China Kung Fu Hustle returned 5.1× its production cost, earning $102.0M against a $20.0M budget — one of the highest-return China films in our catalog.
Synopsis
功夫
“So many gangsters… so little time.”
It's the 1940s, and the notorious Axe Gang terrorizes Shanghai. Small-time criminals Sing and Bone hope to join, but they only manage to make lots of very dangerous enemies. Fortunately for them, kung fu masters and hidden strength can be found in unlikely places. Now they just have to take on the entire Axe Gang.
Audience Engagement
2,504 audience reviews — more than 97% of China films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 95th percentile among China films.
Budget & Box Office Efficiency
At a 1h 39m runtime, production spent $202K per minute on screen and earned $1.0M 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 Kung Fu Hustle. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From Star Overseas
Action + Comedy in China
54 China titles in our catalog blend the Action and Comedy genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding Kung Fu Hustle itself).
The 2003–2005 China Window
Kung Fu Hustle holds position #6 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 Kung Fu Hustle premiered alongside 8 others.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 8 other China films in 2004.
The 108th China title from China we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1935).
Our China catalog contains 946 titles in total (747 films).
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Kung Fu Hustle, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- policeman · 4
- pretending to be gay · 2
- defense · 1
- canton · 1
- mafia · 24
- anarchic comedy · 8
- martial arts · 369
- china · 127
- gangster · 85
- magic · 84
- wuxia · 35
- 1940s · 35
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #204 of 946 China films indexed here (78th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +0.7 points above the China average of 6.7/10.
Among China Action productions specifically: #47 of 319 (top 15%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | China |
|---|---|
| All Production Countries | China, Hong Kong, United States of America |
| Original Language | Cantonese |
| Production Companies | Star Overseas, China Film Co-Production Corporation, Huayi Brothers Pictures, Beijing Film Studio, China Film Group Corporation |
| Runtime | 1h 39m |
| Release Date | February 10, 2004 |
| IMDb | tt0373074 |