Four years ago, "The Wandering Earth" was born, can "The Wandering Earth 2" replicate the miracle?

Domestic science fiction films have been pinned on high hopes.

However, the development process was put before the horse, from localization in the eighties and nineties to today's four differences.

For example, Huang Jianxin's "Dislocation" in 1986 tells the story of Wenshan and the sea in a sci-fi way, although it is not satisfactory in special effects, but it can make people feel empathy in content.

But this attempt at localization gradually became the tears of the times under the attack of Hollywood sci-fi blockbusters and the return of censorship to conservatism and abstraction in the 90s.

As a result, the current domestic sci-fi films only know how to blindly learn Hollywood, and the core ideas have become American values, which have no characteristics of their own and are no different from A goods.

Moreover, the special effects are simply difficult to compare with Hollywood blockbusters, since the story and theme are the same, why put the orthodoxy not to watch, but to pursue copycat things, over time, domestic sci-fi films have become synonymous with bad films.

After Liu Cixin appeared, domestic sci-fi films had the nourishment to land.

Hollywood science fiction movies generally have two routines, one is the ultimate proposition of human beings, such as "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Interstellar", and the other is superheroes saving the world, such as all Marvel movies.

All the stories in these two directions have basically been filmed by Hollywood, Marvel has saved the world and the universe for more than ten years, and the audience has long seen it, so wanting to overtake on a curve on this road is no different from a fantasy.

But Liu Cixin's science fiction novel gives domestic science fiction a third possibility.

That is, realistic science fiction and native plot science fiction, these Chinese elements, our own people are handy to shoot, no longer need to draw tigers according to cats.

In the 20s, the reason why movies changed from Western films to Chinese films was because Zheng Zhengqiu and Zhang Shichuan gave films social and spiritual value.

The attributes of realism have given China films, and Liu Cixin's significance lies in this, not only distinguishing it from Hollywood science fiction films, but also making localized domestic science fiction films return.

Chinese elements can be seen everywhere in "The Wandering Earth", and the frozen buildings of Shanghai and Beijing can be seen at a glance.

There is also the Chinese's homeland is difficult to leave and the fallen leaves return to the roots, the rural voice has not changed and the mane is a party of water and soil cultivation, no matter how far you go, what will never change on the body is the rural voice that represents the homeland.

Chinese's attachment to home has been rooted in each of our genes for thousands of years, which is also the main reason why we always go home during the New Year, no matter how unbearable the family is, it is always a familiar hometown.

So when the earth has a crisis, Chinese think of wandering with the earth and looking for a suitable galaxy to survive, because the earth is home, and home cannot be abandoned, and the four walls of the family are also homesick.

When the Earth was attracted by Jupiter's gravity and the thrusters on the Earth were all weak, Chinese still did not give up.

The thing to do is to do everything to keep the home, rather than leave it alone and find a blue star suitable for survival.

If this setting takes place in Hollywood science fiction films, it is basically abandoning the earth and searching aimlessly in the vast universe, which is the most essential difference between Chinese and foreign cultures.

For example, in Western mythology, there was a great flood in prehistory.

In the Bible, Noah's ark was built according to God's instructions to allow people to come on board to avoid disaster.

In Eastern mythology, in the face of floods, the choice of ordinary people is to govern, not to abandon their homes and leave their homeland.

Under the leadership of Dayu, the flood was cleared and the flood was channeled, and after 13 years, the great cause of water control was finally completed, and the people returned to a life of peace and contentment.

Therefore, if domestic sci-fi films want not to become imported products and achieve localization, they should work hard in this regard, rather than like Handan toddlers, seemingly working hard, learning this and that, in fact, it is useless.

With a good story, you still need the support of special effects.

Otherwise, it is difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice, and "The Wandering Earth" that opened the first year of the domestic sci-fi film brought "rice".

In 2019, "The Wandering Earth" was released, Wu Jing was interviewed, and was asked why he supported the sci-fi film "The Wandering Earth" directed by Guo Fan, and was not worried that the filming would be bad and ruin his reputation?

Wu Jing said bluntly: "Even if the shooting is bad, it is better than no one filming." In fact, we have succeeded, because 7,000 people participated in the production of this film, and in the future, these 7,000 people will be the seeds of Chinese science fiction movies."

Today, this seed of industrialization has begun to take root.

Guo Fan, Lu Yang, Rao Xiaozhi, they really brought the hope of industrialization to domestic films.

In the past four years, their team has produced many industrial blockbusters, such as "Thousands of Miles Home", "Assassination of a Novelist" and "Walking Alone on the Moon".

These films may not be so good elsewhere, but they are rarely criticized in terms of special effects, and they are all above the standard and worth the ticket price.

It can be seen that these people in the "Wandering Earth" team can indeed be on their own.

"The Wandering Earth 2" is another test for them, hoping that the little broken ball can live up to the mission and bring domestic movies closer to the world.

At present, the pre-sale of "The Wandering Earth 2" has exceeded 200 million, with 26.9% of the films, and the number of people who want to watch it has reached more than 2 million, and all signs indicate that "The Wandering Earth 2" will sell well.

But "The Wandering Earth 2" also needs to avoid being compared.

"Avatar 2" has been postponed to February, and it is another Cameron's special effects blockbuster, although the story is relatively weak, but the visual spectacle is breathtaking.

And "The Wandering Earth 2" is also a sci-fi film, and it certainly cannot be compared with "Avatar 2" that has been polished for thirteen years in terms of special effects, but there will always be someone to step on one.

The themes of the two movies are also relatively close, "Avatar 2" is to protect the family and protect the home, "The Wandering Earth 2" is also to save the earth, similar, similar means that in comparison, "The Wandering Earth 2" has to pay attention to this kind of rhythm.

In addition, although this year's Spring Festival ticket price is lower than last year, the average price has also reached 54.4 yuan, only a little lower than last year, which is the second highest ticket price in the history of the Spring Festival file.

However, the ticket price of more than 50 yuan did not stop everyone's enthusiasm for watching the movie, and within the audience's acceptance range, the theater should no longer do the matter of killing chickens and eggs, otherwise they will only be left cold.

The broader market was in a downturn throughout 2022.

The total box office for the whole year was only 29.946 billion, a decrease of 36.3% over the previous year, a record low since 2015, and the total number of people fell below 800 million, and the number of moviegoers decreased in units of 100 million.

Now, in the 2023 Spring Festival file, there are seven films such as "The Wandering Earth 2", "Manjiang Red", "Nameless", "Deep Sea", "Exchange Life", "Chinese Table Tennis" and "Bear Haunted", hoping to make a good start for 2023.