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Based on a story by author Liu Cixin, the movie
about a group of Chinese astronauts trying to save the world
from the orbit of an unstable sun premiered on Feb. 5, the first
day of the Lunar New Year holiday.
"It's a genre that most Chinese people have never seen, and it
really touched people," said Wu Jian, a Beijing-based film
analyst with Alibaba Pictures, adding that the film drew
families into cinemas during the traditional reunion period.
Figures posted on Thursday on the film's official account on
China's Twitter-like Weibo show the sales were reached in 9 days
and 16 hours, which analysts and media said broke a record of 10
days and 15 hours set by "Wolf Warrior 2".
The patriotic Rambo-style "Wolf Warrior 2" is China's
highest-grossing movie, hitting 5.7 billion yuan in box office
sales last year.
Analysts forecast ticket sales of "The Wandering Earth" could
hit 5 billion yuan or more, with Wu saying it had grabbed
eyeballs from comedies such as Ning Hao's "Crazy Alien", Stephen
Chow's "The New King of Comedy", and Han Han's "Pegasus".
The film also figured in China's foreign ministry briefing this
week.
"I know the hottest movie now is 'The Wandering Earth', I don't
know if you have watched or not, I'd recommend it," spokeswoman
Hua Chunying said, while replying to a query about a film whose
premiere was canceled.
Movie box office revenue in China rose 9 percent last year to 61
billion yuan, a slower pace than the year before, as the
government cracked down on tax evasion in the industry and
tightened rules on content.
(Reporting by Pei Li and Brenda Goh; Additional reporting by Ben
Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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