Stephen Chow’s first film in seven years, Kung Fu Soccer, scored a mighty opening at the China box office this past weekend grossing $73.6M (RMB500.3M) in just two days (July 11-12), according to figures from Artisan Gateway.
The spin-off of 2001 hit Shaolin Soccer follows an all-female soccer squad who add martial arts techniques to their game during a major tournament. The film has a 9.4 rating on the Maoyan ticketing platform, which is predicting a $369M (RMB2.5BN) final gross.
Chow directs but does not star in the film as he stepped away from acting following sci-fi comedy CJ7 in 2008. Kung Fu Soccer’s cast is headed by Zhang Xiaofei, Dilraba Dilmurat and Lay Zhang with guest appearances by Hong Kong star Carina Lau, Japan’s Takeru Satoh and U.S. comedian Jimmy O. Yang.
Maoyan, a Beijing-based ticketing platform, investor and distributor, is handling the China distribution of the film, releasing it this month to mark the 25th anniversary of Shaolin Soccer and to capitalise on FIFA World Cup 2026 fever. Singapore-based Encore Films has international rights and is lining up territory-by-territory distribution.
Chow is one of Hong Kong’s most bankable filmmakers with hits over the decades including The God Of Cookery (1996), King Of Comedy (1999), Shaolin Soccer (2001) and Kung Fu Hustle (2004), with the latter film co-produced with Sony, although he hasn’t directed a film since The New King Of Comedy in 2019.
Kung Fu Soccer’s success may help close the year-on-year decline in China’s 2026 box office, which was down around 40% in the first half, compared to the first half of 2025, a period that was bolstered by the record-breaking box office of Lunar New Year hit animation Nezha 2.
While Kung Fu Soccer accounted for nearly three quarters of all ticket sales in China over the weekend, Minions & Monsters came in second in its second weekend with $8.1M, according to Artisan Gateway figures, while Light Chaser’s animated movie Three Kingdoms: The Beginning opened in third with $4.7M over three days. A24’s Backrooms, which opened June 26, came in fourth with $3.2M for a $21.8M cumulative gross.
