Battle of the sci-fi blockbusters as China’s Wandering Earth meets Hollywood’s Alita: Battle Angel

After two weeks at the top of the Chinese box office chart, domestic science-fiction hit The Wandering Earth was knocked off its perch on Friday by the opening day take of James Cameron’s Alita: Battle Angel.

The Hollywood CGI blockbuster earned 132 million yuan (US$19.7 million) on its first day in China’s cinemas, compared with The Wandering Earth’s 60 million yuan on the same day.

The Chinese sci-fi blockbuster has raked in 3.8 billion yuan (US$566 million) in total since its Lunar New Year holiday debut, and is among China’s highest-grossing films, second only to Wolf Warrior 2.

Industry analysts and moviegoers have been anticipating the box office battle between the two films. Both are sci-fi stories with big names attached. Alita is co-produced and co-written by Cameron, director of 2009’s smash hit Avatar, while The Wandering Earth is based on a short story by China’s Hugo-winning author Liu Cixin.

Alita uses facial performance capture – the same techniques developed for Avatar – to render the protagonist completely in CGI. The cyberpunk action film is based on a 1990 Japanese manga series directed by Robert Rodriguez and features as its protagonist a disembodied female cyborg with a fully intact human brain.

Comparisons of the two films have led to heated discussions on Chinese social media, even before Alita: Battle Angel’s debut in China, with many online commenters debating the merits of The Wandering Earth’s patriotic theme.

Now that Alita is in cinemas, some moviegoers are hailing it online as a “true Hollywood-style sci-fi” movie and making negative comparisons with its Chinese rival.

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“Alita truly shows the peak of cinematic special effects. The Wandering Earth made Chinese think that we are close to Hollywood in terms of special effects, but after watching Alita I realised they are way ahead of us,” one commentator said on Weibo, China's Twitter-like service.

Not everyone agrees. “I prefer The Wandering Earth because of its impact on Chinese audience and film industry,” a commenter said on entertainment platform Douban. “Alita had no new techniques and didn't resonate with the audience.”

Some also pointed out Alita’s shortcomings, saying that the plot had been turned into a Hollywood fable and an adolescent love story, a typical popcorn film.

“If it weren't for the special effects and James Cameron, the film can barely pass,” one commenter said.

Another commenter suggested admiration for Alita was a form of xenophilia – a preference for foreign culture – with its fans praising it because it was made by the Western film industry.

There has been endless debate in China about The Wandering Earth since its release on February 5 with many, including the author, hailing the film as the beginning of China’s sci-fi era.

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But while it achieved instant blockbuster status at the box office, the film was also attacked by trolls encouraging people to leave one-star reviews on ratings websites like Douban because of its patriotic theme.

The Wandering Earth’s storyline presents a series of obstacles to its human protagonists as they initiate a project to move the Earth out of the solar system to avoid the exploding sun and preserve civilisation.

The film is headlined by action star Wu Jing, who also starred in the Wolf Warrior series, which was also criticised for being overly nationalistic.

Some critics drew comparisons between the two films, saying that The Wandering Earth had no core, was narrow-minded and showed “Wolf Warrior spirit” once again.

On Douban, which encourages moviegoers to rate films, The Wandering Earth is currently rated 7.9 out of 10, while Alita is 7.6 out of 10.