Kung Fu Hustle | |
---|---|
Directed by | Stephen Chow |
Written by | Stephen Chow Huo Xin Chan Man-keung Tsang Kan-cheung |
Produced by |
|
Starring | Stephen Chow Yuen Qiu Yuen Wah Danny Chan |
Cinematography | Poon Hang-sang |
Edited by | Angie Lam |
Music by | Raymond Wong |
Production companies | Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia Limited Star Overseas Beijing Film Studio China Film Group Huayi Brothers |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures (International) Sony Pictures Classics (USA) |
Release dates | September 14, 2004(TIFF) December 23, 2004 |
Running time | 95 minutes |
Countries | China Hong Kong |
Language | Cantonese |
Budget | $20 million [1] |
Box office | HK$61.27 million (Kong Kong) $100,914,445[1] (Worldwide) |
Template:ChineseText Kung Fu Hustle is a 2004 Hong Kong action comedy film directed and produced by, and starring, Stephen Chow. The other film producers were Chui Po-chu and Jeffrey Lau, while the screenplay was written by Huo Xin, Chan Man-keung, and Tsang Kan-cheung. Yuen Wah, Yuen Qiu, Danny Chan, and Bruce Leung co-starred in prominent roles.
After the commercial success of Star Overseas' Shaolin Soccer,[2] Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia along with Star Overseas 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 cinema, it contrasts with other martial arts films released at around the same time that have made the biggest impact in the West, such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero.[3][4] The cartoon style of the film, accompanied by traditional Chinese music, is often cited as its most striking feature.[5][6]
The film was released on 23 December 2004 in China and on 25 January 2005 in the United States. It received extremely positive reviews, with Rotten Tomatoes giving it a 90% fresh rating[7] and Metacritic 78 out of 100.[8] The film was also a commercial success, grossing US$17 million in North America and US$84 million in other countries.[1] Kung Fu Hustle was the highest-grossing film in the history of Hong Kong[9] until it was surpassed by You Are the Apple of My Eye on 31 December 2011.[10] The film was the all-time tenth highest-grossing foreign language film in the United States[11] and also the highest-grossing foreign language film in the country in 2005.[12] Kung Fu Hustle won numerous awards, including 6 Hong Kong Film Awards and 5 Golden Horse Awards.
Plot
Turmoil grips Shanghai in the 1930s. Various gangs vie for power, the most feared of which is the Axe Gang, led by the infamous Brother Sum and 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 attempting 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 fully recovering, he rejoins Bone, but is unable to explain his fast and mysterious healing.
Sing and Bone lament their failure on the streets as Sing 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 up, humiliated 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 play a guzheng and materialize the sound waves using their Qi to create offensive and defensive objects—to assassinate the three martial artists at Pig Sty. They succeed, but are defeated by the Landlady and Landlord, who are actually powerful martial artists living in self-enforced retirement. Landlady and Landlord evacuate Pig Sty afterward and vow to deal with the Axe Gang.
The following day, frustrated with lack of any progress, Sing mugs the 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 refuses and knocks it 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 asylum 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 the Beast proves his skill by stopping a bullet that he fired at himself, 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 flee. Sum angrily blames The Beast for letting them escape, and The Beast casually kills Sum in response.
At Pig Sty Alley, Sing, while wrapped head-to-toe in bandages and treated with Chinese medicine, undergoes a metamorphosis. 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 confrontng the Beast. A battle ensues, and the Beast uses his Toad Technique to send Sing rocketing into the sky. Again due to a heavy smash from the Beast, Sing's chi energy increases, and he 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 lollipop store. When the mute ice cream vendor walks by, Sing goes out to meet her, and they turn back into kids and quickly reconcile. As they go back into the store, a young boy walking outside after buying lollipop 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. The child stares, intrigued.
Cast
- Stephen Chow as Sing, a loser in life who aspires to join the Axe Gang. He attempts many misdeeds to produce an image of a "bad guy", but his deeds all fail miserably or backfire.
- Yuen Qiu as the Landlady of Pig Sty Alley. Selfish and domineering, she is a chain smoker 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.[13]
- Yuen Wah as the Landlord of Pig Sty Alley. He is lecherous and trouble-seeking. He is also a master of taijiquan.
- 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 as the Beast, a kung fu master, rumoured to be the most dangerous person alive, though his skill is disguised by his unkempt appearance. He has killed many in his quest to find a worthy opponent, all to no avail. Therefore, he has himself committed to a mental asylum, until Sum frees him to deal with the Landlord and his wife. The final move he uses on Sing, the "Toad Skill", is practised by "Western Venom" Ouyang Feng, a villain in Louis Cha's Condor Trilogy novel series.[13]
- Xing Yu as the Coolie, a kung fu specialist specializing in Twelve Kicks of the Tam School
- Chiu Chi-ling as Fairy, the effeminate Tailor of Pig Sty Alley. This retired kung fu specialist specialises in the art of Hung Ga Iron Fist Kung fu, and he fights with iron rings on his arms.
- Dong Zhihua as Donut, a baker in Pig Sty Alley who is a retired kung fu specialist. He specialises in the Eight Trigram Staff.
- Lam Chi-chung as Bone, Sing's sidekick
- Eva Huang as Fong, Sing's mute love interest. In her childhood, she was almost saved by Sing from a group of bullies and since then sees him as her hero. In the present day, she works as an ice-cream vendor.
- 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, or "Chinese harp". Their strongest skill, which attacks opponents by playing their harp, resembles the "Seven Strings Invisible Swords" in Louis Cha's novel The Smiling, Proud Wanderer.
- Lam Suet and Liang Hsiao as high-ranking members of the Axe Gang
- Yuen Cheung-yan as the Beggar, the man who sold Sing the Buddhist Palm manual
- Feng Xiaogang as the leader of the Crocodile Gang. He is killed by the Axe Gang at the start of the film.
Production
Development
Kung Fu Hustle is a co-production of the Beijing Film Studio and Hong Kong's Star Overseas.[14] After the success of his 2001 film, Shaolin Soccer, 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.[15] Kung Fu Hustle was produced with a budget of US$20 million.[16]
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.[17] A senior Hollywood executive said Chow was "forced to grind through four successive scripts" and "found it very laborious".[18]
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, and the plot included many aspects of his daily life.[19] A 1973 Shaw Brothers Studio film, The House of 72 Tenants, was another inspiration for the Pig Sty Alley.[20] Designing 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.[21]
Choreography
Filming took place in Shanghai from June 2003 to November 2003.[22] Two-thirds of the time was spent shooting the fighting sequences.[17] The fighting scenes of Kung Fu Hustle were initially choreographed by Sammo Hung. 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.[23] To replace Hung, Chow immediately contacted Yuen Woo-ping, an action choreographer with experience ranging from Hong Kong action cinema of the 1960s to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Matrix in the early 21st century. Yuen swiftly accepted the offer, and certain scenes that had been in production under Hung were cancelled.[15] Yuen managed to take seemingly outdated wuxia fighting styles like the Deadly Melody and Buddhist Palm and recreate them on the screen with his own imagination.[24]
Special effects were mainly created with a combination of computer-generated imagery and wire work.[25] 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.[14] A Hong Kong computer graphics company, Centro Digital Pictures Limited, was solely responsible for the CGI. The company had previously worked on films like Shaolin Soccer and Kill Bill. Its team 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 immediately afterwards. The CGI crew removed wire effects and applied special effects in high resolution. After a final calibration of colour, data of the processed scenes was sent to the US for the production of the final version.[22]
Casting
Kung Fu Hustle pays tribute to many famous veterans of Hong Kong action cinema of the 1970s. Yuen Wah, a former student of the China Drama Academy Peking Opera School, plays the Landlord of the Pig Sty Alley. He appeared in hundreds of Hong Kong films from the 1970s and was a stunt double of Bruce Lee. 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 due to the tight schedule. In spite of the film's success, Yuen Wah worried that nowadays fewer people practice martial arts.[26]
The part of the Landlady was offered to Yuen Qiu, another student of Yu Jim-yuen, sifu of the China Drama Academy. Yuen Qiu had appeared in the 1974 James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun at the age of 18.[27] 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, Yuen Qiu stood nearby 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.[27]
Bruce Leung, who played the Beast, was Stephen Chow's childhood martial arts hero.[19] 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 a career in business. Kung Fu Hustle was his return to the film industry after a fifteen-year hiatus. He regarded 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.[28]
Besides famous martial artists, Kung Fu Hustle features legends of Chinese cinema. Two famous Chinese directors appear in the film: Zhang Yibai, who plays Inspector Chan at the beginning of the film, and Feng Xiaogang, who plays the boss of the Crocodile Gang.[29]
Eva Huang 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.[30]
Music
The majority of the film's original score was composed by Raymond Wong and performed by the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra.[6] The score imitates traditional Chinese music in 1940s swordplay films.[31] 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.[29] Along with Wong's compositions and various traditional Chinese songs, classical compositions are featured in the score, including excerpts from Zigeunerweisen by Pablo de Sarasate and Sabre Dance by Aram Khachaturian.[32] 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.[33] Kung Fu Hustle was nominated for the Best Original Film Score in the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards.[34]
Asian and American versions of the soundtrack were released. The Asian version of the soundtrack was released on 17 December 2004 by Sony Music Entertainment and has 33 tracks.[35] The American version of the soundtrack was released on 29 March 2005 by Varèse Sarabande and has 19 tracks.[36]
Parodies and references
Kung Fu Hustle makes references to a wide range of films, animated cartoons, wuxia novels and other sources. The appearances of Sing and Bone resemble George Milton and Lennie Small from the 1992 film Of Mice and Men. The housing arrangement of the Pig Sty Alley is similar to that of a 1973 Hong Kong film, The House of 72 Tenants. 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 Chow's previous film, Shaolin Soccer, 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. When Sing challenges a boy in the Pig Sty Alley, Sing calls him "The Karate Kid", a reference to the 1984 film of the same name. 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-tung, a Chinese revolutionary in the late Qing Dynasty.[37] The scene where Sing is chased by the Landlady as he flees from the Alley is a homage to Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner, characters in the Looney Tunes 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 Hat 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 Shining.[38]
A major element of the plot is based on the wuxia film series Palm of Ru Lai (如來神掌), released in 1964. Sing studied the same fighting style "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, in which a mortally wounded master strikes the patterns of his art's final techniques into a bell so that his apprentice can learn from it.[39] Kung Fu Hustle also contains direct references to characters from Louis Cha's wuxia novels. For example, the landlord and landlady refer to themselves as Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü, the names of characters in Cha's The Return of the Condor Heroes, when they met the Beast.[40]
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 Tsang in Infernal Affairs.[41] The Harpists imitate The Blues Brothers, 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.[42] When Donut dies, he says "in great power lies great responsibility", a reference to Spider-Man, said by Uncle Ben before his death.[37] Afterwards, with his dying breath, Donut gets up, grabs the Landlord by the shirt and utters in English, "What are you prepared to do?", a nod to Sean Connery's character Jim Malone in Brian De Palma's 1987 film The Untouchables.[43]
The dialog that the Beast says while negotiating with the Axe Gang for killing the Landlady and Landlord - "...then young friend, I will make an offer you cannot refuse", is a reference of the dialog from the movie 'The Godfather'. Also, the Landlady's comment to Brother Sum - "We brought a gift you cannot refuse" is an obvious parody of the same, to which Sum replies - "Ha! With the Beast on our side, we shall see for whom the bell tolls", a reference to the 1943 film.
The final fight between Sing (who has been reborn into "the one" paying homage to Bruce Lee by wearing his costume in Enter the Dragon and using his fighting style) and the hundreds of gangsters imitates the fight between Neo and hundreds of Agent Smiths in The Matrix Reloaded.[14][37] 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 Niro's character prompting Joe Pesci'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 Trilogy (Nine Yang Manual, "Yiyang Finger", and "Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms"), "Thousand Hand Divine Fist", and The Smiling, Proud Wanderer ("Nine Swords of Dugu"). The scene where the landlady confronts Brother Sum in the back of his car is a homage to Bruce Lee in Way of the Dragon, 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 Festival. It was then released in China, Hong Kong and other countries in Asia with significant overseas Chinese populations in December 2004. The film was first shown in the US at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2005, and then opened in a general release on 22 April 2005 after being shown in Los Angeles and New York for two weeks. The film was released to most of Europe in June 2005.[44] Kung Fu Hustle is rated IIB (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.[45]
The North American DVD release was on 8 August 2005.[44] A Blu-ray 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. Sony made Kung Fu Hustle available for online streaming in standard definition as part of its service Crackle.[46]
The Portuguese title of the film is Kungfusão, which sounds like kungfu and Confusão (confusion).[47] In the same way, the Italian and Spanish titles were Kung-fusion and Kung-fusión, puns of "confusion".[48][49] In France, the film is known as Crazy Kung Fu, and the Hungarian title is A Pofonok Földje, meaning The Land of Punches.[50][51]
Reception
The film was generally well received by critics, earning the score of 90% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes based on a total of 166 reviews.[7] Hong Kong director and film critic Gabriel Wong praised the film for its black comedy, special effects and nostalgia, citing the return of many retired kung fu actors from the 1970s.[52] Film critic Roger Ebert described the film as being "like Jackie Chan and Buster Keaton meet Quentin Tarantino and Bugs Bunny".[53] The comment was printed on the promotion posters for Kung Fu Hustle in the US.[54][55] Other critics described it as a comedic version of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.[56] Positive reviews generally gave credit to the elements of mo lei tau comedy present in the film.[57] A number of reviewers viewed it as a computer-enhanced Looney Tunes punch-up.[7][58] In a 2010 GQ interview, actor Bill Murray called Kung Fu Hustle "the supreme achievement of the modern age in terms of comedy."[59]
Much of the criticism for the film was 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.[60] Criticisms were also directed at the film's cartoonish and childish humour.[61] Richard Roeper gave it a negative review, saying he had “never been a fan of that over the top slapstick stuff”.[62]
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$61.27 million. Its box office tally made it the highest-grossing film in Hong Kong history,[9] until it was beaten by You Are the Apple of My Eye on 31 December 2011 with HK$61.3 million.[10]
Kung Fu Hustle 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).[63] 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.[64] 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 following on DVD.[12]
Awards and Nominations
Kung Fu Hustle received a large number of award nominations in the Hong Kong Film Awards and Golden Horse Awards in 2005.
- Won: Best Picture
- Won: Best Supporting Actor (Yuen Wah)
- Won: Best Sound Effects
- Won: Best Visual Effects
- Won: Best Action Choreography
- Won: Best Film Editing[32]
- Nominated: Best Actor (Stephen Chow)
- Nominated: Best Actress (Yuen Qiu)
- Nominated: Best Art Direction
- Nominated: Best Cinematography
- Nominated: Best Costume Design and Make Up
- Nominated: Best Director (Stephen Chow)
- Nominated: Best New Performer(Huang Shengyi)
- Nominated: Best Original Film Score
- Nominated: Best Screenplay
- Nominated: Best Supporting Actor (Danny Chan)
Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards
- Won: Best Picture
- Won: Best Director (Stephen Chow)
- Won: Best Supporting Actress (Yuen Qiu)
- Won: Best Visual Effects
- Won: Best make-up and costume design.[65]
- Nominated: Best Film Editing
- Nominated: Best Supporting Actor (Yuen Wah)
- Nominated: Best Action Choreography
- Nominated: Best Sound Effects
- Nominated: Best Art Direction
- Nominated: Best Foreign Language Film,[14]
- Nominated: Best Film not in the English language.[66]
It was named Outstanding Film in the 2006 Hundred Flowers Awards.
Sequel
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."Cite error: The <ref>
tag has too many names (see the help page).
Production of Kung Fu Hustle 2 was delayed while Chow filmed the science fiction adventure film CJ7. As a result, Kung Fu Hustle 2 is slated for a 2014 release.[67]
In January 2013 during an interview Chow admitted that plans for making "Kung Fu Hustle 2" has been put on hold. "I was indeed in the midst of making the movie, but it is currently put on hold in view of other incoming projects."[68]
Games
Flash Game
In 2004 Sony Pictures Entertainment released an online flash game, the game consists of you playing as Stephen Chow's character, Sing and beating up the deadly axe gang, each level there is more members of the deadly axe gang to beat.[69]
Online & PS3
In 2009, a massively multiplayer online 2D side-scrolling fighter game based on the film was announced. The news also said it was undergoing closed beta testing in Taiwan, and was due for release in 2010. It will be free, aiming to generate profit through in-game micropayments. 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.[70]
As of March 2013, Sony Online Entertainment has yet to release the game online and on PlayStation 3.[71]
See also
References
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- ^ "Kung Fu Hustle (2004)". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
- ^ Bloom, Bob. "Review of Kung Fu Hustle". Journal and Courier. Retrieved 2007-05-11.[dead link]
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- ^ "Kung Fu Hustle Review". Metacritic. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
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- ^ a b "九把刀微博宣布《那些年,我們一起追的女孩》香港地区华语电影总票房超越《功夫》". Retrieved 2011-12-31-19:02.
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- ^ a b Scheidt, Jason. "Do the Hustle". iMedia Connection. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
- ^ a b "综述:绝世功夫之内容篇-一场功夫宴千秋武侠梦" (in Simplified Chinese). Sina Corp. 2004-12-27. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
- ^ a b c d Szeto, Kin-Yan. "The politics of historiography in Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle". Jump Cut. Archived from the original on 2007-09-25. Retrieved 2007-05-05.
- ^ a b "Kung Fu Hustle Production Notes". sensasain.com. Archived from the original on 22 December 2005. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
- ^ "Kung Fu Hustle general information". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2007-05-13.
- ^ a b Stephen Chow (2005-07-29). Interview with Stephen Chow (Online video). Hong Kong: iFilm.
- ^ Michael Cieply (2008-09-14). "China's Media Moguls Tutored by Masters of Hollywood". The New York Times.
- ^ a b Roman, Julian (2005-04-04). "Stephen Chow talks Kung Fu Hustle". MovieWeb. Retrieved 2012-09-14.
- ^ Xu, Gary. "The Gongfu of Kung Fu Hustle". Synoptique. Retrieved 2007-05-05.
- ^ Stephen Chow (2005-07-29). Kung Fu Hustle Production Design (Online video). Hong Kong: iFilm.
- ^ a b Zu, Blackcat (2004-12-31). "An Interview with the Production Team (Centro Digital Pictures Ltd.)" (in Traditional Chinese). ??. p. 1. Retrieved 2007-05-17.
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{{cite web}}
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{{cite web}}
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