When it was released in 2019, Frant Gwo’s The Wandering Earth became one of China’s biggest cinematic hits, and now, it looks like he’s going to be returning to the world for another big blockbuster. According to Variety, Gwo is going to direct a sequel to the film, which will be released in 2023.
The first film was based on a 2000 Liu Cixin novella of the same name, and follows humanity’s efforts to stave off extinction when our sun begins to dim. A coalition of scientists concoct a desperate plan: move Earth from its current orbit to Proxima Centauri, 4.2 light years away, using massive fusion drives. The film follows a group of heroes as Earth passes by Jupiter, and have to take desperate action to ensure that the planet doesn’t fall into the gas giant and into its proper slingshot maneuver to head out on its way to our new parent star.
Gwo revealed that they’ve been working on the project for two years: the script is done, and they’ll be moving into production, which “will involve more new technologies.”
A teaser poster for the film includes a tagline: “Goodbye Solar System,” but there aren’t any further details about the plot to the sequel. However, producer Gong Ge’er noted that “We have created a new world full of science fiction elements and are looking forward to audiences discovering new, better plots and more details.” Presumably, Earth and its surviving humans will encounter some new challenges along the way to Proxima Centuari.
The film was released in China back in 2019, and grossed nearly $700 million in theaters. After a short run in theaters here in the US, Netflix picked up the film for release a couple of months later.
Presumably, Netflix will be interested in streaming the film when it’s eventually released: it recently picked up an adaptation of Liu’s The Three-Body Problem from Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
