Cautious Optimism 

Despite the bullish market mood set by the trailblazer film The Wandering Earth, observers said China's sci-fi movie industry is still in a nascent stage and the huge success of The Wandering Earth is difficult to copy.

Speaking at a subforum of the film festival, Teng said while Chinese sci-fi filmmakers boast courage and sincerity, they are lacking in experience.

"We had to start from nothing when learning how to turn a sci-fi script into moving pictures," Teng said, echoing a widely-held view that the less industrialized movie industry is the main challenge facing China's sci-fi moviemaking.

"Only after shooting The Wandering Earth did we realize how far away we're lagging behind from developed countries that have highly industrialized movie industries," said Guo Fan, director of The Wandering Earth, at the film festival.

Guo, who expressed "cautious optimism" about the future development of China's sci-fi movie sector, called for more standardization in the industry.

China's movie market, the world's second largest, has long relied on Hollywood imports to satiate the high market demand for sci-fi movies, with the scarcity of home-made sci-fi films attributed to the low industrialization level in the movie industry, which pushes up the cost of everything from spacecraft interior to spacesuit props, a lack of experience and uncertainties in a market spoiled by imported sci-fi films.