Stephen Chow has directed a film again, and China noticed.
After seven years away from the director's chair, Stephen Chow has returned not with nostalgia but with reinvention — transforming his beloved Shaolin Soccer universe into a story built around women, underdogs, and the enduring human appetite for unlikely triumph. His new film, Kung Fu Soccer, captured nearly three-quarters of China's entire weekend box office on its opening days, a figure that speaks less to spectacle than to the particular hunger audiences feel when a singular creative voice resurfaces. At 64, Chow appears less interested in revisiting what he was than in imagining what his stories might still become.
- A seven-year directorial silence ended with a single weekend that swallowed nearly 75% of China's entire box office — $73.6 million against a market that had been running 38% behind last year's pace.
- The film's dominance was so complete it rendered its nearest competitor, Minions & Monsters, almost invisible — nine times smaller in earnings and still falling.
- Rather than replicate the original's formula, Chow rebuilt the premise around an all-female martial arts squad, signaling a franchise evolution rather than a victory lap.
- Audience scores of 9.4 out of 10 on Maoyan and a projected $368 million domestic run suggest the gamble on reinvention has landed with rare conviction.
- Global distribution through Encore Films is assembling territory by territory, but no U.S. release date exists yet — the international puzzle remains unfinished.
Stephen Chow has directed a film again, and China responded with something close to unanimity. Kung Fu Soccer, his first feature behind the camera in seven years, opened to $73.6 million across mainland China — nearly three-quarters of all weekend ticket sales in the world's second-largest movie market, and nine times the haul of its nearest competitor. Ticketing platform Maoyan, where audiences scored the film a 9.4 out of 10, is already projecting a total domestic run of $368 million.
Chow, now 64, wrote and directed the film as a spinoff of his 1999 cult classic Shaolin Soccer, but this is not a sequel in any conventional sense. The story follows an all-female martial arts squad — the underdog Emei team — who channel kung fu into soccer during an improbable tournament run. Zhang Xiaofei leads the cast as captain, with Dilraba Dilmurat as star striker and Lay Zhang as the kung fu coach. The supporting ensemble spans continents, including Carina Lau, Takeru Satoh, former Chinese women's national goalkeeper Zhao Lina, and American comedian Jimmy O. Yang.
The timing was deliberate. The release was positioned to mark the original Shaolin Soccer's 25th anniversary while riding the summer's FIFA World Cup energy — a calculation that proved decisive. On opening day alone, the film earned $38.3 million, leaving Universal's Minions & Monsters to manage just $8.1 million across the entire weekend.
Chow has not acted in a film since 2008's CJ7, and his choice to rebuild the franchise around an all-female team rather than revisit its original formula suggests a creative mind more interested in where a story can go than where it has been. The global rollout is still taking shape — Singapore's Encore Films holds worldwide rights outside mainland China and is negotiating territory by territory, with no U.S. date confirmed. For now, Chow's return has done what few directorial comebacks manage: it has reclaimed an entire market's attention and made the wait feel worthwhile.
Stephen Chow has directed a film again, and China noticed. Kung Fu Soccer, his first feature behind the camera in seven years, opened across mainland China on Saturday to a box office haul of $73.6 million—nearly three-quarters of all ticket sales in the world's second-largest movie market that weekend, and nine times what its nearest competitor earned. The numbers arrived with the kind of certainty that makes studios sit up: Maoyan, the ticketing platform where audiences gave the film a 9.4 out of 10, is already projecting a total domestic run of $368 million.
Chow, now 64, wrote and directed this Hong Kong-China co-production as a spinoff of his 1999 cult classic Shaolin Soccer, which had itself shattered Hong Kong box office records upon release in 2001. But this is not a sequel in the traditional sense. The new film reimagines the premise around an all-female martial arts squad—the underdog Emei team—who channel kung fu into their soccer game during an improbable tournament run called the Supreme Invincible Cup. Zhang Xiaofei, known for Hi, Mom, leads the cast as captain, with Dilraba Dilmurat as the star striker and Lay Zhang as the kung fu coach. The supporting cast spans continents: Carina Lau from Hong Kong, Japanese actor Takeru Satoh, former Chinese women's national team goalkeeper Zhao Lina, and American comedian Jimmy O. Yang all appear in various roles.
The timing was deliberate. Maoyan Entertainment, which handled the China release, positioned the film to mark the 25th anniversary of the original Shaolin Soccer while riding the wave of FIFA World Cup fever sweeping through the summer. That calculation proved sound. On opening day alone, the film earned $38.3 million across mainland China, including Imax screens. The weekend's dominance was so complete that the second-place film, Universal's Minions & Monsters, managed only $8.1 million in its sophomore weekend—a 50 percent drop from its debut.
What makes Chow's return particularly striking is his absence from the screen itself. He has not acted in a film since 2008's CJ7, stepping away from performing to focus on directing. This film represents not just a return to the director's chair after a seven-year gap, but a statement about where his creative interests now lie. The decision to build the story around an all-female team, rather than simply rehashing the original's formula, suggests he is thinking about what the franchise can become rather than what it was.
The global rollout remains in motion. Singapore's Encore Films acquired worldwide distribution rights outside mainland China last month and is negotiating territory-by-territory deals. Encore has experience with this kind of operation—the company handled the international release of Ne Zha 2, the animation that set Chinese box office records last year. But there is no U.S. release date yet, and the company is still assembling the international puzzle piece by piece.
Chow's return arrives at a moment when China's 2026 box office is running 38.6 percent behind the same point last year, a gap largely explained by the extraordinary performance of Ne Zha 2 in early 2025. That film earned $2.26 billion domestically alone. Kung Fu Soccer will not reach those heights, but its $368 million projection would still represent a significant contribution to narrowing the year-over-year deficit. For now, the film's dominance is complete: it has reclaimed the attention of an entire market and reminded audiences why Chow's name still carries weight.
Citações Notáveis
Maoyan users awarded the film a 9.4 out of 10 score— Maoyan ticketing platform audience ratings
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does a director stepping away from acting for eighteen years matter to this story?
Because it signals what Chow values now. He's not returning to be the face of the film. He's returning to build something—to shape how a story gets told. That's a different kind of ambition.
The film is projected to earn $368 million. Is that number reliable this early?
Not entirely. Maoyan's early projections shift as films move deeper into their runs. But the opening weekend itself—$73.6 million—is concrete. That's what actually happened. The projection is an educated guess based on how these films typically perform.
Why remake Shaolin Soccer as an all-female story now?
The original was about underdogs using kung fu to transform their circumstances. That story doesn't require men. By shifting to women, Chow is asking the same question—what happens when martial arts meets sport?—but with a different lens. It's not a gimmick. It's a reframing.
The cast includes a former Chinese national team goalkeeper. That's specific.
It grounds the film in something real. You're not just watching actors play soccer. You're watching someone who actually knows the sport, who lived it professionally. That detail matters to audiences who care about authenticity.
Why does the U.S. release date matter if the film is already a massive success in China?
Because it determines whether this becomes a global phenomenon or a regional triumph. A24's Backrooms, which opened in fourth place in China, has already grossed over $330 million worldwide. Geography shapes scale.