According to Chinese box office data on the morning of July 24, "Eight Immortals!" surpassed "Kung Fu Women's Football Team" to lead in daily revenue. The animated work benefits from positive word-of-mouth effects, high theater occupancy rates and continuous increases in screenings.
After 7 days of release, "Eight Immortals!" has grossed more than 460 million RMB. Many units predict that the film's final revenue may exceed 2 billion RMB if it continues to maintain its appeal during the peak of the summer vacation.
Meanwhile, "The Kung Fu Girl" closed a 13-day consecutive lead in box office revenue, with accumulated revenue of more than 1.72 billion RMB after 14 days of screening.
Box office statistics platforms are currently adjusting the final revenue forecast of the film down to about 2.8 billion CNY, lower than the initial expectations of many audiences for the 3 billion CNY mark.
The fact that revenue shows signs of stagnation also makes Chau Tinh Tri's goal of joining the "hundred-billion CNY director club" continue to be left open.
According to statistics from Chinese film platforms, the total revenue of works directed by Stephen Chow is currently about 74 billion CNY (calculated according to box office revenue converted from the works), still far from the 100 billion CNY mark and not exceeding Wu Jing's achievement.
However, in terms of commercial efficiency, "The Kung Fu Girl" is still considered a successful project. With a production budget estimated by Chinese media at about 380 million CNY, the film is likely to bring great profits to investors if it reaches a revenue milestone of nearly 3 billion CNY.
Right from its release, the film created a strong wave of debate. This is a work marking Chau Tinh Tri's return as director after many years, and also gathers a cast of famous actors such as Dich Le Nhiet Ba, Truong Nghe Hung and many young faces.
A part of the audience appreciates the entertainment element and the unreasonable comedy style of gratitude that made Chau Tinh Tri's brand. However, many opinions say that the film lacks breakthrough, abuses nostalgia and cannot compare with classic works such as "Shaolin Soccer" or "The Ultimate Kung Fu".
Observers believe that the success of "The Kung Fu Girl" shows that the appeal of the brand Chau Tinh Tri is still very large in the Chinese box office. However, increasing competition and changing tastes of young audiences are posing higher requirements for the 64-year-old director's next projects.
