The Wandering Earth: news and updates for China’s biggest science fiction movie

This review was originally published in February 2019, when the film was released in China, and in a limited theatrical run in America. It has been updated to reflect the film’s release on Netflix.

We’re living through a fascinating era of rapid change for the blockbuster movie model. America producers, eager to get their $200 million movies into the lucrative Chinese market, are increasingly looking for Chinese production partners, shooting in Chinese locations, and adding China-friendly characters and plotlines to American movies, even including extra scenes just for the Chinese cuts of films. But simultaneously, China and other countries are moving toward the blockbuster model themselves, creating homegrown films that don’t need to involve American partners at all.

In The Wandering Earth, the sun will soon expand and destroy the Earth, so engineers concoct an ambitious plan — move the planet to another solar system, using giant engines. China’s first big science fiction film is a goofy disaster movie, with some outstanding special effects that bring the world to life. One of the studios behind the special effects, Pixomondo, has released a VFX breakdown that shows how one of the special effects studios created the futuristic, frozen Earth and its massive Earth engines.

Since its release last month, the film has gone on to earn a staggering $641 million, and has become the second-largest Chinese film to date. That’s a good sign for China’s domestic film market, which has been growing in recent years as more of its citizens go to the movies.

Netflix has acquired the streaming rights for The Wandering Earth, China’s first science fiction blockbuster, which has earned more than $600 million in theaters since its release during the Chinese New Year.

Based on a novelette by Three-Body Problem author Cixin Liu, the film follows a worldwide effort to move the Earth away from the sun after scientists discover it will soon expand and destroy humanity’s solar system. As the planet approaches Jupiter to slingshot out of the system and out to Proxima Centauri, a group of characters struggles to restart Earth’s failing transport engines and save Earth from being dragged into the gas giant’s gravity well and engulfed.

A new trailer for The Wandering Earth — described as China’s biggest science fiction movie ever — landed earlier this week, showing off an ambitious adventure that follows the efforts to save Earth after scientists discover that the sun is about to go out.

The movie is based on a story by Chinese author Cixin Liu — who’s best known for his Three-Body Problem trilogy and last year’s Ball Lightning. While those books are huge, epic stories, The Wandering Earth is no less ambitious: when scientists realize that the sun will go out in a couple of decades, they hatch a desperate plan: to move the planet to Proxima Centauri. The construct thousands of giant engines to move the planet out of orbit, where it can then slingshot post Jupiter and out of the Solar System.