Kung Fu Hustle is a 2004
actionAction film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
comedy filmComedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
directed and produced by, and starring
Stephen ChowStephen Chow Sing-Chi is a Hong Kong actor, comedian, screenwriter, film director and producer.- Professional career :Stephen Chow began as a temporary actor for TVB. He entered TVB in early 1980s, and was trained there, although he had few opportunities to appear in films. Chow graduated from...
. The other film producers were Chui Po-chu and
Jeffrey LauJeffrey Lau Chun-Wai is a Hong Kong film director, screenwriter, actor and producer. He was born on August 2, 1952. Liu Zhenwei is famous for writing and directing "mo lei tau" comedies...
, while the
screenplayA screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
was written by Huo Xin, Chan Man-keung, and Tsang Kan-cheung.
Yuen WahYuen Wah is a Hong Kong based Chinese action film actor, action choreographer, stuntman and martial artist who has appeared in over 160 films and over 20 television series.-Early life:...
,
Yuen QiuYuen Qiu is an actress and martial artist. She is an expert of both Chinese martial arts and Beijing-opera skills, and was apprenticed under the same master, Yu Jim-yuen, as Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung Kam-Bo at China Drama Academy.Yuen Qiu worked as a stunt woman and as a night club performer...
, Danny Chan, and
Bruce LeungLeung Siu-lung, born in 1948 in Hong Kong, is an actor who has appeared in many Hong Kong martial arts movies. He often appeared billed as "Bruce Leung," "Bruce Liang," "Bruce Leong," or "Bruce Leung Siu-lung," and is thus generally grouped among the Bruce Lee clones that sprang up after Lee's...
co-starred in prominent roles.
After achieving commercial success with
Shaolin SoccerShaolin Soccer is a 2001 Hong Kong comedy film co-written, directed by and starring Stephen Chow. A former Shaolin monk reunites his five brothers, years after their master's death, to apply their superhuman martial arts skills to play soccer and bring Shaolin kung fu to the masses.In 2008 a...
, Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia began to develop
Kung Fu Hustle in 2002. Although the film features the return of a number of retired actors famous for 1970s
Hong Kong action cinemaHong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. It combines elements from the action film, as codified by Hollywood, with Chinese storytelling and aesthetic traditions, to create a culturally distinctive form that nevertheless has a wide transcultural...
, it contrasts with other
martial artsChinese martial arts, also referred to by the Mandarin Chinese term wushu and popularly as kung fu , are a number of fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in China. These fighting styles are often classified according to common traits, identified as "families" , "sects" or...
films released at around the same time that have made the biggest impact in the
WestThe Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
, such as
Crouching Tiger, Hidden DragonCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a 2000 wuxia film. An American-Chinese-Hong Kong-Taiwanese co-production, the film was directed by Ang Lee and featured an international cast of ethnic Chinese actors, including Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, and Chang Chen...
and
HeroHero is a 2002 wuxia film directed by Zhang Yimou. Starring Jet Li as the nameless protagonist, the film is based on the story of Jing Ke's assassination attempt on the King of Qin in 227 BC....
.
The
cartoonAn animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot...
style of the film, accompanied by traditional
Chinese musicChinese Music has been made since the dawn of Chinese civilization with documents and artifacts providing evidence of a well-developed musical culture as early as the Zhou Dynasty...
, is often cited as its most striking feature.
The film was released on December 23, 2004 in
ChinaChina , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
and on January 25, 2005 in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It received extremely positive reviews, with
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
giving it a 90% fresh rating and
MetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
78 out of 100. The film was also a commercial success, grossing US$17 million in North America and US$84 million in other countries.
Kung Fu Hustle was the highest-grossing film in the history of
Hong KongHong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
and the tenth highest-grossing foreign language film. It was also the highest-grossing foreign language film in the United States in 2005.
Kung Fu Hustle won numerous awards, including Hong Kong Film Awards and
Golden Horse AwardsThe Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards is a film festival and awards ceremony held annually in Taiwan. It was founded in 1962, by Government Information Office, Republic of China...
.
Plot
Turmoil grips
ShanghaiShanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
in the 1940s. Various gangs vie for power, the most feared of which is the Axe Gang, led by the infamous Brother Sum and aptly named after its weapon of choice. In the absence of law enforcement, people can live peacefully only in poor areas which do not appeal to gangs. An example is Pig Sty Alley, a tenement home to people of various trades, run by a lecherous landlord and his domineering wife. One day, two troublemakers, Sing and Bone, come to the alley impersonating members of the Axe Gang to gain respect. Their plan fails and Sing's antics attract the real gang to the scene. In the massive brawl that ensues, more than fifty gangsters are defeated by three tenants who are actually powerful martial arts masters: Coolie, Master of the Twelve Kicks; Tailor, master of the Iron Fist; and Donut, master of the Hexagon Staff.
After the fight, Sing and Bone are apprehended by Brother Sum for publicly humiliating the Axe Gang. The two narrowly escape death when Sing quickly picks the locks on the chains with which they are bound and requests Sum to let him and Bone join the gang. Impressed with his skill at lock-picking, Sum tells them that if they kill just one person, he will allow them to join the gang. The next day, the duo return to Pig Sty to murder the Landlady, but their efforts fail comically and they narrowly escape the furious Landlady. Sing is badly injured and hides in a traffic control pulpit, where his multiple injuries spontaneously heal. During this convalescence he unconsciously strikes the steel sides of the pulpit, leaving deep impressions of his hands. After he has fully recovered, he rejoins Bone, but is unable to explain his fast and mysterious healing.
Sing and Bone lament their failure on the streets as the former describes his childhood: he spent his meager life savings to buy a Buddhist Palm manual from a beggar with the intention of "preserving world peace" and trained himself to be a martial artist. But when he tried to defend a mute girl from bullies trying to steal her lollipop, he was beaten and came to the conclusion that being a villain is better than being a hero. After telling his story, Sing then steals ice cream from a street vendor. Meanwhile, Sum hires the Harpists, a pair of skilled assassins who fight using a magical
guqinThe guqin is the modern name for a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument of the zither family...
, to assassinate the three martial artists at Pig Sty. They succeed, but are defeated by the Landlady and Landlord, who are actually retired powerful martial artists. They evacuate Pig Sty afterward and vow to deal with the Axe Gang.
The following day, frustrated with lack of any progress, Sing mugs the female ice cream vendor from earlier, only to realize she is the mute girl from his childhood whom he had vainly tried to defend; she offers him the old lollipop that she tried to give him as a token of her gratitude in their childhood. Sing rebuffs her and knocks the lollipop away, shattering it against the wall and running off. After he and Bone separate, Sing is picked up by the Axe Gang. Sum orders him to break into a
mental asylumPsychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
to free the Beast, widely rumored to be the world's top killer. Sing frees the Beast and brings him to Sum's office. The "world's top killer" puzzles everyone there with his flippant attitude and sloppy appearance - but after stopping a bullet, the gangsters bow in respect. The Beast leaves and confronts the Landlady and Landlord at the casino, who are waiting to kill Sum and his men. The two battle the Beast, destroying the casino in the process, until all three are stuck in a joint-lock. A reformed Sing rushes in and, ignoring Sum's orders to kill the Landlady and Landlord, hits the Beast's head with a table leg. Enraged, the Beast frees himself from the lock and pummels Sing. Before he can deliver a fatal blow, the Landlady and Landlord snatch the unconscious Sing and run off. The Beast casually kills Sum in response.
At Pig Sty Alley, Sing, while wrapped head-to-toe in bandages and treated with
Chinese medicineTraditional Chinese Medicine refers to a broad range of medicine practices sharing common theoretical concepts which have been developed in China and are based on a tradition of more than 2,000 years, including various forms of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage , exercise , and dietary therapy...
, undergoes a metamorphosis.as he severely beaten up by beast,his chi-energy activate more and flow through his body. He quickly recovers from his wounds because of chi flow, and his latent potential as a "natural-born martial arts genius" is realized due to the beating the Beast gave him. He easily defeats the Axe Gang before battling the Beast. The Beast uses his Toad Technique to send Sing rocketing into the sky.again due to heavy smash from beast, sing's chi energy increases on sky and becomes incredibly powerful. As he falls back to earth, Sing recalls the Buddhist Palm, and delivers a blow that knocks the Beast flat and leaves a huge, hand-shaped crater in the ground. After another futile attempt to defeat Sing, the Beast bows, acknowledging Sing as the better fighter. Some time later, Sing and Bone open a candy store. When the mute ice cream vendor walks by, Sing goes out to meet her. A young boy walking outside after buying candy bumps into the beggar who gave Sing the Buddhist Palm book and tries to sell him one. The boy at first starts to walk away, but the beggar offers him something else, showing him several different pamphlets for martial arts, including swordfighting and kama sutra. The child stares, intrigued.
Cast
- Stephen Chow
Stephen Chow Sing-Chi is a Hong Kong actor, comedian, screenwriter, film director and producer.- Professional career :Stephen Chow began as a temporary actor for TVB. He entered TVB in early 1980s, and was trained there, although he had few opportunities to appear in films. Chow graduated from...
as Sing, a loser in life who aspires to join the Axe Gang. He attempts many misdeeds to produce a self-image of a "bad guy" but his deeds all fail miserably or backfire.
- Yuen Wah
Yuen Wah is a Hong Kong based Chinese action film actor, action choreographer, stuntman and martial artist who has appeared in over 160 films and over 20 television series.-Early life:...
as the Landlord of Pig Sty Alley. He is lecherous and trouble-seeking. He is also a master of taijiquan.
- Yuen Qiu
Yuen Qiu is an actress and martial artist. She is an expert of both Chinese martial arts and Beijing-opera skills, and was apprenticed under the same master, Yu Jim-yuen, as Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung Kam-Bo at China Drama Academy.Yuen Qiu worked as a stunt woman and as a night club performer...
as the Landlady of Pig Sty Alley. Selfish and domineering, she is a chain smokerChain smoking is the practice of lighting a new cigarette for personal consumption immediately after one that is finished, sometimes using the finished cigarette to light the next one. It is a common form of addiction.-Causes:...
with a loud voice, a side effect of her mastery of a technique known as the Lion's Roar, a skill used by the "Golden Haired Lion King" Xie Xun in Louis Cha's novel The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber.
- Danny Chan as Brother Sum, the shady leader of the Axe Gang. The Axe Gang is the most feared gang in Shanghai, and controls many casinos, nightclubs and restaurants. The gang is notorious for its axe-wielding gangsters.
- Bruce Leung
Leung Siu-lung, born in 1948 in Hong Kong, is an actor who has appeared in many Hong Kong martial arts movies. He often appeared billed as "Bruce Leung," "Bruce Liang," "Bruce Leong," or "Bruce Leung Siu-lung," and is thus generally grouped among the Bruce Lee clones that sprang up after Lee's...
as the Beast, a kungfu master, rumoured to be the most dangerous person alive, though belied by his unkempt appearance. He has killed many in his journey to find a worthy opponent all to no avail. Therefore, he had himself committed to a mental asylumPsychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
, until Sing freed him to deal with the Landlord and his wife. The final move he used on Sing, the "Toad Skill", is practised by "Western Venom" Ouyang FengOuyang Feng is a fictional character in Jin Yong's wuxia novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes and its sequel The Return of the Condor Heroes...
, a villain in Louis Cha's Condor TrilogyThe Condor Trilogy is a trilogy of three wuxia novels by Jin Yong.The novels in the trilogy are:*The Legend of the Condor Heroes *The Return of the Condor Heroes...
novel series.
- Chiu Chi-ling as the effeminate Tailor of Pig Sty Alley. This retired kungfu specialist specialises in the art of Hung Ga Iron Fist Kungfu and he fights with iron rings on his arms.
- Dong Zhihua as Donut, a baker in Pig Sty Alley who is a retired kungfu specialist. He specialises in the Eight Trigram
Bāguàzhǎng is one of the three main Chinese martial arts of the Wudang school, the other two being Taijiquan and Xingyiquan. It is more broadly grouped as an internal practice...
StaffThe Chinese word gun refers to a long Chinese staff weapon used in Chinese martial arts. It is known as one of the four major weapons, along with the qiang , dao , and the jian , called in this group "The Grandfather of all Weapons".-Variants:There are various kinds of gun, and they include the...
.
- Xing Yu
Xing Yu a.k.a. Shi Xing Yu gained his fame after playing the role of Coolie in the movie Kung Fu Hustle.He was a 32nd generation martial monk at the Shaolin Temple on Mount Song ....
as the CoolieHistorically, a coolie was a manual labourer or slave from Asia, particularly China, India, and the Phillipines during the 19th century and early 20th century...
, a kungfu specialist specializing in Twelve KicksTán Tuǐ is a famous Northern wushu routine and has several versions due to its incorporation into various styles. For this reason the name can be translated to mean "spring" or "springing leg" or "pond" or "lake leg"....
of the Tam School.
- Lam Chi-chung as Bone, Sing's sidekick.
- Eva Huang
Huang Shengyi , also known as Eva Huang, is a Chinese actress and singer.-Biography:Huang was born and raised in Shanghai. Her father was educated in the United States and lived there in the early 1990s, while her mother worked as an editor in a newspaper agency in Shanghai...
as Fong, Sing's mute love interest. In her childhood, she was almost saved by Sing from a group of bullies. Ever since then, she sees him as her hero. In the present day, she works as an ice-cream vendor and they meet again.
- Tin Kai-Man as Brother Sum's adviser
- Gar Hong-hay and Fung Hak-on as the Harpists, two killers hired by the Axe Gang to wipe out the Coolie, Tailor and Donut. Their instrument is the guqin
The guqin is the modern name for a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument of the zither family...
, or "Chinese harp". Their strongest skill that attacks opponents by playing their harp, resembles the "Seven Strings Invisible Swords" in Louis Cha's novel The Smiling, Proud WandererThe Smiling, Proud Wanderer is a wuxia novel by Jin Yong, first published as a serial in Ming Pao from April 20, 1967 to October 12, 1969. The term "Xiaoao Jianghu" means to live a carefree life in a mundane world of strife...
.
- Lam Suet
Lam Suet is a Hong Kong actor.-Biography:Lam was born in Tianjin, and came to Hong Kong as a youth in 1979 to receive inheritance money left by his grandfather. Soon after all the money had been squandered and Lam had to work various odd jobs to make a living.In the mid-eighties he got employment...
and Liang Hsiao as high ranking members of the Axe Gang
- Yuen Cheung-yan
Yuen Cheung-Yan is an actor, director, stuntman, and fight choreographer who has worked for many years in the Hong Kong film industry. During the 1970s and early 1980s, he worked with Yuen Woo-Ping and other members of the Yuen family on several films, some of them bizarre kung fu comedies such as...
as the Beggar, who sold Sing the Buddhist Palm manual.
- Feng Xiaogang
Feng Xiaogang , in is a Chinese film director. He is famous in China as being perhaps the most successful "commercialized" filmmaker whose comedy films do consistently well in the box office, although Feng has attempted to break out from that mold by making drama or period drama films...
as the leader of the Crocodile Gang. He is killed by the Axe Gang at the start of the film.
Development
Kung Fu Hustle is a co-production of the Beijing Film Studio and Hong Kong's Star Overseas. After the success of his 2001 film,
Shaolin SoccerShaolin Soccer is a 2001 Hong Kong comedy film co-written, directed by and starring Stephen Chow. A former Shaolin monk reunites his five brothers, years after their master's death, to apply their superhuman martial arts skills to play soccer and bring Shaolin kung fu to the masses.In 2008 a...
, Chow was approached in 2002 by Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia, offering to collaborate with him on a project. Chow accepted the offer, and the project eventually became
Kung Fu Hustle. Major inspirations of the film came from the martial arts films Chow watched as a child and his childhood ambition to become a martial artist. A senior Hollywood executive said Chow was 'forced to grind through four successive scripts' and 'found it very laborious'.
Chow's first priority was to design the main location of the film, the Pig Sty Alley. He grew up in an environment similar to the Alley (i.e.,
Kowloon Walled CityKowloon Walled City was a densely populated, largely ungoverned settlement in Kowloon, Hong Kong. Originally a Chinese military fort, the Walled City became an enclave after the New Territories were leased to Britain in 1898....
) and the plot included many aspects of his daily life. A 1973
Shaw Brothers StudioThe Shaw Brothers Studio , owned by Shaw Brothers Ltd., was the foremost and the largest movie production company of Hong Kong movies.From their distribution base in Singapore where they founded parent company Shaw Organization in 1924, and as a strategic development of their movie distribution...
film,
The House of 72 TenantsThe House of 72 Tenants is a 1973 Hong Kong film directed by Chor Yuen. It is a remake of a 1963 Chinese film of the same name. It was the top box office film of 1973 in Hong Kong, surpassing Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon.-Cast:...
was another inspiration for the Pig Sty Alley. Designing of the Alley began in January 2003 and took four months to complete. Many of the props and furniture in the apartments were antiques from all over China.
Choreography
Kung Fu Hustle was produced with a budget of
US$The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
20 million. Filming took place in
ShanghaiShanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
from June 2003 to November 2003. Two-thirds of the time were spent shooting the fighting sequences. The fighting scenes of
Kung Fu Hustle were initially choreographed by
Sammo HungSammo Hung is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film producer and director, known for his work in many martial arts films and Hong Kong action cinema...
. Production suffered a setback when Hung quit after two months due to illness, tough outdoor conditions, interest in another project and arguments with the production crew. To replace Hung, Chow immediately contacted
Yuen Woo-pingYuen Woo-ping is a Chinese martial arts choreographer and film director, renowned as one of the most successful and influential figures in the world of Hong Kong action cinema. He is one of the inductees on the Avenue of Stars in Hong Kong...
, an action choreographer with experience ranging from
Hong Kong action cinemaHong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. It combines elements from the action film, as codified by Hollywood, with Chinese storytelling and aesthetic traditions, to create a culturally distinctive form that nevertheless has a wide transcultural...
of the 1960s to
Crouching Tiger, Hidden DragonCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a 2000 wuxia film. An American-Chinese-Hong Kong-Taiwanese co-production, the film was directed by Ang Lee and featured an international cast of ethnic Chinese actors, including Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, and Chang Chen...
and
The MatrixThe Matrix is a 1999 science fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving...
in the early 21st century. Yuen swiftly accepted the offer. In doing so, certain scenes in production under Hung were cancelled. Yuen managed to take seemingly outdated
wuxiaWuxia is a broad genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists. Although wuxia is traditionally a form of literature, its popularity has caused it to spread to diverse art forms like Chinese opera, manhua , films, television series, and video games...
fighting styles like the Deadly Melody and Buddhist Palm and recreate them on the screen with his own imagination.
Special effects were mainly created with a combination of
computer-generated imageryComputer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
and
wire workWire fu is an element of Hong Kong action cinema. It is a combination of two terms: "wire work" and "kung fu". Wire fu is used to describe a sub-genre of Kung-Fu movies where the stuntmen's skill is augmented with the use of wires and pulleys, as well as other techniques, in many cases to perform...
. Legendary martial arts mentioned in wuxia novels were depicted and exaggerated through CGI, but actual people, rather than digital effects were used to film the final fight between Chow's character and the hundreds of axe-wielding gangsters. A Hong Kong computer graphics company,
Centro Digital Pictures LimitedCentro Digital Pictures Limited is a visual special effects and animations company based in Hong Kong that provides visual effects for film, interactive media and video games.-History:...
was solely responsible for the CGI of
Kung Fu Hustle. The company had experience in highly acclaimed films like
Shaolin SoccerShaolin Soccer is a 2001 Hong Kong comedy film co-written, directed by and starring Stephen Chow. A former Shaolin monk reunites his five brothers, years after their master's death, to apply their superhuman martial arts skills to play soccer and bring Shaolin kung fu to the masses.In 2008 a...
and
Kill BillKill Bill Volume 1 is a 2003 action thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is the first of two volumes that were theatrically released several months apart, the second volume being Kill Bill Volume 2....
. Their team had performed extensive tests on various scenes that could be depicted by CGI before filming started. A group of six people followed the production crew throughout the shooting. Treatment of the preliminary shots began straight afterwards. The CGI crew removed wire effects and applied special effects under high resolution. After a final calibration of colour, data of the processed scenes were sent to the United States for the production of the final version of the film.
Casting
Kung Fu Hustle pays tribute to many famous veterans of Hong Kong action cinema of the 1970s.
Yuen WahYuen Wah is a Hong Kong based Chinese action film actor, action choreographer, stuntman and martial artist who has appeared in over 160 films and over 20 television series.-Early life:...
, a former student of the China Drama Academy
Peking Opera SchoolThe Peking Opera Schools were boarding schools located throughout Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, specialising in teaching Peking opera...
, plays the Landlord of the Pig Sty Alley. He has appeared in hundreds of Hong Kong films from the 1970s and was a
stunt doubleA stunt double is a type of body double, specifically a skilled replacement used for dangerous film or video sequences, in movies and television , and for other sophisticated stunts...
of
Bruce LeeBruce Lee was a Chinese American, Hong Kong actor, martial arts instructor, philosopher, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and founder of the Jeet Kune Do martial arts movement...
. Yuen Wah considered the film to be the peak of his career. He remarked that despite the comedic nature of the film, the shooting process was a serious matter. With a tight schedule, there was no time for laughs. In spite of the film's success, Yuen Wah worried that nowadays fewer people practice martial arts.
The part of the Landlady was offered to
Yuen QiuYuen Qiu is an actress and martial artist. She is an expert of both Chinese martial arts and Beijing-opera skills, and was apprenticed under the same master, Yu Jim-yuen, as Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung Kam-Bo at China Drama Academy.Yuen Qiu worked as a stunt woman and as a night club performer...
, another student of Yu Jim-yuen,
sifuShifu is the identical pronunciation of two Chinese terms for a master. The character 師 means “teacher”. The meaning of 傅 is “tutor”, and of 父, “father”. Both characters are read fu with the same tones in Cantonese and Mandarin, creating some ambiguity...
of the China Drama Academy. Yuen Qiu was a girl in
The Man with the Golden GunThe Man with the Golden Gun is the ninth spy film in the James Bond series and the second to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond...
at the age of 18. Having retired from the film industry after her marriage in the 1980s,
Kung Fu Hustle was her comeback. She admitted that she never expected to star in the film. When her colleague was on stage during a tryout for
Kung Fu Hustle, she stood near her and smoked a cigarette with a sarcastic expression on her face. That pose earned her the part. To fulfill Stephen Chow's image of a "fat lady", Yuen Qiu deliberately gained weight before production by eating midnight snacks on a daily basis.
Bruce LeungLeung Siu-lung, born in 1948 in Hong Kong, is an actor who has appeared in many Hong Kong martial arts movies. He often appeared billed as "Bruce Leung," "Bruce Liang," "Bruce Leong," or "Bruce Leung Siu-lung," and is thus generally grouped among the Bruce Lee clones that sprang up after Lee's...
, who played the Beast, is Stephen Chow's childhood martial arts hero. Leung Siu Lung was a famous action film director and actor in the 1970s and 1980s, known as the "Third Dragon" after Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. Having lost the Taiwanese film market in the late 1980s following a visit to China, he switched to doing business.
Kung Fu Hustle was his return to the film industry after a 15-year hiatus. He regards Chow as a flexible director with high standards, and was particularly impressed by the first scene involving the Beast, which had to be reshot 28 times.
Besides famous martial artists,
Kung Fu Hustle features legends of
Chinese cinemaThe Chinese-language cinema has three distinct historical threads: Cinema of Hong Kong, Cinema of China, and Cinema of Taiwan. Since 1949 the cinema of mainland China has operated under restrictions imposed by the Communist Party of China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television and...
. Two famous Chinese directors appear in the film:
Zhang YibaiZhang Yibai is a Chinese film director.-Directorial career:Zhang began his career in television and music videos before directing his debut, Spring Subway in 2002....
, who plays Inspector Chan at the beginning of the film, and
Feng XiaogangFeng Xiaogang , in is a Chinese film director. He is famous in China as being perhaps the most successful "commercialized" filmmaker whose comedy films do consistently well in the box office, although Feng has attempted to break out from that mold by making drama or period drama films...
, who plays the boss of the Crocodile Gang.
Eva HuangHuang Shengyi , also known as Eva Huang, is a Chinese actress and singer.-Biography:Huang was born and raised in Shanghai. Her father was educated in the United States and lived there in the early 1990s, while her mother worked as an editor in a newspaper agency in Shanghai...
made her debut in the film industry and played Fong, a mute ice-cream vendor. Having been asked whether she wanted to have any dialogue in the film, she decided not to speak so as to stand out only with her body gestures. She stated that it was an honour to work with experienced actors and directors and a great learning opportunity for future roles.
Music
The majority of the film's original score was composed by Raymond Wong and performed by the
Hong Kong Chinese OrchestraThe Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra is an orchestra of Chinese traditional instruments based in Hong Kong. It was established in 1977 and comprises 85 musicians. The Artistic Director and Principal Conductor is Yan Huichang.-External links:**...
. The score imitates traditional Chinese music in 1940s swordplay films. One of Wong's works,
Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained provides a stark contrast between the villainous Axe Gang and the peaceful neighbourhood of the Pig Sty Alley, depicted by a Chinese folk song,
Fisherman's Song of the East China Sea. Along with Wong's compositions and various traditional Chinese songs, classical compositions are featured in the score, including excerpts from
ZigeunerweisenZigeunerweisen , Op. 20, is a musical composition for violin and orchestra written in 1878 by the Spanish composer and virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate and premiered during the same year in Leipzig...
by
Pablo de SarasatePablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascués was a Navarrese Spanish violinist and composer of the Romantic period.-Career:Pablo Sarasate was born in Pamplona, Navarre, the son of an artillery bandmaster...
and
Sabre Dance"The Sabre Dance" is a movement in the final act of the ballet Gayane , written by Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian's and completed in 1942. It evokes a whirling war dance in an Armenian dance, where the dancers display their skill with sabres. Its middle section incorporates an Armenian folk...
by
Aram KhachaturianAram Ilyich Khachaturian was a prominent Soviet composer. Khachaturian's works were often influenced by classical Russian music and Armenian folk music...
. A song is sung in the background by Eva Huang at the end of the film. The song,
Zhiyao Weini Huo Yitian (只要為你活一天;
Only Want to Live One Day for You) was written by Liu Jiachang (劉家昌) in the 1970s. It tells of a girl's memories of a loved one, and her desire to live for him again.
Kung Fu Hustle was nominated for the Best Original Film Score in the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards.
Asian and American versions of the soundtrack have been released. The Asian version of the soundtrack was released on 17 December 2004 by
Sony Music EntertainmentSony Music Entertainment ' is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation....
and has 33 tracks. The American version of the soundtrack was released on 29 March 2005 by
Varèse SarabandeVarèse Sarabande is an American record label, distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums as well as newer releases by artists no longer under a contract...
and has 19 tracks.
Parodies and references
Kung Fu Hustle makes references to a wide range of films,
animated cartoonAn animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot...
s and other sources, drawing on ideas from
wuxiaWuxia is a broad genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists. Although wuxia is traditionally a form of literature, its popularity has caused it to spread to diverse art forms like Chinese opera, manhua , films, television series, and video games...
novels. The housing arrangement of the Pig Sty Alley is similar to that of a 1973 Hong Kong film,
The House of 72 TenantsThe House of 72 Tenants is a 1973 Hong Kong film directed by Chor Yuen. It is a remake of a 1963 Chinese film of the same name. It was the top box office film of 1973 in Hong Kong, surpassing Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon.-Cast:...
. When Sing arrives at Pig Sty Alley, he shows fancy footwork with a football, then says, "You're still playing football?". This is a reference to his previous film,
Shaolin SoccerShaolin Soccer is a 2001 Hong Kong comedy film co-written, directed by and starring Stephen Chow. A former Shaolin monk reunites his five brothers, years after their master's death, to apply their superhuman martial arts skills to play soccer and bring Shaolin kung fu to the masses.In 2008 a...
, as is the scene where a clerk beats Sing up on a bus. The clerk also appeared in
Shaolin Soccer as the leader of an opposing team who used hidden weapons to beat up the Shaolin soccer team. During the altercation between Sing and the hairdresser, the hairdresser states, "Even if you kill me, there will be thousands more of me!". This is a parody of a saying by
Lu Hao-tungLu Hao-tung , born Lu Chung-gui , courtesy name Hsien-hsiang , was the first "revolutionary martyr" of the Republic of China...
, a Chinese revolutionary in the late
Qing DynastyThe Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
. The scene where Sing is chased by the Landlady as he flees from the Alley is a homage to
Wile E. Coyote and Road RunnerWile E. Coyote and The Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from a series of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. The characters were created by animation director Chuck Jones in 1948 for Warner Bros., while the template for their adventures was the work of writer Michael Maltese...
, characters in the
Looney TunesLooney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
cartoons, down to the pursuer's (the Landlady's) ill fate. In the scene where Sing robs the ice cream vendor, a poster for the 1935 film
Top HatTop Hat is a 1935 screwball comedy musical film in which Fred Astaire plays an American dancer named Jerry Travers, who comes to London to star in a show produced by Horace Hardwick . He meets and attempts to impress Dale Tremont to win her affection...
is in the background. As Sing arrives at the door to the Beast's cell in the mental asylum, he hallucinates a large wave of blood rushing from the cell door, similar to a scene in
The ShiningThe Shining is a 1977 horror novel by American author Stephen King. The title was inspired by the John Lennon song "Instant Karma!", which contained the line "We all shine on…". It was King's third published novel, and first hardback bestseller, and the success of the book firmly established King...
.
A major element of the plot is based on a wuxia film series
Palm of Ru Lai (如來神掌) released in 1964. Sing studied the same Buddhist Palm style from a young age and realised it at the end of the film. In reality, it does not leave palm-shaped craters and holes on impact. Instead, the user delivers powerful punches using his palm. The Beast's name in Chinese,
Huoyun Xieshen (火雲邪神; Evil Deity of the Fiery Cloud), and the fight with the Landlady and her husband are also references to the film, where a mortally wounded master strikes the patterns of his art's final techniques into a bell so that his apprentice can learn from it. There are direct references to some characters from Louis Cha's wuxia novels. For example, the landlord and landlady referred to themselves as
Yang GuoYang Guo, style name Gaizhi , is the fictional protagonist of the wuxia novel The Return of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong....
and
XiaolongnüXiaolongnü is the fictional female protagonist of Jin Yong's wuxia novel The Return of the Condor Heroes. The author describes her physical appearances as "skin as white as snow, beautiful and elegant beyond convention and cannot be underestimated, but appears cold and indifferent" .-Name:It is...
in Cha's
The Return of the Condor HeroesThe Return of the Condor Heroes is a wuxia novel by Jin Yong, and the second part of the Condor Trilogy. It was first serialized between May 20, 1959 and July 5, 1961 on Ming Pao. The story revolves around Yang Guo and his lover Xiaolongnü in their adventure in the wulin fraternity, which does not...
when they met the Beast.
References to gangster films are also present. The boss of the Axe Gang, Brother Sum (琛哥) is named after Hon Sam / Hon Sum (韓琛), the triad boss played by
Eric TsangEric Tsang Chi-wai , MH is a prolific Hong Kong actor, film director, film producer and television host best known for hosting the Super Trio series on TVB over the course of 10 years.-Biography:Due to his popularity, he is often the MC in events organized by TVB, and is nicknamed "the Prize Master"...
in
Infernal AffairsInfernal Affairs is a 2002 Hong Kong crime-thriller film directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak. It tells the story of a police officer who infiltrates the triads, and a police officer secretly working for the same gang. The Chinese title means "the non-stop path", a reference to Avici, the lowest...
. The Harpists imitate
The Blues BrothersThe Blues Brothers is a 1980 musical comedy film directed by John Landis and starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as "Joliet" Jake and Elwood Blues, characters developed from a musical sketch on the NBC variety series Saturday Night Live. It features musical numbers by R&B and soul singers James...
, wearing similar hats and sunglasses at all times. When they are flattered by the Axe Gang advisor, one of them answers "Strictly speaking we're just musicians", similar to a line by Elwood Blues. When Donut dies, he says "in great power lies great responsibility", a clear reference to
Spider-ManSpider-Man is a 2002 American superhero film, the first in the Spider-Man film series based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. It was directed by Sam Raimi and written by David Koepp...
, said by Uncle Ben before his death. Afterwards, with his dying breath, he gets up, grabs the Landlord by the shirt and utters in English, "What are you prepared to do?", a nod to
Sean ConnerySir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
's character Jim Malone in
Brian De PalmaBrian Russell De Palma is an American film director and writer. In a career spanning over 40 years, he is probably best known for his suspense and crime thriller films, including such box office successes as the horror film Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Mission:...
's 1987 film
The Untouchables.
The dialog that beast says while negotiating with the Axe Gang for killing the Landlady and Landlord - "I'm going to make an offer which you are not going to refuse", is a reference of the dialog from the movie The Godfather.
The final fight between Sing (who has been reborn into "the one" paying homage to
Bruce LeeBruce Lee was a Chinese American, Hong Kong actor, martial arts instructor, philosopher, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and founder of the Jeet Kune Do martial arts movement...
by wearing his costume in
Enter the Dragon and using his fighting style) and the hundreds of gangsters imitates the fight between
NeoThomas A. Anderson is a fictional character and the main protagonist in The Matrix franchise, as well as having a cameo in The Animatrix short film, Kid's Story. He was portrayed by Keanu Reeves in The Matrix Trilogy and The Animatrix. Andrew Bowen provided Neo's voice in The Matrix: Path of Neo...
and hundreds of
Agent SmithAgent Smith is the main antagonist of The Matrix film series and multimedia franchise, mainly played by actor Hugo Weaving and briefly by actor Ian Bliss in the films and voiced by Christopher Corey Smith in The Matrix: Path of Neo.In 2008, Agent Smith was selected by Empire Magazine as number 84...
s in
The Matrix ReloadedThe Matrix Reloaded is a 2003 American science fiction film and the second installment in The Matrix trilogy, written and directed by the Wachowskis. It premiered on May 7, 2003, in Westwood, Los Angeles, California, and went on general release by Warner Bros. in North American theaters on May 15,...
. The scene in which the Beast prompts an axe member to punch him harder is reminiscent of a similar scene in
Raging Bull, with
Robert De NiroRobert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
's character prompting
Joe PesciJoseph Frank "Joe" Pesci is an American actor, comedian, and musician.He is known for playing a variety of different roles, from violent mobsters to comedic leads to quirky sidekicks...
's character.
The last scene, in which the beggar tries to sell martial arts manuals, refers directly to the greatest skills in Louis Cha's
Condor TrilogyThe Condor Trilogy is a trilogy of three wuxia novels by Jin Yong.The novels in the trilogy are:*The Legend of the Condor Heroes *The Return of the Condor Heroes...
(
Nine Yang Manual, "Yiyang Finger", and "
Eighteen Dragon Subduing PalmsThe Beggars' Sect is a fictional Chinese martial arts sect featured prominently in works of wuxia fiction by writers such as Jin Yong and Gu Long. The sect has also found its way into some Hong Kong martial arts films such as King of Beggars....
"), "Thousand Hand Divine Fist", and
The Smiling, Proud WandererThe Smiling, Proud Wanderer is a wuxia novel by Jin Yong, first published as a serial in Ming Pao from April 20, 1967 to October 12, 1969. The term "Xiaoao Jianghu" means to live a carefree life in a mundane world of strife...
("
Nine Swords of DuguDugu Qiubai is a fictional character appearing in three of Jin Yong's wuxia novels. He is considered to be one of the most powerful characters in Jin Yong's wuxia world. He is nicknamed "Sword Devil" to reflect his prowess in and devotion to the practice of swordplay...
"). The scene where the landlady confronts Brother Sum in the back of his car is a homage to Bruce Lee in
Way of the DragonThe Way of the Dragon is a 1972 Hong Kong martial arts film written, produced, directed by and starring Bruce Lee.- Plot :Tang Lung is sent from Hong Kong to Rome to help his friend's niece Chen Ching Hua, and family friends, whose restaurant is being targeted by the local Mafia, which has been...
, where he cracks his knuckles and gives a quick upper nod to the mafia boss; telling him to back off.
Releases
Kung Fu Hustle had its world premiere at the
2004 Toronto International Film FestivalThe 2004 Toronto International Film Festival ran from September 9 through September 18.- Canada First :* CQ2 * I, Claudia * Ill Fated The 2004 Toronto International Film Festival ran from September 9 through September 18.- Canada First :* CQ2 (Seek You Too) (Carole Laure)* I, Claudia (Chris...
. It was then released in China,
Hong KongHong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
and other countries in Asia with significant
overseas ChineseOverseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the Greater China Area . People of partial Chinese ancestry living outside the Greater China Area may also consider themselves Overseas Chinese....
populations in December 2004. The film was first shown in the United States at the
Sundance Film FestivalThe Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
in January 2005, and then opened in a general release on 22 April 2005 after being shown in
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and
New YorkNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
for two weeks. The film was released to most of Europe in June 2005. Kung Fu Hustle is
rated IIBThe Hong Kong motion picture rating system is a legal system of movie screening and rating. An official government agency issues ratings for any movie that will be shown in Hong Kong movie theatres.-History:...
(not suitable for children and young persons) in Hong Kong, R in the United States for sequences of strong stylised action and violence and is rated to be viewed by people with a minimum age ranging from 13 to 18 in other countries.
The North American DVD release was on 8 August 2005. A
Blu-rayBlu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
version of the DVD was released on 12 December 2006 by Sony Pictures. A UMD version of the film was released for the PlayStation Portable.
The
PortuguesePortuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
title of the film is
Kungfusão, which sounds like kungfu and
Confusão (confusion). In the same way, the Italian and Spanish titles were
Kung-fusion and
Kung-fusión, puns of "confusion". In France, the film is known as
Crazy Kung Fu, and the
HungarianHungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
title is
A Pofonok Földje, meaning
The Land of Punches.
Reception
The film was generally well-received by critics, earning the high score of 90% fresh on
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
based on a total of 166 reviews. Hong Kong director and film critic Gabriel Wong praised the film for its
black comedyA black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
, special effects and nostalgia, citing the return of many retired kung fu actors from the 1970s. Film critic
Roger EbertRoger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
described the film "like
Jackie ChanJackie Chan, SBS, MBE is a Hong Kong actor, action choreographer, comedian, director, producer, martial artist, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer and stunt performer. In his movies, he is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons, and innovative stunts...
and
Buster KeatonJoseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
meet
Quentin TarantinoQuentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
and
Bugs BunnyBugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
" at the Sundance Film Festival. The comment was printed on the promotion posters for
Kung Fu Hustle in the United States. Other critics described it as a comedic version of
Crouching Tiger, Hidden DragonCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a 2000 wuxia film. An American-Chinese-Hong Kong-Taiwanese co-production, the film was directed by Ang Lee and featured an international cast of ethnic Chinese actors, including Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, and Chang Chen...
. Positive reviews generally give credit to the elements of
mo lei tauMo lei tau is a name given to a type of humour originating from Hong Kong during the late 20th century. It is a phenomenon which has grown largely from its presentation in modern film media. Its humour arises from the complex interplay of cultural subtleties significant in Hong Kong...
comedy present in the film. A number of reviewers viewed it as a computer-enhanced Looney Tunes punch-up. In a 2010 GQ interview, actor
Bill MurrayWilliam James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live in which he earned an Emmy Award and later went on to star in a number of critically and commercially successful comedic films, including Caddyshack , Ghostbusters , and...
called
Kung Fu Hustle "the supreme achievement of the modern age in terms of comedy."
Much of the criticism for the film is directed at its lack of character development and a coherent plot.
Las Vegas Weekly, for instance, criticised the film for the lack of a central protagonist and character depth. Criticisms are also directed at the film's cartoonish and childish humour.
Richard RoeperRichard E. Roeper is an American columnist and film critic for The Chicago Sun-Times and now a co-host on The Roe Conn Show on WLS-AM...
gave it a negative review, saying he had “never been a fan of that over the top slapstick stuff”.
Box office
Kung Fu Hustle opened in Hong Kong on 23 December 2004, and earned HK$4,990,000 on its opening day. It stayed at the top of the box office for the rest of 2004 and for much of early 2005, eventually grossing HK$61 million. Its box office tally made it the highest-grossing film in Hong Kong history, surpassing the previous record holder, Chow's
Shaolin SoccerShaolin Soccer is a 2001 Hong Kong comedy film co-written, directed by and starring Stephen Chow. A former Shaolin monk reunites his five brothers, years after their master's death, to apply their superhuman martial arts skills to play soccer and bring Shaolin kung fu to the masses.In 2008 a...
. The film's opening weekend at United States was USD$269,225, £469,211 in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, €16,094 in the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and $260,000 in the
PhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. It grossed
SGDThe Singapore dollar or Dollar is the official currency of Singapore. It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or alternatively S$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
1,885,201 in
SingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
in total, where the premiere was.
The film began a limited two-week theatrical run in New York City and Los Angeles on 8 April 2005 before being widely released across North America on 22 April. In its first week of limited release in seven cinemas, it grossed US$269,225 (US$38,461 per screen). When it was expanded to a wide release in 2,503 cinemas, the largest number of cinemas ever for a foreign language film, it made a modest US$6,749,572 (US$2,696 per screen), eventually grossing a total of US$17,108,591 in 129 days. In total,
Kung Fu Hustle had a worldwide gross of US$101,104,669. While not a blockbuster,
Kung Fu Hustle managed to become the highest-grossing foreign language film in North America in 2005, and went on to gain a
cult followingA cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
on DVD.
Awards
Kung Fu Hustle received a large number of award nominations in the Hong Kong Film Awards and
Golden Horse AwardsThe Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards is a film festival and awards ceremony held annually in Taiwan. It was founded in 1962, by Government Information Office, Republic of China...
of 2005. It was nominated for 16 Hong Kong Film Awards and won 6:
- Best Picture
- Best Supporting Actor (Yuen Wah
Yuen Wah is a Hong Kong based Chinese action film actor, action choreographer, stuntman and martial artist who has appeared in over 160 films and over 20 television series.-Early life:...
)
- Best Sound Effects
- Best Visual Effects
- Best Choreography
- Best Film Editing
In the Golden Horse Awards,
Kung Fu Hustle received 10 nominations and won 5:
- Best Picture
- Best Director (Stephen Chow
Stephen Chow Sing-Chi is a Hong Kong actor, comedian, screenwriter, film director and producer.- Professional career :Stephen Chow began as a temporary actor for TVB. He entered TVB in early 1980s, and was trained there, although he had few opportunities to appear in films. Chow graduated from...
)
- Best Supporting Actress (Yuen Qiu
Yuen Qiu is an actress and martial artist. She is an expert of both Chinese martial arts and Beijing-opera skills, and was apprenticed under the same master, Yu Jim-yuen, as Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung Kam-Bo at China Drama Academy.Yuen Qiu worked as a stunt woman and as a night club performer...
)
- Best Visual Effects
- Best make-up and costume design.
Furthermore, the film was nominated for a
Golden Globe AwardThe Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
for Best Foreign Language Film, as well as a
BAFTAThe British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
award for Best Film not in the English language.
It was named Outstanding Film in the 2006
Hundred Flowers AwardsThe People's Hundred Flowers Film Festival or Hundred Flowers Awards, equivalent the China's Golden Globes, are considered, together with the Golden Rooster Awards, the most prestigious film awards in China...
.
Other portrayals
An
MMOA massively multiplayer online game is a multiplayer video game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously. By necessity, they are played on the Internet, and usually feature at least one persistent world. They are, however, not necessarily games played on...
2D side-scrolling fighter game based on the film is undergoing closed beta testing in Taiwan, and is due for release in 2010. It will be free, aiming to generate profit through in-game
micropaymentA micropayment is a financial transaction involving a very small sum of money and usually one that occurs online. PayPal defines a micropayment as a transaction of less than 12 USD while Visa prefers transactions under 20 Australian dollars, and though micropayments were originally envisioned to...
s. Stages of the game will resemble scenes in the film, such as the alley and highway. Players in the game will not take the form of Stephen Chow's character, Sing, and it is not known whether any major characters will return; however, the Axe Gang is present in early testing releases.
In 2005, Chow asserted that there would be a sequel to
Kung Fu Hustle, although he had not settled on a female lead. "There will be a lot of new characters in the movie. We'll need a lot of new actors. It's possible that we'll look for people abroad besides casting locals."
Production of
Kung Fu Hustle 2 was delayed while Chow filmed the science fiction adventure film
CJ7CJ7 is a 2008 Hong Kong science fiction/comedy film co-written, co-produced and directed by Stephen Chow, who also stars in the film. It was released on 31 January 2008 in Hong Kong. It was also released on 14 March 2008 in the United States....
. As a result,
Kung Fu Hustle 2 is slated for a 2012 release.
External links