry, potential summer hits that might have come to the rescue have been cancelled, with no explanation.

 

The chill has spread to some of China’s most globally recognised filmmakers, bankable names that cinema operators have relied on for hits

 

 

[amberjack1234]

I have read that China owns about half of the movie business in Hollywood and throughout the US. It has been kept quiet of course.

 

https://www.thewrap.com/hollywood-companies-owned-by-china/

 

https://www.heritage.org/asia/heritage-explains/how-china-taking-control-hollywood

[Allon]

Investors in foreign countries have been taking over America for a long time and not just Hollywood.You won't find too many American companies that don't have some kind of ownership in other countries. And with all the foreign outsourcing going on, it becomes even more pervasive.

 

You can't help but smile when the subject of who has the most vibrant economy and the usual deciding point is the GDP/GNP. But start ticking off companies owned by foreign entities.

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/12/08/10-classic-usa-brands-that-are-foreign-owned/3882739/

1. Lucky Strike

2. Budweiser

3. Vaseline

4. Good Humor

5. Hellmann's

6. Purina

7. French's

8. Frigidaire

9. Popsicle

10. 7-Eleven

11. DHL

.

.

.

Never mind our own land:

https://www.npr.org/2019/05/27/723501793/american-soil-is-increasingly-foreign-owned

On the other hand, that may bode well. If "we" fail, everybody else does too. It's when we succeed.....they do too.

[amberjack1234]

I just read this.

 

https://money.cnn.com/2017/05/01/investing/saudi-arabia-buys-largest-oil-refinery-port-arthur/index.html?fbclid=IwAR1m7-tu29LaGWK3npBHlHa9N9n07_UP2iJ60n3ibElauwpXuNqgktmkLhg