According to data from Maoyan Professional, by the end of July 17, the movie "The Kungfu Women's Football Team" had grossed more than 1 billion CNY in box office revenue (including pre-selling tickets).
As of 9 am on July 18 (China time), film revenue continued to increase to 1.1 billion CNY (about 4,200 billion VND). Maoyan's latest forecast for the film's total revenue may exceed the 3 billion CNY mark.
Previously, "The Kungfu Girl" achieved 260 million RMB in revenue on its opening day (July 11), setting a record as the highest opening film revenue since the Lunar New Year 2026 in China.
As the 7th movie self-directed by Stephen Chow, "The Kungfu Girl" is considered a continuation of the spirit of the work "The Shaolin Soccer", this year coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the release of this classic film.
Kungfu Women's Football Team" stars Truong Tieu Phi, Dich Le Nhiet Ba and Truong Nghe Hung in the main roles, along with the participation of former Chinese women's national football team players such as Trieu Le Na and Ly Giai Duyet.
The film continues to promote Chau Tinh Tri's characteristic comedy style, combining traditional martial arts and football, telling the story of the ordinary "Nga Mi" women's football team gradually overcoming adversity to win the championship.
In a movie promotion exchange, Stephen Chow confirmed for the first time his plan to make a sequel.
When asked by a young audience member: "What will be your next movie?", he immediately announced that "The Kungfu 2 Women's Football Team" had entered the pre-production planning stage, and revealed the main development direction of the story.
The goal of the Nga Mi team is to defeat the whole world. Currently, they have only defeated half, and the other half will continue to conquer in the future," Chau Tinh Tri shared.
According to revelations, part two will elevate the competition context to the international arena, while continuing to exploit the enthusiasm and inspiration that made the success of the first part.
Thanks to the achievement of "The Kungfu Women's Football Team", the box office revenue ranking in mainland China of works directed by Stephen Chow has also been updated:
Mermaid" still tops with 3.392 billion RMB, "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" ranks 2nd with 1.247 billion RMB. Meanwhile, "The Kungfu Girl" only 1 week after its release entered the Top 3 with 1 billion RMB.
According to the media, for many mainland Chinese audiences, the saying "owe Stephen Chow a movie ticket" has been passed down from ear to ear for more than ten years. This saying appeared earliest around the time the movie "Journey to the West: Foreign Love" was released in 2013.
In the 1990s, the cinema system in mainland China was still not fully developed. The majority of audiences enjoyed Stephen Chow's classic works such as "The Journey to the West" or "The King of Comedy" through studios of pirated tapes and CDs or television replays.
Starting from the desire to compensate for the regrets of childhood and youth, fans spontaneously spread the slogan "Deserve Stephen Chow a movie ticket".
When "Mermaid" was released in 2016, this phrase was widely used by the distributor in the promotional campaign, contributing to helping the film surpass the 3.3 billion CNY box office revenue mark in mainland China.
But Stephen Chow has denied this way of speaking many times. During the promotion of the "Kungfu Women's Football Team", the 64-year-old director declared that no one owes him movie tickets.
He humorously said: "People have always supported me until now, yet I have never invited everyone for a meal. Clearly, I am the one who owes everyone so many meals.
Stephen Chow also admitted that he always feels guilty, often thinks he has not done enough well and is always afraid of disappointing the love and persistent support that the audience has given him for many years.
