VFX heavy movie ‘The Wandering Earth’ lands on Netflix

Netflix has announced to stream Mandarin sci-fi film The Wandering Earth.

Based on the novella of the same title by Liu Cixin (the first Asian novelist to win the Hugo Award for Science Fiction), The Wandering Earth is directed and written by Frant Gwo. Featuring a stellar cast including Qu Chuxiao, Li Guangjie, Ng Man-tat and Zhao Jinmai and a special appearance by Wu Jing, the movie was premiered in China, North America, Australia and New Zealand regions during Lunar New Year, and earned RMB 3.3 billion at the box office within 10 days!

The movie is a feast for the eyes with a production scale rarely seen in Mandarin films. Its post-production and special effects work spanned over two years, undergoing more than 3,000 conceptual designs, and featuring over 10,000 specifically-built props while employing an impressive 2,000 special effects shots and substantial amount of computer graphics shots.

“Netflix is committed to providing entertainment lovers with access to a wide variety of global content. With its high-quality production and story-telling, we believe that The Wandering Earth will be loved by sci-fi fans around the world,” said Netflix content acquisition manager Jerry Zhang.

Director Frant Gwo mentioned, “Audiences from over 190 countries will soon meet The Wandering Earth on Netflix. I am glad that our movie will be reaching 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. To my surprise, this movie also resonates outside Mainland China. Netflix will translate it into 28 languages, enabling more viewers to enjoy it regardless of geographical and linguistic differences. I hope they will like it.”

The Wandering Earth tells the story of a distant future in which the Sun is about to expand into a red giant and devour the Earth, prompting mankind to make an audacious attempt to save the planet. The multi-generational heroes build ten-thousand stellar engines in an effort to propel Planet Earth out the solar system, in the hope of finding a new celestial home. During the 2,500 year-long journeys, a group of daring heroes emerge to defend human civilization from unexpected dangers, new enemies and to ensure the survival of humanity in this age of the wandering Earth.