Shoot for the moon: "The Wandering Earth II" shows high aspirations of China's sci-fi

The long-awaited prequel to the 2019 sci-fi blockbuster The Wandering Earth, China's first space movie, sparked a nationwide space exploration frenzy during the Spring Festival, setting ambitious aspirations for the Chinese film industry.

Telling a story of mankind pooling together to avoid planetary catastrophe, a genre beyond the reach of most filmmakers both technically and financially, The Wandering Earth II continues to be of the highest-grossing non-English language films of all time. Despite its limited theatrical distribution, the film earned $2.71 million and entered the top ten in North American box offices by January 28 and a total of 2.16 billion yuan in China during the Spring Festival Holiday (January 21-27).

"The Chinese film industry has made significant strides in multiple areas. For instance, the film's lifelike visual effects were all done by Chinese teams who drew on China's robust manufacturing sector [and technological advancement] to realise the ambitious vision," Guo Fan, the director of the film, told People's Daily.

"With constant efforts, Chinese movies will certainly become more popular. I have tremendous hope for that," he continued.

Even more ambitious and epic in scale than its predecessor, the prequel follows the catastrophic events leading up to the Earth leaving the solar system in the original hit. In the face of impending ecological disaster, a united international governing body devises a plan to save Earth, including blowing up the moon and employing virtual reality to restore humanity.

Stratospheric "space exploration frenzy”

In recent weeks, topics related to "The Wandering Earth II" have been continually trending on Weibo, a popular Twitter-like social media platform in China. The movie has spawned a space exploration frenzy across the nation and stoked public interest in China's burgeoning science fiction industry and space technologies.

Based on the novels of Liu Cixin, the first Chinese writer to receive the Hugo Award in 2015, "Wandering Earth" has become China's most famous science fiction export. Many of Liu's works have been translated into other languages, and Netflix, the world's largest streaming service, has adapted his novel The Three-Body Problem into a series to be released later this year.

"I've seen The Wandering Earth II in theatres four times. Fans like me have formed online communities to discuss the plot and the production design. The Wandering Earth has become a calling card for China's sci-fi movies," said Zhang Fan, a 32-year-old movie critic.

On Rotten Tomatoes, an American cinema and television review aggregation website, the film received a 97% audience score and a 78% professional score, confirming Zhang's assessment.

"In contrast to Hollywood films, in which the protagonists are always super-powered individuals, The Wandering Earth II offers a Chinese solution to global crises, allowing regular people worldwide to work together and face threats as a united front. It's nice that the film includes a variety of ethnic and linguistic backgrounds among the astronauts," said Zhang.

With the movie sparking huge sci-fi interest from audiences, products related to The Wandering Earth II have become a craze in China, too.

Following the film's premiere, a Chinese culture and media company began a crowdfunding campaign on China's e-commerce platform Taobao to mass-produce merchandise such as robotic dog models and USB flash disks. By the end of January, over 433,000 orders had been placed, bringing in over 100 million yuan, surpassing the initial goal of 100,000 yuan.

Many scientists and researchers have also weighed in on the national space frenzy, explaining the feasibility of various technologies shown in the film online, such as moon rovers, space elevators, Internet root servers, quantum computers, and underground city life.

Wang Yuanzhuo, a research fellow at the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, even drew diagrams to explain the science and technology theories featured in the movie to young audiences in simple language.

"I have gotten many questions from my daughter and other kids about the movie recently," Wang Yuanzhuo, who is also the movie's science consultant, wrote on Weibo. "Discussions on the blockbuster not only demonstrate support for domestic movies but also give more people a chance to get to know about the sci-tech knowledge behind these movies."

The film's massive popularity can be attributed to China's explosive start in the science fiction market. According to the 2022 Chinese Science Fiction Industry Report, the Chinese SF industry's gross output in 2022 was 73 billion RMB, with games and films leading the way, followed by publishing and merchandise.

"As a result of China's rapid economic development, the country now boasts one of the world's largest cultural consumption markets, creating unprecedented conditions for the sci-fi movie industry," Guo told People's Daily.

The wonders of Wandering Earth

The movie's popularity coincides with a space milestone achieved by China months earlier: the completion of the country's space station. Despite being decades behind the United States and Russia, China will soon be the only country operating its own space station, adding to other achievements such as landing on Mars in 2021 and on the far side of the moon in 2019.

"The popularity of sci-fi literature and art in China can be attributed to the country's technological and scientific development. For instance, audiences will find it very credible to see Chinese astronauts in space suits going out of a space station on a large screen. It's impossible to separate the real world from the virtual one,” said Guo.

To add more scientific wonder to Wandering Earth II, many Chinese companies contributed innovations and products to the movie's production, showcasing the country's advanced technologies.

One such example is the exoskeleton suits worn by the astronauts in the film, which were created by ULS Robotics of Shanghai and are currently in use.

The company's website claims that its exoskeleton technology promotes human strength and productivity, and is already being used to help workers avoid exhaustion and injuries in the automotive industry, airport ground service, high-end equipment production, logistics, and other sectors.

The company was approved to enter the European market in December, opening the door to potential international expansion.

"A thriving science fiction industry can only exist in a scientifically prosperous nation. Literature, art, and film history all provide proof of this,” said Guo.