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Netflix Buys Rights To Stream Chinese Sci-Fi Blockbuster 'The Wandering Earth' (npr.org) 214

An anonymous reader writes from a report via NPR: Netflix announced this week that it has acquired the rights to stream Chinese sci-fi blockbuster "The Wandering Earth," which has already grossed more than $600 million globally and hit number two in the all-time Chinese box office rankings since it was released in theaters Feb. 5. Netflix will translate the movie into 28 languages and release it in more than 190 countries. The movie, based on a short story by Hugo award winner Liu Cixin (author of "Three Body Problem" and "Ball Lighting") is set in a distant future in which the earth is about to be devoured by the sun. Using propulsive engines, humans turn earth into a spaceship and try to launch it out of the solar system and the planet is saved by a Chinese hero (rather than American ones as typically seen in Hollywood sci-fi movies.)

For China's film industry, the release marks a major milestone. "Filmmakers in China see science fiction as a holy grail," Raymond Zhou, an independent critic, told The New York Times. "It's like the coming-of-age of the industry." Two sci-fi movies, "The Wandering Earth" and "Crazy Alien," which is also inspired by Liu's work, topped this Chinese New Year movie season. Inkoo Kang wrote at Slate that the film "understands what American blockbusters are still loath to admit: Responding to climate change will pose infrastructural challenges on a massive order and require drastic measures on a planetary scale. Perhaps it takes a country like China, which is accustomed to a manic rate of construction and grandness of organizational possibility, to seriously consider how dramatically humanity will have to reimagine our ways of life to survive such a catastrophic force."

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Netflix Buys Rights To Stream Chinese Sci-Fi Blockbuster 'The Wandering Earth'

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  • seems to me (Score:5, Interesting)

    by 50000BTU_barbecue ( 588132 ) on Monday February 25, 2019 @12:14AM (#58174978) Journal

    We could have made movies out of Niven novels at any time in the last three decades with similar "big engineering sci-fi wow" scenarios. A World Out Of Time springs to mind.
    I've read Three Body Problem and found it terse and unremarkable. I must be getting too old to "get" new stuff, or read so much all I see is recycled ideas.

    • by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Monday February 25, 2019 @12:30AM (#58175018) Homepage Journal

      We could have made movies out of Niven novels at any time in the last three decades with similar "big engineering sci-fi wow" scenarios. A World Out Of Time springs to mind.

      Nah. Warm up with Integral Trees, that can just be one movie, no need to do any sequels, and concepts from all the books can be used. Then do a fairly faithful Ringworld, and sequels. Gotta think along the lines of what's going to look good.

      Speaking of Sci-Fi movie adaptations that haven't been made, the thing I'd actually most like to see is the Mote in God's Eye, etc. I mean, that and Stephenson's books, but I still can't see those not being mangled to hell.

      • Most of Niven's works are just "wow big thing" mind experiments. But A World Out Of Time starts in the present day and actually has a character you can sort of connect with. It progresses slowly enough at first to get a handle on what's going on.
        I think that's necessary to making a movie.

        • Re:seems to me (Score:5, Interesting)

          by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Monday February 25, 2019 @12:52AM (#58175072) Homepage Journal

          Most of Niven's works are just "wow big thing" mind experiments. But A World Out Of Time starts in the present day and actually has a character you can sort of connect with.

          The Integral Trees had a main protagonist, but you could follow any of the characters from the series reasonably. Maybe the dude who wears the suit makes the most sense. Ringworld has Louis Wu, I had no trouble putting myself in his shoes. In fact, now I want to reread Ringworld.

        • by Aighearach ( 97333 ) on Monday February 25, 2019 @01:27AM (#58175148)

          Integral Trees was a romantic comedy, I'm truly surprised it hasn't become a blockbuster yet.

          I guess they're scared to do romantic comedies that can be confused with sci-fi because of Heartbeeps. But that was their own fault; the trailer made it look like a sci-fi movie!

      • Second vote for the Mote. Would make for an incredible film. Would also love to see Destiny's Road brought to the screen by a competent director. Though I suspect that the Man-Kzin wars series would be more up Hollywood's alley.

      • I don't remember Integral Trees well enough to opine on its suitability as a movie, but I've wanted a Ringworld movie for quite some time...

        Are there any movies that have even had that concept, or a Dyson sphere in it? I can't think of any. Seems like there must have been some movie that had something on that scale, even if just in passing...

        Mote in God's Eye would be really great as well. So much you could mine from classic SF.

        • Are there any movies that have even had that concept, or a Dyson sphere in it? I can't think of any. Seems like there must have been some movie that had something on that scale, even if just in passing...

          I haven't seen the HALO movie, so I don't know if they put the thing in there, but the games certainly are set on a ringworld.

          • I knew the original game was set on a Ring, but was any of the video content set there? All I can remember was Forward Unto Dawn which I could have sworn was set on a planet. Was there some other movie?

            There's a live action TV show coming out, but for me I was thinking mostly of movies...

          • The first Halo game is set on a ring, but it's a much smaller one - it's a tiny little ring in orbit around a gas giant. The Ringworld ring is approximately two AU in diameter.

        • by neoRUR ( 674398 )

          Yes there was a Star Trek TNG episode called 'Relics' where Scotty was frozen in a transporter that crashed into a Dyson Sphere. Was a good episode.
          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
          https://memory-alpha.fandom.co... [fandom.com]

          • I remember that also (was pretty good) but I was thinking more specifically of movies...

            Although I can't even think of any other TV examples which is surprising. It's such a great concept it's amazing no-one has built more around it.

        • I can't recall any movies with a Dyson Sphere in them, but Star Trek: the Next Generation did an episode ("Relics", Season 6, Episode 4) that had one.
      • by dwywit ( 1109409 )

        " Gotta think along the lines of what's going to look good."

        I think a planet-scale fusion pulse motor would look pretty good, but it just wouldn't work on anything less than a 55,000" screen.

      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Niven's works tend to focus on the practical implications of hard sci-fi concepts, such as unmanaged ring-world societies or how humans could live on integral trees. No-one has really managed to bring that sort of thing to the screen so far. It's difficult to do that much world-building in a 2 hour movie, so maybe a miniseries would be a better option.

        It's going to be hard though, especially these days when we have reached a kind of CGI saturation where it's difficult to make anything look actually impressi

        • It's difficult to do that much world-building in a 2 hour movie, so maybe a miniseries would be a better option.

          In a movie, that stuff is the background. You can explain it along the way, or with some dramatic scenes.

          Well, the the other issue with Ringworld is the amount of casual sex in it, which is somewhat important to the plot. It's not so much the depiction of sex on screen, it's the way it is portrayed as a mixture of consequence/risk free fun and currency that the main character participates in without any apparent second thought.

          It'd be hard to make in China, but Hollywood should be able to manage it.

    • This movie has been done already a few times, it's just that in the Hollywood versions, the Chinese guy who wants to kill billions in the name of his extreme environmentalist views is played as the villain, not the hero.

    • by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      Its content safe for Communists to watch.
    • by Toad-san ( 64810 )

      And the "Rings" series doesn't come to mind?

      Or how about the Kzin?

    • all I see is recycled ideas.

      Including this one; Stanley Schmidt did it back in the 1970s with his "Lifeboat Earth" series of novels.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    which leads to wars...

    Stop with the limited geographical borders BS

    You are not better or worse than anyone else due to the place you where born or your ancestry....

    GET OVER IT

  • dubbed like anime?

  • This is why we need to colonize Mars, so when the sun swells into a red giant, we can survive the earth being devoured. Mars funding needs to be a top priority, before it is too late.

    • - I'm no scientist (at least in this domain), but I guess that when the earth gets eaten by the sun, mars would become quite hot. Wo what's the point getting there ? - as read in some other comments, I doubt there will be any human at the time. Which reminds me something said by Bill Nye I think, something like : we will never go to mars and teraform it, because we are not able to take care of our own planet.
    • Re:Occupy Mars (Score:4, Insightful)

      by religionofpeas ( 4511805 ) on Monday February 25, 2019 @02:04AM (#58175210)

      This is why we need to colonize Mars, so when the sun swells into a red giant, we can survive the earth being devoured. Mars funding needs to be a top priority, before it is too late.

      A few billion years ago, "we" were single celled organisms. Likewise, a few billion years from now, "we" will be a completely different species, in the unlikely event that our genetic line still exists then. Why should we care about this remotely related species, when we don't even care about animals going extinct today, who are much closer related to us ?

      And "too late" is a huge joke. We've only been making rockets for a century. We can easily spend the next million years perfecting them before attempting to settle on Mars. Either we will get more advanced, making the job easier, or civilization will collapse, saving us a lot of wasted effort. Win-win.

      • by quenda ( 644621 )

        And "too late" is a huge joke.

        Oh dear. You tripped over the answer and still did not see it.
        In other words, wwwoooossshhh!!!

        • Oh dear. You tripped over the answer and still did not see it.

          That's because most people who say that are completely serious.

          • by quenda ( 644621 )

            That's because most people who say that are completely serious.

            Poe's law in action? But that equally says I could be the one mistaken :)

      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Why should we care about this remotely related species, when we don't even care about animals going extinct today, who are much closer related to us ?

        Because there is no "we". The human race does not act as one, does not make rational decisions based on some overall plan or guiding principal.

        Given how humans nearly screwed up this planet and can't really be trusted not to completely break it somehow, those of us with a bit of vision and desire to see humanity survive should make an effort to get to Mars and live up there.

  • Chinese hero (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 25, 2019 @01:15AM (#58175120)

    and the planet is saved by a Chinese hero (rather than American ones as typically seen in Hollywood sci-fi movies.)

    (or Indian ones as typically seen in Bollywood movies)
    (or Japanese ones as typically seen in Japanese movies)
    (or French ones as typically seen in French movies)
    (or Nigerian ones as typically seen in Nigerian movies)
    (etc)

    • by Anonymous Coward

      What I found amusing is that the poster felt the need to point that out. As if we would all be shocked by the notion that a film from country x has a protagonist from country x. I can't wait for these soppy cunts to really start singing China's praises only to find out they're chucking Muslim villages into re-education camps. My God their SJW heads will explode.

    • Remember, in 2012 the Chinese were the ones who built the arks that were going to save humanity. And in The Martian Matt Damon would have died without the Chinese's help.
      • by neoRUR ( 674398 )

        When the Chinese are a funder for the movie, then they make sure there is a positive Chinese angle in it.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Missing the point. How many Bollywood movies get a big western release with promotion on major networks? How many native English speakers are even willing to put up with subtitles?

      The last big French sci-fi epic was in English, to make sure it reached a wide enough audience to cover the production costs. The best Japanese movies tend to be re-made in English with the setting changed to the west, e.g. The Ring or Seven Samurai or Godzilla. Nigerian films don't even register.

      China could potentially change tha

      • How many Bollywood movies get a big western release with promotion on major networks? How many native English speakers are even willing to put up with subtitles?

        As cheap as most of those movies seem to be to make, they ought to be able to shoot the dialogue scenes twice, once in English, and then overdub them... the point being to get the lip motions right, not to do anything with the practical audio. Their pronunciation can be poor. Apparently this is something that's actually being done now. Or maybe they could just use deepfake technology to change the mouth motions :)

        • As cheap as most of those movies seem to be to make, they ought to be able to shoot the dialogue scenes twice

          Even at the cost of a Bollywood movie it still costs AT LEAST TWICE AS MUCH to film the same movie twice.

          and then overdub them... the point being to get the lip motions right, not to do anything with the practical audio. Their pronunciation can be poor.

          Dubbing costs money too. Bollywood "blockbusters" have budgets comparable to episodes of TV shows in US.
          And if you're dubbing INTO English - now you're paying American actors American salaries to dub something that no one wants to watch.
          Not because of dubbing but because of cultural differences.
          Hell, Americans remake British shows and redub British cartoons with voices done by stars whose names and voice

          • Even at the cost of a Bollywood movie it still costs AT LEAST TWICE AS MUCH to film the same movie twice.

            What? First, it's only some scenes. Second, even if it was all the scenes, it still wouldn't double the cost.

            And if you're dubbing INTO English - now you're paying American actors American salaries to dub something that no one wants to watch.

            If no one wants to watch it, you wouldn't bother. And you don't have to pay Americans. You just need English speakers. In fact, it would be weirder if you used Americans.

            Also... Most of the stuff that works great in India would only register as weird or as cheap melodrama in the USA. Or most anywhere.

            People watch a lot of weird shit full of cheap melodrama here.

            • What? First, it's only some scenes. Second, even if it was all the scenes, it still wouldn't double the cost.

              Only all the scenes of people talking. And all the cover scenes. And all the scenes to recut the movie so it makes sense to non-Indians.

              If no one wants to watch it, you wouldn't bother. And you don't have to pay Americans. You just need English speakers. In fact, it would be weirder if you used Americans.

              That's a catch-22.
              If you want to show it, just to see if anyone wants to watch it - you must already have filmed it.

              Also... Indians speak English. With an accent.
              You're not dubbing it so lazy Americans don't have to read. You're dubbing it cause it sounds weird and confusing for those Americans.
              It's like American... but it's like how Mexicans talk. Only not exactly. More li

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Sci-Fi allows to handle sensitive topics in the current Chinese society in a way that doesn't concern the conservative censorship, just like it did here in the other side of the world. As a sci-fi fan I can't wait to see what they transfer to the film next, and if they experiment with the deeper characterization and emotional motives than is the tradition in the Chinese movies.

    • by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      In Taiwan people are free to enjoy different US, South Korean and Japanese sci fi plots.
      Where content is a product of imagination, freedom and creativity.
      Communist China has real controls over content, politics, what any approved sci fi movie can do and show.
    • I would think science fiction would pose a greater risk unless you always had a strong and benevolent government that could stand in for the party. I'd think the censors would particularly object to stories set in the future in which there was no discernible institution like the party. I can see the first question the censor ask is why are you promoting a future without the party?

      I would think that movies set in the distant past, before the party, would be easiest for censors, especially if they managed t

    • Nope. The ROC/PRC have their head up their asses. [wikipedia.org]

      = Banned Science Fiction Movies =

      * Back To The Future, Reason: Time Travel
      * World War Z, Reason: Zombies and starring Brad Pitt
      * Mad Max: Fury Road, Reason: Unknown, allegedly Dystopian theme

      Also note Doom 3 was trimmed because its 3 hour run time was too long !?!?

      = Banned Fantasy Movies =

      * Babe: Pig in the City, Reason: Live action animals with speech. WTF?!?!
      * Frankenstein, Reason: superstitious films
      * Alice in Wonderland, Reason: superstitious films
      * Pirat

  • by supernova87a ( 532540 ) <kepler1@NoSpaM.hotmail.com> on Monday February 25, 2019 @01:41AM (#58175178)
    I don't know if anyone else saw the movie and would like to discuss it here. I watched it about 2 weeks ago in the theater.

    I was pretty impressed with the first opening scene, and the final scene where the dad [plot spoiler, etc]. Those scenes had the music, pacing, narrative that seemed like it was to the quality and emotional sophistication of like Ridley Scott or someone similar.

    However, much of the middle of the movie was low brow explosions, unbelievable story line, and cheap humor like it came out of the ass of Michael Bay or something. Such a schizophrenic movie production. Worth streaming though I think.
    • Sounds great!
    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      The total control Communism has over all content will do that to the parts of a movie between the opening scene and the final scene.
    • by DumbSwede ( 521261 ) <slashdotbin@hotmail.com> on Monday February 25, 2019 @08:26AM (#58175762) Homepage Journal

      The book is much better, unfolds on a more realistic time scale, has a much more believable twist leading to people being unfairly persecuted. Totally hated the Hydrogen explosion at Jupiter saving the Earth in the movie.That said a great first try by China at a big budget Sci-Fi, as good or better than the average American big budget Sci-Fi. Not China's 2001, more like China's Armageddon.

      Please China don't mess up The Three Body Problem (they've already shelved one failed attempt). Despite a comment in another thread. The Three Body Problem is the best Sci-Fi trilogy I've read in 40 years. The book Wandering Earth pails to insignificance compared to TTBP.

      • by Tom ( 822 )

        It may have been because I read The Wandering Earth in a collection of short stories that is titled the same and after reading about halfway through without realizing that there are more, entirely different stories to follow I was going "what the heck is going to happen in the rest of this book??!?!" but I really, really loved it. I also loved Three Body to death, and seconded, it's right up there with the superstars of SciFi and above most of them. But Wandering Earth is just blowing you away with its mass

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      like it came out of the ass of Michael Bay or something

      So it's gonna make Netflix rich?

  • Reminds me of Space: 1999, where the moon got ejected from its orbit after the explosion of nuclear waster stored on its surface.
    • by quenda ( 644621 )

      Yes, equally plausible. I guess "no studio ever went broke underestimating the intelligence or taste of the American public".
      And it turns out the same applies to China. (Perhaps just not to Chinese migrants in America?)

  • Like Space: 1999 ??? (Score:5, Informative)

    by bradley13 ( 1118935 ) on Monday February 25, 2019 @03:13AM (#58175322) Homepage

    In Space: 1999 it was the moon that was blasting around the universion. As sci-fi shows went, the acting and plots were ok, but I could never get over the utter stupidity of the premise. No, you are not going to drive around the universe on a planet.

    On the Earth, just think what happens to the oceans when you accelerate. *slosh*

    • by skovnymfe ( 1671822 ) on Monday February 25, 2019 @03:41AM (#58175360)
      Just change the gravitational constant of the universe. Easy.
    • This is a science fiction movie, not a scientific documentary.
    • Sun would go red giant only in 5 billion years. Pretty sure if human society exists by that time it would be absolutely unrecognizable.
    • I know, it's so stupid to think you'd travel around the universe in a planet. If you were a real pro, you'd launch the entire solar system in the direction you want to go. That way, you bring a nice power source with you.
    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      For some reason Gerry Anderson productions often used the trope of having characters who should have been experts act completely clueless for the sake of exposition. That and scientific illiteracy were hallmarks of their work.

      Nevertheless they were quite entertaining and the production values were generally pretty high. Personally UFO was my favourite, followed by Captain Scarlet which had the best premise for a kids show ever.

    • by Tom ( 822 )

      On the Earth, just think what happens to the oceans when you accelerate. *slosh*

      The dramatic changes of the entire process are actually a major theme in the story. It's not a story about Earth flying around in the universe and it just somehow one day started. The largest segment of the story is about how it was done and which massive changes to the ecosystem, the human society and the planet this includes.

      Liu Cixin thinks big in his stories, and you can't appreciate just how big until you've read them. He's a true SciFi author, not a "soap opera, just set in space" or "western movie wi

  • In the eyes of the public, scientists are often not good sci-fi movie audiences, they will pay too much attention to the scientific details in the film, and can not enjoy the story. But I want to defend this sentence. Apart from the cinema, how many opportunities does the scientist have to observe a future world? What's more, only good science fiction movies can lead people to think about the scientific problems behind them. The crappy science fiction movies are just crappy movies, and "Wandering Earth" is
  • This Liu Cixin sounds like the brothers Strugatsky of China.

  • Would'a thunk it? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by CrimsonAvenger ( 580665 ) on Monday February 25, 2019 @06:56AM (#58175592)

    the planet is saved by a Chinese hero (rather than American ones as typically seen in Hollywood sci-fi movies.

    What a novel notion - a Chinese SF thriller would have a Chinese hero, unlike American SF thrillers, which have...American heroes....

    Yeah, we're supposed to be really surprised that Chinese movies have Chinese heroes, and be really appalled that American movies have American heroes.

    • Yeah, but Chinese films have lots of American heroes: Ming-Na Wen, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Donnie Yen, etc. We traded them for Bruce Lee! They weren't born here like Arnold, Van Damme, Bruce Willis, or Statham but all are American heroes. Thou some might consider them British due to when the actor was born.

      • Yeah, but Chinese films have lots of American heroes: Ming-Na Wen, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Donnie Yen, etc. We traded them for Bruce Lee! They weren't born here like Arnold, Van Damme, Bruce Willis, or Statham but all are American heroes. Thou some might consider them British due to when the actor was born.

        Mostly White males. That's racist and sexist. BTW, Arnold at least was born in Austria.

      • Ming-Na Wen is the world's most famous Portuguese action hero.

  • Just watched the trailer and I still have no idea what it is about. From some scenes it seems like the earth is some sort of spaceship (even more ridiculous than the campy Space: 1999), but in most of the trailer everything looks like very near-future. Plus the effects seemed uneven between trailer scenes, so I don't know what to expect there either. Not sure if its worth a watch, perhaps stick with what Chinese cinema does best (comedic fantasy stuff like the 2013 Journey to the West?).

  • " and the planet is saved by a Chinese hero (rather than American ones as typically seen in Hollywood sci-fi movies.)"

    What??? Not a strong woman hero? Is there no Chinese Brie Larson available?

    Sigh.... Racism, amirite? Why would they need to take a completely gratuitous snipe there?

    It's a Chinese Sci-Fi movie for crissakes. It would be friggin' weird if the hero wasn't Chinese.

    If we're playing identity politics, Garret Wang very often played the hero in ST-Voyager.

    But of course, American medi

    • Why was the internet up in arms about ScarJo playing the title character of Ghost in the Shell, but nobody seems to mind Rosa Salazar playing the title character in Alita?
  • Stanley Schmidt told a very similar sotry in "The Sins of the Fathers", and "Lifeboat Earth"...and, although I haven't read the short story or seen the series described here, I suspect he did a better job of it.
  • What's good for the goose .....
  • Boycott Chinese culture, Chinese brands, Chinese fooda

  • Let's begin movies rating on Slashdot. :)

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