Stephen Chow returns to the field of Shaolin Soccer for Kung Fu Soccer – and a brief trailer is teasing what’s in store for the new film. Stephen Chow’s 2001 martial arts sports comedy Shaolin Soccer is an absolute hoot. Given that Google now insists the first line of an article gets directly to the ... Kung Fu Soccer | Shaolin Soccer 2 is finished and heading to release
Stephen Chow returns to the field of Shaolin Soccer for Kung Fu Soccer – and a brief trailer is teasing what’s in store for the new film.
Stephen Chow’s 2001 martial arts sports comedy Shaolin Soccer is an absolute hoot. Given that Google now insists the first line of an article gets directly to the point, so its planet-blasting servers can more easily scrape the material for its AI Soylent Green machine and occasionally offer us a click in return, I thought I’d briefly play the game.
Anyway. There was an era at the start of the 2000s where importing DVDs from the Region 3 territory (which covered the likes of East Asia, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia) was ridiculously cheap. I and many others were paying two or three quid for discs of films we’d never heard of, often with ‘interesting’ subtitling, to make it to our doors. There was a period of time where I didn’t know quite what I was going to get when I pressed play.
Stephen Chow’s Shaolin Soccer was one of my happiest finds, and the film would go on to enjoy significant acclaim and audience both in China and Hong Kong (not always legally in China, courtesy of Chow butting heads with the authorities), and then internationally. It’s a joyous, wildly entertaining film.
25 years later, he’s finished his sequel. Kung Fu Soccer, which is opening entirely legally in Chinese cinemas this weekend. A Hong Kong-China co-production, it’s likely to enjoy a slow roll-out around the world, but a brief teaser trailer has been unveiled to whet our appetites.
With the Region 3 DVD market pretty much decimated, it might just be a case of wait and see for a broader release, but hopefully, it captures the anarchy and zest of the original film. While you’re waiting, if you’ve not had the pleasure, might I recommend a double bill of both Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle. I don’t think you’ll be unhappy.
