China House of Flying Daggers returned 6.2× its production cost, earning $92.9M against a $15.0M budget — one of the highest-return China films in our catalog.
Synopsis
十面埋伏
In 9th century China, a corrupt government wages war against a rebel army called the Flying Daggers. A romantic warrior breaks a beautiful rebel out of prison to help her rejoin her fellows, but things are not what they seem.
Audience Engagement
1,459 audience reviews — more than 95% of China films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 87th percentile among China films.
Budget & Box Office Efficiency
At a 1h 59m runtime, production spent $126K per minute on screen and earned $780K per minute back.
China × Hong Kong Co-Production
Other China×Hong Kong titles
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with House of Flying Daggers. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From Beijing New Picture Film Co. Ltd.
Adventure + Drama in China
64 China titles in our catalog blend the Adventure and Drama genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding House of Flying Daggers itself).
The 2003–2005 China Window
House of Flying Daggers holds position #9 of 34 China films in the 2003–2005 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 House of Flying Daggers premiered alongside 8 others.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 8 other China films in 2004.
The 109th China title from China we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1935).
Our China catalog contains 946 titles in total (747 films).
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on House of Flying Daggers, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- dagger · 1
- 9th century · 1
- swordplay · 16
- tang dynasty · 9
- government · 8
- rebellion · 6
- martial arts · 369
- china · 127
- wuxia · 35
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #236 of 946 China films indexed here (75th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +0.6 points above the China average of 6.7/10.
Among China Adventure productions specifically: #49 of 178 (top 28%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | China |
|---|---|
| All Production Countries | China, Hong Kong, United States of America |
| Original Language | Chinese |
| Production Companies | Beijing New Picture Film Co. Ltd., China Film Co-Production Corporation, Elite Group Enterprises, Zhang Yimou Studio, Focus Features |
| Runtime | 1h 59m |
| Release Date | May 19, 2004 |
| IMDb | tt0385004 |