The Set Secrets Behind Kung Fu Hustle And Shaolin Soccer That Made Them Legendary

Stephen Chow Basically Staged A Comeback Tour For Retired 1970s Kung Fu Stars

Kung Fu Hustle is packed with actors who'd been out of the spotlight for decades before Chow cast them. Bruce Leung Siu-lung, a martial arts star who'd retired in the 1980s, came back as 'The Beast' and found renewed popularity among younger audiences because of it, while Yuen Qiu's ear-splitting landlady became an instant icon in her own right.

They Built An Entire Fake Slum Just To Blow It Up With Kung Fu

Production on Kung Fu Hustle ran from June through November 2003, largely at a Shanghai film studio where crews built the elaborate Pigsty Alley set from scratch. Fight choreography came courtesy of Yuen Woo-ping and Sammo Hung, and some sequences — like a casino getting demolished by a sonic 'Lion's Roar' kung fu blast — were rendered entirely in CGI because no practical stunt could pull it off.

Shaolin Soccer Cost Almost Nothing And Still Became Hong Kong's Biggest Movie Ever

Made on a comparatively modest $10 million budget, Shaolin Soccer stomped every other release in Hong Kong in 2001, pulling in over HK$60 million domestically to become the territory's highest-grossing local film at the time. It swept that year's Hong Kong Film Awards too, taking home Best Film and Best Director for Chow.

Miramax Bought Shaolin Soccer, Then Sat On It For Two Years Trying To 'Fix' It

Harvey Weinstein's Miramax snapped up the U.S. rights before the film had even opened in Hong Kong, then delayed release repeatedly while trimming the 112-minute cut down to roughly 87 minutes and dubbing it into English. The studio even floated renaming it 'Kung-Fu Soccer' for American audiences, a plan fans revolted against until the original title was restored.

Kung Fu Hustle Made More Money On Opening Weekend Than Shaolin Soccer Made In Its Entire Run

When Kung Fu Hustle hit Asian theaters, it shattered records almost immediately — setting the biggest opening-day box office ever for a Chinese-language film in Singapore and breaking opening-day records in both Hong Kong and Taiwan. Its opening weekend alone outgrossed Shaolin Soccer's entire theatrical run, and a proper release through Sony Pictures Classics finally gave Chow the international breakthrough that Miramax had fumbled the first time around.