Chinese blockbuster The Wandering Earth may break new ground worldwide, but may not go far in Hong Kong

Chinese sci-fi film The Wandering Earth has been the talk of the town on the mainland since the start of the Year of the Pig. Around three weeks after its release in mainland China on February 5, the film has already raked in 4.3 billion yuan (US$643 million) at the box office, making it currently the second highest-grossing film in China’s history.

It is also showing in North America and Australia and according to its distributor, the Shanghai-based CMC Inc, it has earned more at the American box office than any other Chinese film in the past five years.

The buzz, however, has yet to cross the border to Hong Kong. So far there have been scattered reports in the local Chinese-language media of the film’s box-office triumph and it is only now opening in the city. The most widely circulated story concerns photos of tickets for the film on which the slogan “the Communist Party saves the Earth” was printed.

While it is understood that this was not the film’s official slogan, and that some mainland movie-goers could choose to have extra text printed on the tickets they purchase, the photos have caused an uproar on the internet and generated a bad impression among Hongkongers.

Many in Hong Kong believe that the much-hyped film is simply more high-budget propaganda from Beijing, like the action-packed Wolf Warrior and its sequel. All three films star actor Wu Jing. Comments on the internet often refer to The Wandering Earth as “Wolf Warrior in space”. Some internet critics expressed pride at not having seen the film.

Despite the proverbial admonishment not to judge a book by its cover, many Hongkongers tend to shun exports from mainland China. The city’s negative response to The Wandering Earth’s wild success is a classic example of this.

Sources close to the film’s production told me earlier this month that, initially, there were no plans for the film’s theatrical release in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau. Last week, the film’s director said The Wandering Earth would soon be available on global streaming service Netflix. Then, unexpectedly, local distributor Edko announced that the film would open in Hong Kong on Thursday .

The fact is that The Wandering Earth is most certainly not “Wolf Warrior in space”. My visit to the film’s set at Wanda Studios in Qingdao in 2017 and my viewing of the final product in February tell me that The Wandering Earth is a breakthrough for Chinese cinema.

A screen adaptation of Liu Cixin’s short story of the same name, the futuristic film revolves around a plan to save the Earth by propelling the planet away from the sun as it turns into a red giant.

Although the film stars Wu as one of the astronauts involved in the mission, it is not about China being the world’s saviour. Rather, it showcases how people from different countries and cultures collaborate to save the day, with the story happening to take place in China.

The stunning visual effects, an exhilarating plot that involves characters solving one crisis after another while making sacrifices, and a story articulated in the universal language of love and humanity make the film highly entertaining. It represents a milestone in Chinese commercial cinema’s journey towards catching up with Hollywood.

Although the film will now be shown in Hong Kong cinemas, whether local audiences will embrace it remains to be seen. Even if it is available on Netflix in the future, many will probably skip the film because of their prejudice.

Films boasting a heavy mainland Chinese flavour have largely been doomed in Hong Kong. The local audience tends to reject co-productions between Hong Kong and mainland China because these projects, though helmed by Hong Kong filmmakers and starring familiar home-grown faces, do not sync with Hongkongers’ tastes.

For example, Dante Lam Chiu-yin’s action thriller Operation Mekong (2016) scored 1.2 billion yuan (US$179.5 million) at the box office on the mainland but took only HK$5 million in the city.

Mainland productions perform even worse at the box office. Vicki Zhao Wei’s directorial debut, youth drama So Young (2013), was a box-office flop in Hong Kong despite its critical acclaim and box office success on the mainland.

The star-studded The Founding of An Army (2017), directed by Hong Kong’s Andrew Lau Wai-keung, earned only HK$2.96 million. Tsui Hark’s The Taking of Tiger Mountain  (2015), a screen adaptation of the play of the same name from the Cultural Revolution period, took in only a pitiful HK$400,000 in Hong Kong, according to industry sources, despite its critical acclaim. Wolf Warrior   2 , which raked in 5.7 billion yuan to become China’s all-time highest-grossing film, garnered only HK$5.5 million in Hong Kong.

The vast cultural and language gaps between Hong Kong and mainland China, coupled with uneasiness fuelled by political tension, have made Hongkongers resist mainland culture.

As Beijing appears to tighten its grip of Hong Kong while seeking to promote patriotism among Hongkongers through various means, such as the introduction of a national education curriculum and the proposed national anthem law, Hongkongers’ resistance has grown stronger than ever, with only 15 per cent of the population identifying themselves as Chinese as of the end of 2018, more than two decades after the 1997 handover.

However, if The Wandering Earth succeeds in the Hong Kong box office, it could be a sign of Hongkongers’ willingness to see China with fresh eyes and look beyond political differences.

This could help close the cultural gap between Hong Kong and mainland China. After all, soft power has always been a much more effective tool in promoting ties than using the law to try and force people love and respect a country. Just ask Hollywood.

Vivienne Chow is a journalist and cultural critic based in Hong Kong. She is the founder of Cultural Journalism Campus and a part-time lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong