Netflix acquires China’s sci-fi hit ‘The Wandering Earth’

Netflix, a U.S.-based global streaming giant, has acquired China’s sci-fi blockbuster “The Wandering Earth”.

Adapted from the short story written by Hugo Award Winner Liu Cixin, the film was the biggest winner in the holiday film market.

Released on Feb. 5, the epic raked in over four billion yuan (about 596 million U.S. dollars) as of Tuesday.

And it has so far become the second highest grossing film of all time in China, behind “Wolf Warriors II,” a 2017 action film with over 5.6 billion yuan in the domestic market, according to Maoyan, a professional box office tracker.

With the film’s local streaming rights going to Youku, Netflix has picked up international online rights to “The Wandering Earth,” but the release time is yet to be known, according to a report with Mtime.

Netflix plans to translate the film into 28 languages, according to a Bloomberg report.

The company had previously acquired global rights to China’s romantic drama Us and Them and Animal World, a 2018 Chinese adventure action film.