Opinion | 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.