The Wandering Earth | Feb 8 2019 (US) | Directed by Frant Gwo | China's first major science fiction movie

[Plain Old Tele]

  

[MrGlass2]

4 minutes ago, Telemachos said:

  

The Verge article describes the plot of the short story, obviously spoiler for the movie:

Spoiler

In the original story, scientists discovered that the sun is on the verge of turning into a red giant, and when it does, it’ll expand beyond the orbit of Mars, incinerating all of the solar system’s potentially habitable planets. They concoct a desperate plan to move Earth out of the solar system to a new star, Proxima Centauri.

 

Edited February 3, 2019 by MrGlass2

[Plain Old Tele]

...holy shit lmao

[Avatree]

Just wait for China to start making their own superhero movies. And watch the audience abandon their avengers.

 

[4815162342]

11 hours ago, MrGlass2 said:

The Verge article describes the plot of the short story, obviously spoiler for the movie:

  Reveal hidden contents

In the original story, scientists discovered that the sun is on the verge of turning into a red giant, and when it does, it’ll expand beyond the orbit of Mars, incinerating all of the solar system’s potentially habitable planets. They concoct a desperate plan to move Earth out of the solar system to a new star, Proxima Centauri.

 

 

Well that's something.

 

 

[MrGlass2]

Not sure why the premise would be more implausible than for the average science-fiction blockbuster. Is this some kind of hard sci-fi debate? The movie is set far enough in the future than any technological limit can be waved away.

[4815162342]

1 hour ago, MrGlass2 said:

Not sure why the premise would be more implausible than for the average science-fiction blockbuster. Is this some kind of hard sci-fi debate? The movie is set far enough in the future than any technological limit can be waved away.

 

More that given what scientists project about the future of the solar system (including timeframe and the effect of red giant expansion on creating a new habitable zone) it seems like by far the most inefficient and impractical solution.

 

 

Edited February 3, 2019 by 4815162342

[Plain Old Tele]

It’s set in the far future? I guess humanity’s ability to build buildings, ships, planes, and infrastructure stalled out in the 21st century. (Not to mention general design aesthetics for clothes, hair styles, and so forth.)  

[CJohn]

On 1/31/2019 at 11:34 PM, MrGlass2 said:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/chinese-sci-fi-movie-wandering-earth-get-us-release-1181473

 

China's First Big-Budget Sci-Fi Movie 'The Wandering Earth' to Get U.S. Release (Exclusive)

 

 

Holy fucking shit. Hollywood has been outplayed. Give it to me China.

[Avatree]

15 hours ago, MrGlass2 said:

The Verge article describes the plot of the short story, obviously spoiler for the movie:

  Hide contents

In the original story, scientists discovered that the sun is on the verge of turning into a red giant, and when it does, it’ll expand beyond the orbit of Mars, incinerating all of the solar system’s potentially habitable planets. They concoct a desperate plan to move Earth out of the solar system to a new star, Proxima Centauri.

 

okay, I want to see this now.

[terrestrial]

35 minutes ago, Telemachos said:

(Not to mention general design aesthetics for clothes, hair styles, and so forth.)  

Such details will lessen the budget.

I see it (jokingly) as a phase of retro is in again 😉

 

In older sci-Fi TV series sometimes all have the same haircolour, cut,... per gender or status (like e.g. pink longish pageboy haircut wigs for all non-combat females)

 

In the past they played Shakespeare in actual street clothes on stage, if the story is interesting or.. enough....

[Plain Old Tele]

I think the movie looks fun, in an Emmerich-y sort of way. I’m still trying to wrap my head around that wild-ass plot point though. It’s sort of the equivalent of cavemen taking a trip to Saturn.

[MrGlass2]

20 minutes ago, Telemachos said:

I think the movie looks fun, in an Emmerich-y sort of way. I’m still trying to wrap my head around that wild-ass plot point though. It’s sort of the equivalent of cavemen taking a trip to Saturn.

Now you know how Chinese moviegoers felt watching Star Wars.

[Goffe]

44 minutes ago, Telemachos said:

It’s sort of the equivalent of cavemen taking a trip to Saturn.

 

Now, that's a fun premise for a film. 

[Goffe]

10 hours ago, Avatree said:

Just wait for China to start making their own superhero movies. And watch the audience abandon their avengers.

 

1

I don't think Chinese blockbusters are becoming a thing worldwide anytime soon.

[MrGlass2]

22 minutes ago, Goffe said:

I don't think Chinese blockbusters are becoming a thing worldwide anytime soon.

It depends what you mean by Chinese blockbusters. Bold science-fiction co-productions...

 

[Avatree]

29 minutes ago, Goffe said:

I don't think Chinese blockbusters are becoming a thing worldwide anytime soon.

I was talking about Chinese audiences....

 

Just a thought.

 

Part of the reason Hollywood films make a lot of money in China is because of their budget - they get to see films of a scale that only Hollywood can make. But if they have their own nations films on the same scale, why would they bother seeing the latest hollywood movies?

China audiences clearly prefer their own movies to American movies (in the same way American audiences way prefer American films to Chinese films). I mean theres a reason why wolf warrior got to $900M and no import film has ever reached even half of that.

 

And so big HW films could start losing out hundreds of millions of dollars from china. This is why I think we are leveling off // plateuing with China grosses. as demand for big budget films increase, so will the supply from Chinese studios.

[MrGlass2]

Interesting article:

 

https://www.scmp.com/culture/film-tv/article/2184706/wandering-earth-could-be-film-spark-chinas-science-fiction

 

The Wandering Earth could be the film to spark China’s science fiction moviemaking

• The film, starring Wolf Warrior’s Wu Jing, is a sci-fi movie of epic scale that rivals Hollywood blockbusters like Interstellar and Gravity
• Hopes are high that it will inspire more quality Chinese sci-fi blockbusters after a frankly embarrassing line of substandard productions

 

Quote

Adapted from the novel of the same name by renowned science fiction author Liu Cixin – the first author from Asia to win best novel at the Hugo sci-fi and fantasy literary awards, for The Three-Body Problem in 2015 – the film has created a large buzz in China, with a series of screenings generating rave reviews.

Movers and shakers in China’s scientific community are singing the film’s praises, saying it heralds a new dawn for Chinese sci-fi cinema.

Quote

According to a 2018 report on China’s science fiction industry released by the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, the total China box office for science fiction movies in 2017 was 13 billion yuan (US$1.9 billion), but Chinese productions accounted for only 1.3 billion yuan, or 10 per cent. In the first half of 2018, the total China box office for science fiction movies was 9.5 billion yuan, of which only 890 million yuan, or 9 per cent, was chalked up by Chinese productions.

Foreign science fiction productions like Interstellar, Gravity and Lucy were blockbusters in China and account for one-third of all foreign movie imports since 2012.

In comparison, Chinese science fiction fare like Future X-Cops (2010) and Metallic Attraction:：Kungfu Cyborg (2009) are embarrassing productions where science fiction elements do not even constitute the main plot.

Quote

Wu Jing – who directed and starred in the hugely patriotic Wolf Warrior blockbuster series – plays the father in the family, a Chinese astronaut stationed in space who has been away from his family for years.

Wu told huanqiu.com recently that 2019 is the “inaugural” year of Chinese science fiction movies due to the release of The Wandering Earth.

“When director Frant Gwo first came to me to explain all the physics data, I didn’t understand it at all,” he said. “However, in him, I saw traces of me when I made the first Wolf Warrior, when I went everywhere telling people how the helicopter, tanks and explosions worked. Like him, I was close to breaking down then.

“I told him, I can help you as long as you will help young people involved in new film genres after you become successful. Later, capital for making the movie became tight, so I told him I didn’t need to get paid. I shot the movie for 31 days. Later, money ran out. I told Gwo that we are in the same boat and I don’t want to regret putting effort into the movie, so I became an investor as well.”

 

[SliverS]

It's wolf warrior in space.

[LeoC]

20 hours ago, MrGlass2 said:

Now you know how Chinese moviegoers felt watching Star Wars.

So true. As a Chinese, I found this movie makes more sense than defending the galaxy with force and lightsabers. Super hyped for it.