6 great films to see in Beijing cinemas this February

All the biggest movies to catch on the big screen

Every month we round up the best films on general release at Beijing's cinemas. Right now we've got big CNY releases – including China's hugely anticipated sci-fi flick, The Wandering Earth – and looking further ahead, there's James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez's visually epic dystopian film Alita: Battle Angel and the finale in the How to Train Your Dragon series.

The Wandering Earth

On general release now. 

Adapted from a short story by renowned sci-fi writer Liu Cixin, director Frant Gwo's much-anticipated The Wandering Earth is being hailed as China's biggest sci-fi movie to date. The premise? As the sun is about to die out, humanity sets a plan in motion to launch planet Earth out of orbit and to find a new home in space. 

Crazy Alien

On general release now. 

Despite topping the box office on Chinese New Year's Day, Ning Hao's latest comedy has had fairly lukewarm reviews thus far. The third movie in the Crazy series, follows two brothers (Huang Bo and Shen Teng) as they attempt to cash in on the surprise arrival of an alien.

Alita: Battle Angel

On general release from Feb 22. 

Adapted from Yukito Kishiro’s manga comic, and set in the year 2563 in a post-apocalyptic metropolis called Iron City, this visually epic (but somewhat monotonous) dystopian sci-fi – a collaboration between James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez – tells the story of Alita, a cyborg girl (Rosa Salazar, given an eerie CG makeover and cartoon eyes) reconnecting with her warrior past. Also starring Christoph Waltz, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein and Jennifer Connelly.

Roma

On general release before Mar 1. 

Set for a China release at some point this month (according to Douban, though the actual date is still TBC), Mexican auteur Alfonso Cuarón's deeply personal black-and-white marvel Roma unhurriedly observes the smallest parts first, before expanding to gradually reveal the social and political canvas of 1970s Mexico City, where he grew up in a middle-class neighbourhood called Roma.

Green Book

On general release Mar 1. 

Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali are masterful in this rousing period piece, alternating belly laughs with an unflinching view of a nation at war with itself. Green Book charts a road trip into racism shared by two well-worn stereotypes, characters that, almost surprisingly, come from real life – ‘Tony Lip’ Vallelonga (a pizza-chomping Viggo Mortensen) is a brutal, racist NYC club bouncer prone to howyadoins. On the hunt for work, he gets an unlikely gig at the invitation of Don Shirley (cryptic Mahershala Ali, superb), a finicky black jazz pianist who requires a tough driver to escort him on a tour of the Deep South. Tony’s no bleeding heart, but for the right price, he’s willing to swallow his pride. Green Book may well move you, possibly to tears, at the thought of real social change and kindness (at a time when we need it badly).

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden Word

On general release Mar 1.

Berk villager Hiccup and his dragon Toothless reunite for a finale nearly a decade on from the first film – cue teary goodbyes and a nostalgic look back at friendships made and foes flambéed. The Hidden World, we learn, is the utopia to which Hiccup, the settlement’s newly established chief, must lead his clan when an infamous dragon hunter appears on the scene.

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