Posted on 02/21/2019 8:00:19 PM PST by Simon Green
One of the biggest movies in the world right now has already surpassed half a billion dollars at the box office in China without even having completed its second week of release yet. That puts the movie, Wandering Earth, on par with some of the biggest big screen titles to emerge from the US in recent years, like Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War.
The movie, a sci-fi epic that tells the story of people trying to save earth from being destroyed by the sun, is already the second-highest grossing film in China ever. Which should explain why Netflix just snatched it up, in a deal that will introduce the film to an even wider audience via the popular streaming giant.
The streamer didn’t share any other details about the arrangement, like how much it paid or when the film will start streaming. But it’s still a big announcement, for multiple reasons.
For one thing, this will help acclimate global audiences to Chinese-produced fare. It’s also a win-win for Netflix — which, while it doesn’t sell subscriptions inside China, is nevertheless making a push to appeal to global Chinese audiences. In addition to this film, Netflix is also developing its first Chinese-language original TV series.
As far as Wandering Earth goes, it’s definitely an understatement to say a ton of work went into this blockbuster. According to Netflix, the film was given a production scale rarely seen in Chinese films and included post-production and special effects work that took two years. That included more than 10,000 specifically-built props and the employment of some 2,000 special effects shots, in addition to a “substantial amount of computer graphics shots.”
“Audiences from over 190 countries will soon meet The Wandering Earth on Netflix,” the film’s director Frant Gwo said in a statement about the news, also raving about Netflix’s plan to translate it into 28 languages. “I am glad that our movie can reach to people from different parts of the world. This is a Chinese movie created for the world, and it has been positively received since its premiere. We are very excited about it.”
According to a plot summary from Netflix, the movie is set in the distant future and involves the sun expanding into a red giant that threatens to destroy earth. A team of heroes builds “ten thousand stellar engines” to propel earth out of the solar system in the hope of finding a new home in space, kick-starting a 2,500-year-long journey in which humanity fights for the survival of their “wandering earth.”
But is it woke AF?
That's what's important! A film's gotta be woke!
Ummm? The earth is being destroyed by the sun? That's a new spin on climate change that no one ever thought of. /Sarc
I would guess that it is also a Chinese Language Film. Reading subscripts takes a lot more effort.
How can the Sun have anything to do with Earth's climate? I mean, really! I was told it is my SUV and all the cow farts from all the beef we eat that has us doomed.
Seriously? The Sun. Oh come on now. This sould like something Alexandria Occassional Cortex would come out with.
Is this a remake of A Boy And His Dog?
Sheila Jackson Lee thinks the movie is real.
In the film it's turning into a red giant. In the nest few hundred years.
No, really....
The plot sounds just crazy enough to work.
Plan 10 from Outer Space. Should see right after dinner at your favorite Chinese restaurant.
Spoiler alert!
It's sort of woke. Turns out a disgruntled Moon stage actor named Justa Smallhead hired a team of Nigerian astronauts (in the distant future Nigeria leads the world in space exploration) to create the illusion that the sun is becoming a Red Dwarf star because he hates the orange race who dominate the continent of Trumperica.
Some of these Chinese movies are VERY well done.
One that I was struck by was called, “Operation Red Sea”, about The Chinese Navy and Marines rescuing Chinese citizens in war-torn Yemen, China’s first overseas military combat in a century.
Good story, but the last five minutes is all Propoganda, about the PLAN going up against the US Navy.
A gaggle of employees got together to go see a horror movie part of which was set at an Egyptian tomb. Desecrating the tomb brought out evil spirits.
One of the guys was Arab and visibly upset by the movie. He leaned over to me and said, “This is real, you know.”
And he meant it.
Maybe it can be dubbed in British English.
That would be even more entertaining.
I’m not much into Sci-Fi, (too tedious) but apparently, a humongous amount of people are.
Story just isn’t that great.
The problem with a lot of Chinese productions is the script. It’s generally an afterthought. And I’m referring to Hong Kong productions, which are the cream of the crop. Mainland Chinese productions are worse.
Another end-of-the-world movie? The streaming world is loaded with them.
I dunno. I’m able to get through kurosawa films just fine. Those have subtitles. Half the trick on that is production writing both precise and concise subtitles.
CC
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