Hollywood director Christopher Nolan's new sci-fi flick Interstellar has caught Chinese people's imagination, with their common question being: Can Chinese filmmakers make such a movie?

The Chinese film industry has entered a new era, producing some good movies and earning substantial box office returns. It's not uncommon to see a blockbuster earn more than 100 million yuan ($16.16 million) nowadays. Since the film industry has never been more successful on the commercial front, film financers may not be averse to investing in sci-fi films, because they could turn into blockbusters.

A recent article on Chinese science fiction over the past two decades by Chinese-American science fiction writer Liu Yukun is seen as signaling the arrival of sci-fi films in China. In the initial years, hard sci-fi tales were more popular in China, because both writers and readers were limited, and many of them came from science and engineering backgrounds.

But with soft sci-fi tales gaining popularity in recent times, the range of writers and readers has expanded considerably. The emergence of some prominent science fiction writers and their abundant body of work offer enough material and inspiration for filmmakers. Moreover, a prominent group of young science fiction fans is drawn to the movies.

But despite the popularity of science fiction writings and movies in China, as well as film financers' willingness to invest in sci-fi movies, the development of the genre faces many obstacles.

As a genre, Chinese sci-fi movies are still in the nascent stage. If you ask even science fiction writers who have been enamored by sci-fi movies since childhood to name Chinese films in this genre, they cannot come up with good examples. Hao Jingfang, a new generation science fiction writer, says very few Chinese sci-fi movies are worth mentioning. After all, "people watch sci-fi movies more because of their popularity than their imaginative elements," she says.