According to data from Maoyan Pro, as of July 28, "The Kungfu Women's Football Team" written and directed by Stephen Chow officially reached a revenue milestone of 2 billion RMB (about 7,700 billion VND) after 18 days of screening.
This is a remarkable achievement, as the film is not only the first work of the 2026 Chinese summer film season to surpass the 2 billion CNY mark, but also the 2nd film in 2026 to reach this milestone.
Thanks to the above achievement, Stephen Chow's film surpassed "Love Letter to Grandma" with a revenue of 1.999 billion RMB, thereby rising to 2nd place in the Chinese box office rankings in 2026, only behind "Phi trì nhân sinh 3" (Thẩm Đằng starring) with 4.42 billion RMB.
At the same time, "The Kungfu Women's Football Team" officially joined the "film club with revenue of over 2 billion RMB" of Chinese cinema, becoming the 43rd work in history to reach this milestone.
Not only outstanding in revenue, the audience of the film is also very stable. In the context that the average ticket price in the billion-people market is not high, the number of audiences coming to the cinema to watch the film has exceeded 58 million, showing the widespread popularity as well as great attraction to the general audience.
This summer film season in China witnessed fierce competition between "The Kungfu Girl", "Eight Immortals!" and "Love Letter to Grandma" - 3 films holding the top 3 box office positions. In which, "The Kungfu Girl" always maintains the top position, bearing most of the heat of the entire film season.
Notably, according to the entertainment industry, Stephen Chow's films have almost single-handedly revived the entire Chinese film market recently.
Before the movie was released, the total box office revenue of the entire market was only about 45 million CNY per day, showing a rather gloomy atmosphere. But on the very first day of screening, "The Kungfu Girl" boosted the total market revenue to more than 300 million CNY, contributing to revitalizing the summer movie season. Experts commented that this is a movie "creating its own market".
However, when new Hollywood blockbusters like "Spider-Man: Brand new day" are released in theaters one after another, the number of screenings as well as the revenue growth of the film are likely to be under significant pressure.
The media also emphasized that the "Kungfu Women's Football Team" is considered a model of a spectacular comeback.
The film applies an extremely urgent release strategy: the screening schedule is finalized on July 6th, the release license is granted on July 7th, with almost no promotional campaigns before release. The film completely relies on content quality and word-of-mouth effects to continuously lead the box office, creating the most impressive breakthrough of Chinese cinema in the year.
In terms of style, the work continues the comedy - sports - martial arts direction that made the success of Stephen Chow's "Shaolin Soccer" 25 years ago.
The gentle, humorous but inspiring plot and healing message have met the entertainment needs of families during the summer vacation. Experience suitable for many ages also helps the film receive the love of a large number of family audiences.
However, alongside the box office achievements is a rare differentiation in ratings.
Between ordinary audiences and long-time movie lovers, there is a very large gap in the perception of the film.
On the Maoyan ticket platform, the film achieved 9.4/10 points, with most viewers commenting that the work is humorous, rhythmic, the story is inspiring and suitable for the whole family to enjoy.
Conversely, on Douban, the film only opened at 6.6/10, in which many viewers left negative reviews.
Superior box office success but accompanied by mixed reactions also makes Stephen Chow's new film one of the most memorable and special highlights of the 2026 summer movie season.
