The Ultimate Kung Fu Comedy!
I finally saw Kung Fu Hustle yesterday and liked it so much I immediately watched it a second time!!! This is the best Martial Arts Comedy ever!
KF Hustile opens today and next week
With Hustle opening in NY and LA today, I ran across this nice pic of Chiu Chi Ling Sifu:
The caption is: Chiu Chi Ling plays a tailor who finds himself under siege in #34;Kung Fu Hustle,#34; Stephen Chow’s comedic take on the martial arts genre.
The article can be found at:
http://movies2.nytimes.com/2005/04/08/movies/08kung.html
Enjoy
Box office results
KFH opened in seven theaters April 8 and garnered $293,025. That comes to an average of $41,861 per theater, which the AP calls ‘whopping’. An expanded nationwide release will be April 22.
Whopping indeed!
I had no idea what to compare $41K/cinema to so I looked up the AP article.
“Sahara”, the number one movie that same weekend, averaged $5,866 in 3,154 theaters. Not sure how other limited releases fair but that’s a huge gap.
That’s a serious can of Kung Fu Whoop A$$! Hope the major release does as well.
Thanks Gene
Sony Classics beats Miramax
Given Kung Fu Hustle’s extraordinary seven theater box office last weekend, Sony Classics has scheduled a 2000 theater nationwide release for the 22nd. That’s a major release. Things are looking good for KFH. 
The inside scoop
Please see our exclusive new Kung Fu Hustle article available on our e-zine.
I enjoyed the movie, too.
There are some graphical violences that may not be good for kids.
Other than that, it is fun for the whole family.
Hong Kong comedy in Kung Fu style.
The landlady has the lion roar gong. The women that yell a lot are called lion roar in the east of the river or He Dong Shi Hou .
The bad guy said that oh it is only a loudspeaker and I was defeated. Da La Ba .
Zhou has the body structure of MA. Only the Ren Du Er Mai needed to be opened. The bad guy did that by the headbutt of a frog and pushed upward to the sky. Zhou stepped on a soaring eagle and met Buddha in the shape of clouds. He then gained the power or Qi of a Buddha hand.
All the jokes and tidbits of stories are all familar.
Ba Gua Gun (staff), iron wire fist, and 12 Lu Tang Tui. Hmm, ok.
Tai Chi landlord, and sonic booms from Gu Zheng, hmm
White crane spreading wing in Yang style. ok.
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It is fun with Qi blasts extra ordinare.
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Lollipop story is A plus.
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I am hoping Kung Fu Hustle gets some exposure and picks up steam after the nationwide release too. Not sure if the American audience will grasp all of Chow’s humor, but he certainly deserves to be noticed.
When considering the numbers so far, they look very promising, but I think you have to realize that in a small number of theaters, the average can be misleading somewhat. So far, KFH has only been shown in 7 theaters. That’s 7 theaters divided between the 2 biggest cities in the country. Naturally, the fans who have been waiting to see this movie have a very limited choice right now and so the averages will look sky-high. In a little over a week, KFH has made $622,655. It took $269,225 on its opening weekend and has a theater average of $38,460. The average for Sin City is only $9,015 per theater, but Sin City took in $29,120,273 on its opening weekend, with over 3,000 theaters. Of course, it’s kind of silly and pointless to compare a limited international film with a major Hollywood release. KFH has already eclipsed Chow’s previous film, Shaolin Soccer, which grossed a paltry $489,600 (mostly due to a bungled release/promotion in my opinion).
I don’t mean to sound all doom and gloom, I just worry that this movie may get mismarketed like Shaolin Soccer did. I know that I will see it when it comes to Phoenix as I love watching films like this on the big screen. Hopefully it will do better than my expectations.
–Daniel–
common theme in Chow’s movies …
Man, I am going to come off like a sourpuss or something, but I wanted to bring up something that has puzzled me somewhat in Chow’s movies. In KFH, Shaolin Soccer, and The God of Cookery (my 3 Chow faves) – Chow has a habit of disrespecting, humiliating, and dismissing the timid female leads who seek his affection. In God of Cookery and Shaolin Soccer, the females (Karen Mok and Zhao Wei) are initially portrayed as unattractive and flawed somehow. In KFH, the female was actually quite cute from the get-go, but was deaf. Then, at least in the earlier 2 films, after the females go through a transformation and become beautiful, and suddenly Chow has a change of heart and takes them in with open arms. (What red-blooded male wouldn’t take in Karen Mok or Zhao Wei for that matter? =)
I realize these movies are comedies, and I do enjoy them immensely. But this has always kind of gnawed at me – what is the message he is sending out? I realize I am probably overanalyzing and maybe this is part of the humor I don’t understand perhaps. Just something I’ve pondered … has anyone else noticed this in Chow’s movies?
–Daniel–
In Shaolin soccer. A Mei knows Tai Ji and even makes dough in Tai Ji ball spinning. And yet she has no confidence. The boss always yelled at her.
Zhou Xing Chi helped her to gain self confidence. She said I am what I am. I am A Mei. The boss fast punches are deflected and she was pushed away.
A Mei shaved her hairs to support the team at the end and won.
In Kung Fu hustle, it is the other way around. The girl is very confident and good. Zhou has no confidence in being good. He tried very hard to be something he is not which is a bad guy. He tried to rob the girl of her money from selling ice creams. The girl showed him the lollipop candy she saved in the box for him all these years. Zhou was moved and confused.
The moment of truth came when the Fu Tou Bang or axe gang leader said do something. do something quickly your mother. Zhou turned around and hit the leader and then the bad guy interwined with Tai Chi landlord and lion roar landlady. Zhou turned around to be in the good side now. He suffered heavy punches to save landlord and landlady. All these punches actually opened up his Ren Du Er Mai and made the Qi flow unobstructed.
Zhou’s doing good and received good results: the friendship of the lollipop girl and opening of his Qi flow. Zhou’s doing bad is getting nowhere. It is called Yuan with Buddha.
In short, the goodness in many people brought Zhou back to be in goodness. He then gained the power of the Buddha hand. Actually, many good people in the pigy village and the girl showed Zhou many acts of goodness or hands of Buddha already. So now Zhou turned around and tried to save the village against Fu Tou Bang.
In the end, the girl met him in front of the candy store. They both became kids again. Which means they both resume what was left behind when they were both kids. Or the girl helped Zhou to grow and mature.
So there are switching roles for the leading females and Zhou in the 2 movies.
The hand of Buddha is not the Qi blast. The symbolism is that the acts of goodness in many people in the movie are all hands of Buddha.
In Response to SPJ
[SIZE=1] . . . it was good . . . I liked it . . . a lot . . .[/SIZE]
Beaten by Ashton?!
KFH cashed in at 7.3 million, making its domestic gross just more than $8 million and garnering the #5 spot nationally. #1 was the Interpreter with Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn ($22.8 million), #4 was A Lot Like Love with Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet… :rolleyes:
I liked Shaolin Soccer better. Kung Fu Hustle was alright, and the special effects and fights were awesome, but it lacked a lot of the character development that made Shaolin Soccer such a good film.
This just came out on friday where im at… I enjoyed the film alot, thought it was funny and really liked the action.
Ill agree with MK though, I broke way more ribs watchin soccer than hustle. I did like the reference to soccer at the beginning of hustle though…“No more soccer.” LOL
Actually, it means “still playing ball or always playing ball?” Zhong Ti Ball?
There are also character developments just in more extreme ways.
They are all high hands. They have seen enough fighting and retired in disguise.
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The Tang Tui kicker works as a laborer or “Gu Li” and owed 3 months’ rents.
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The Hung Gar southern fist tailor is gay or a rabbit.
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The English speaking dough and Chinese doughnut “Yo Tiau” maker wields Ba Gua Gun (staff). His nickname is Gwai or ghost.
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The Tai Chi landlord and Lion Roar landlady lost a son and now in hiding.
Each showed up only at the last minute.
The Tang Tui kicker showed up to save the kids from getting burned.
The whole film actually is more about Sing (Stephen Chow Xing Chi) in different stages.
This is where not speaking chinese really sucks. I dont get to really hear the movie.
I just started to learn so maybe in 5 years or so…
I perceived it as standard Chinese style theatre–with uniform jestures and big emotion so that one could get it even without a command of the spoken language. Soon people will be knowledgeable in counting to three in Southern Chinese at least.
One hidden master was hands, one was legs, one was weapon. The highr forms of Kung-Fu was music because in the translation to English the hiding wanna-be thug said~ she sings. Next higher or same height was deflection or redistribution of force/lightness/softness/flexibility with great grip-twisting strengthof the hands-wrists. A superior fighting skill of Kung-Fu is indicated to be Music, and restructuring sound in a focused manner. The tunes were probabally hints as to the attacks. I should go study the classics more…Greater Kung-Fu skill was being able to take strikes whithout damage to your performance. I called this correctly early in the film showing, thanks to exposure to the talkie “Five Deadly Venoms,” in which I associated the same skill to take hits. Also developed useability of the head in attacking. But the highest form of Kung-Fu I got from this talkie was Humility/Mercy. The best fighter thought he couldn’t fight and didn’t realize his actual ability. The most experienced figher or Killer there was shown One technique that was not comprehensibe to him. Mercy.~
The higher in skill the more it was subtle or hidden. The Gang was disrespectful to the top Killer because of his appearance. But he seemed to know his skill and abilities and their dis respect just showed him that they were not knowledgeable. The middle or lower level kung-Fu people were into flash and cool appearance.
The surface is not the ocean; you might see ripples or you might see waves; but you do not know the water unless you are in it. And even then you only realize that you cannot know the full breadth or depth of it. There are no baby butterflys–Enlightenment~. -by Ernie Moore Jr.
I No_Know
It is just a movie. It is for fun and entertainment.
However, the movie does carry the same messages from classical CMA novels and movie.
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The purpose of studying Kung Fu is not to bully or rob somebody. The purpose is to help the weak and uphold the Justice. Or Xing Xia Zhang Yi . If I do not do it as if go to the hell, nobody else will. .
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There is always another higher mountain and another deeper pond. If you are good at certain skills, there will always be someone else that is better.
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Force did not win people. Hearts can only be won by hearts. The big kids may beat Chow up and yet Chow got the girl and the candy. On the other hand, one against many big kids. That is a lot to take on. Chow believed the high person disguised as a beggar. Chow believed that he practices Buddha palm and he is ready to Xing Xia Zhang Yi.
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Chow was misguided by his failure or perceived failure to be good. He then decided to be bad. However, he is no good at all. He failed miserably in being bad. He picked a seemingly weak village to pick on. It turned out to be with a lot of high hands in residence.
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Chow was moved by all the good people’s Xing Xia Zhang Yi. From the Tang Tui kicker, Southern fist and Ba Gua Gun guys, Tai Chi landlord to lion roar landlady. When the toad guy interwined with landlord and landlady “Bao Zhu Gong and Bao Zhu Po”, the Fu Tou Bang leader yelled something about his mother, Chow was all confused. Chow turned around and to be in the good side again. He decided to go to the hell and tried to save the landlord and landlady. Chow is willing to die for them or for something that is good. Actually, Chow is not aware of the fact that he has the indestructible body of the diamond, or Jing Kang Bu Huai Zhi Shen .
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Chow recovered and his Ren Du Er Mai channels opened. He has Qi flow in all of his moves. He took care of the landlady and landlord and faced Fu Tou Bang all by himself. He goes to the hell and Xing Xia Zhang Yi.
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Chow has Buddha Yuan with the girl. So they picked up what was left behind when there were kids. This is called instant Karma or Karma in the same life and not the next.
I may go on and on.
The toad guy was not interested in being the leader of the Axe gang. He put himself in the hospital. He believed that nobody may beat him. He was out for the challenge. When he knew he was lost to the Buddha palm, he was willing to admit that he lost.
Overall, it is a good story with all the classical CMA novels and movie tidbits.
Kung Fu Hustle
Better than I thought it could be. Actualy some pretty good use of wire work.
I liked Shaolin Soccer better. Kung Fu Hustle lacked character development, IMO.