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``Kung Fu Hustle'' breaks box office records in HK debut
2004-12-25
Hongkong movie "Kung Fu Hustle": Stephen Chow |
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HONG KONG - ``Kung Fu Hustle,'' the latest film by Hong Kong's hottest comic actor and director Stephen Chow, has broken the Chinese territory's opening day box office record, newspapers reported Saturday.The film grossed 4.11 million Hong Kong dollars (US$525,000; euro388,000) when it opened Thursday, the South China Morning Post and the Apple Daily reported. The reports didn't say which film previously held the record. Chow, 42, co-wrote, directed and starred in ``Kung Fu Hustle,'' a comedy about gangsters who try to take over a street populated by kung fu masters disguised as ordinary residents. The film earned 10 times more than the opening box office takings of DreamWorks' ``Shark Tale'' and Warner Bros.' ``The Polar Express'' in Hong Kong, and doubled that of local heartthrob Andy Lau's latest flick ``A World Without Thieves,'' the Post said. ``Kung Fu Hustle'' also grossed more than 10 million yuan (US$1.2 million; euro890,000) on the first day of its national release in mainland China, the papers said. Another Chow blockbuster ``Shaolin Soccer,'' in which he played a vagrant who unleashes his kung fu skills on the soccer pitch, also broke box office records when it was released in Hong Kong in 2001. He won prizes for best film, actor and director at the Hong Kong Film Awards that year. Chow said earlier he was happy with his collaboration with Columbia Pictures in making ``Kung Fu Hustle'' and yearned to make a film that will become a hit outside Asia.
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