China Hero returned 5.7× its production cost, earning $177.4M against a $31.0M budget — one of the highest-return China films in our catalog.
Synopsis
英雄
“One man's strength will unite an empire.”
During China's Warring States period, a district prefect arrives at the palace of Qin Shi Huang, claiming to have killed the three assassins who had made an attempt on the king's life three years ago.
Audience Engagement
2,032 audience reviews — more than 96% of China films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 90th percentile among China films.
Budget & Box Office Efficiency
At a 1h 39m runtime, production spent $313K per minute on screen and earned $1.8M per minute back.
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with Hero. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From Beijing New Picture Film Co. Ltd.
Drama + Adventure in China
64 China titles in our catalog blend the Drama and Adventure genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding Hero itself).
The 2001–2003 China Window
Hero holds position #8 of 30 China films in the 2001–2003 window, below highlighted by audience rating.
The 2000s China Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 2000s in China, 142 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when Hero premiered alongside 12 others.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 12 other China films in 2002.
The 96th China title from China we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1935).
Our China catalog contains 946 titles in total (747 films).
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Hero, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- warring states period · 4
- 3rd century bc · 3
- right and justice · 1
- patriot · 1
- countryside · 11
- martial arts · 369
- kung fu · 121
- wuxia · 35
- loss of loved one · 32
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #173 of 946 China films indexed here (82nd percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +0.8 points above the China average of 6.7/10.
Among China Drama productions specifically: #108 of 547 (top 20%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | China |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Chinese |
| Production Companies | Beijing New Picture Film Co. Ltd., China Film Co-Production Corporation, Miramax |
| Runtime | 1h 39m |
| Release Date | July 22, 2002 |
| IMDb | tt0299977 |