China's smash hit science fiction film "The Wandering Earth" made a splash in the country's film industry after raking in nearly 3 million U.S. dollars in less than a week after being released, leading a pack of new films that debuted on the first day of China's Lunar New Year.

"The Wandering Earth" is not China's first attempt at a sci-fi blockbuster; nevertheless, it boosts China's confidence in producing high-quality sci-fi films, with the film currently scoring 7.9 out of 10 on the film review site Douban, and 9.3 out of 10 on Maoyan.

The motion picture is based on a book written by Hugo Award winner Liu Cixin, who is also the author of "Three Body Problem." The filmmakers' successful attempt in condensing Liu's labyrinthine plot into a compact story, which is peppered with Hollywood blockbuster visual effects, is believed to be the reason for its success. Many film reviewers reckon the production of "The Wandering Earth" an important step toward challenging the notion that China is incapable of producing popular or good sci-fi movies.

Chinese characteristics are embedded in the movie – most notably the characters' reluctance to part with their motherland – Earth in this case. In the film, the Earth is transformed into a huge spacecraft with hundreds of thousands of gargantuan thruster engines installed all over the planet, capable of pushing the Earth into the depths of the universe, in the hope of finding another habitable solar system.

"If Western viewers find the story special, that could better show that this is a Chinese story, a unique Chinese story. Chinese films don't have superheroes. Most of them are ordinary people. Everyone in my movie is ordinary. Their decisions and actions make them heroes in the nick of time. This is what I want to convey to viewers," said Guo Fan, director of "The Wandering Earth," to CGTN.

Guo added Chinese, unlike their Western counterparts, like "facing the earth, with the sky behind them" instead of going out to explore the outside world, and they have a deep affection for their motherland.

Many film reviewers in China are confident that "The Wandering Earth" can serve as a prototype of the country's sci-fi films, and China – a relative latecomer to the field of contemporary sci-fi film production – has entered a new era in the industry. But the film's director does not share the same confidence.

"If we, like Hollywood, can produce several high-quality sci-fi films regularly every year from this year forward, we can call it a good era when we look back in 10 or 20 years. But if no good sci-fi films come out for a long time after this point, I don't think we reached a new era," said Guo.

Sci-fi films are not "rock science" for Chinese audiences. "Jurassic World," "Star Wars" and "Interstellar" all harvested huge box office returns during their China debut.

"The Wandering Earth" is considered to have hit the entry level of a Hollywood blockbuster, but Guo believes China's sci-fi filmmaking remains decades behind that of Hollywood.

"The gap between China and Hollywood [is big] based on my experience in the shooting and post-production of the movie. China is 25 to 30 years behind Hollywood in film shooting. As for post-production, we have a gap of 10 to 15 years," said Guo.

"The Wandering Earth" bears resemblance to the Hollywood motion pictures, but in the making of the film – according to Guo – they deliberately avoided something they knew they couldn't make happen. But Guo believes China could reach the middle and higher levels of Hollywood blockbusters possibly within 10 years with more efforts devoted to the industry.