Stephen Chow is the holder of the current record of eight-point Chinese box office, a record that no one has been able to break so far.
In 1996, Stephen Chow's re-established Xinghui Co., Ltd. produced the company's first film "God Eater", which was very successful after its release, with a box office of 40.86 million in Hong Kong.
At this time, Hong Kong movies have declined, and this result has won the second place in the box office that year, second only to Jackie Chan's "Police Story 4: Simple Mission", which is already very good.
The success of this film has attracted the attention of Hollywood, Hollywood ran to Hong Kong to find Stephen Chow, saying that he hoped that Stephen Chow would help them make a foreign version of the God of Food, Chow Asked for chinese food elements to be added to the film, but was rejected, Chow Xingchi did not lose his integrity in the face of Hollywood's high salary, and finally refused to cooperate with Hollywood.
< h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > regard fame and fortune as dung</h1>
Stephen Chow is not short of money, nor does he need to borrow Hollywood to gain a higher global reputation, he has dreams, he has his own integrity, and movies that do not respect Chinese culture will never be made.
< h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > peak to regain dreams</h1>
In 1999, Chow Had his first dream in life with the encouragement of Li Lizhi, Chow wanted to make an autobiographical film about himself, wanted the audience to see his life experience from a nameless dragon set to a comedy superstar, and Chow himself wanted to sum up his acting career.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > "Dream Come True First Song" - "The King of Comedy"</h1>
Released in 1999, "The King of Comedy", as the second film produced by Xinghui Company, is a work that carries on from top to bottom. In the minds of film fans, its status is comparable to that of the "Journey to the West" series, and the stories from the front of the curtain to the backstage are still talked about today.
As a semi-autobiographical film of Stephen Chow, the struggle story of yin Tianqiu, the protagonist of "The King of Comedy", reflects the experience of Stephen Chow before he became famous.
Before Chow became famous, from 1982 to 1990, he ran the dragon suit for eight years, and his good friend Leung Chao-wai, who was the same age, had already played the leading role, and Jackie Chan and Chow Yun Fat were already Hong Kong superstars, and they each became the most famous movie stars in Hong Kong with "Police Story" and "Hero Nature".
As a future "double weekly" Zhou Xingchi is still running the dragon set, playing an unknown small supporting role.
Double Monday
The heartache of this is only known to Stephen Chow, who became popular in 1990 by breaking the Hong Kong box office record with his starring role in "Gamble Saint", but he was six or seven years later than Liang Chaowei.
"The King of Comedy" is the most comprehensive work that reflects Stephen Chow's acting skills, and just by looking at the director's lineup, you know the excellence of this movie.
In order to shoot "The King of Comedy", Zhou Xingchi directly ran a "King of Comedy" training class to select actors. The instructors in the training class are all directors and actors.
List of mentors
First lesson: Zhou Xingchi, Wu Mengda
The second lesson: Ge Wenhui, Karen Mok, Lin Haifeng
Third lesson: Xu Ke, Gu Dezhao
Fourth lesson: Wang Jing, Gao Zhisen, Ba Liang Jin
Fifth lesson: Huang Baiming, Jackie Chan, Zhang Daming
Sixth Lesson: Wan Fangfang, Chen Jiashang, Ma Weihao
There is also a cameo by Jackie Chan's big brother, which is also the first cooperation between Jackie Chan and Stephen Chow.
The first supporting role of "The King of Comedy" was originally played by Stephen Chow asked Wan Ziliang to play, because Zhou Xingchi had received wan Ziliang's promotion and help, so Chow Xingchi was grateful to him and specially asked him to shoot.
As a result, when filming "The King of Comedy", Zhou Xingchi temporarily changed the shooting time but forgot to inform Wan Ziliang, and Wan Ziliang, who had waited for several hours, left the crew in anger, and in desperation, Zhou Xingchi had to change his role, and Zhou Xingchi finally had to find his friend Wu Mengda to help.
"The King of Comedy" is the most real starring film of Stephen Chow, and Stephen Chow is the absolute protagonist in "The King of Comedy".
Stephen Chow finally fulfilled his dream successfully, although the box office of "The King of Comedy" was not high after its release, less than 30 million Hong Kong dollars, but the rating was 8.8 points.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > "Dream Fulfillment Second Song" - "Kung Fu"</h1>
Stephen Chow's original intention in filming "Kung Fu" had two purposes, first, to pay tribute to idol Bruce Lee. Second, open the Chinese mainland film market.
< h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > dream of entering the Chinese mainland market</h1>
In the late 1990s, the Hong Kong film market gradually declined, and the three superstars Jackie Chan, Chow Yun Fat and Jet Li left Hollywood to develop, and Chow did not want to enter Hollywood to see the faces of foreigners (Hollywood did not agree with Chow's idea of adding Chinese elements to the film directed by Stephen Chow, resulting in the failure of cooperation).
Zhou Xingchi, who has a unique vision, sees the market Chinese mainland, and Zhou Xingchi believes that the market Chinese mainland is no smaller than the North American box office market, he sees the potential of the mainland market, and the Chinese mainland market will definitely become the world's first box office market beyond the North American market in the future.
In 1999, Zhou Xingchi had the idea of entering the mainland market, and Zhou Xingchi found Zhao Wei, a popular actress in the new generation of the mainland, as the heroine, because Zhao Wei's Qiong Yao drama "Huan Zhu Gege" exploded in both sides of the Chinese strait, which made Zhao Wei gain great attention, and Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan all know this "little swallow".
Shaolin Soccer
Zhou Xingchi then pulled 40 million Hong Kong dollars in Hong Kong, and finished filming "Shaolin Football" in 2001, but in the mainland review because "Shaolin" infringed on the name right of the Shaolin Temple, and Zhou Xingchi was unwilling to change the name, so "Shaolin Football" was banned in the mainland and not released, and Chow Xingchi's first film to enter the mainland market failed, and Zhou Xingchi regretted it.
A tribute to his idol Bruce Lee and his kung fu dreams
Stephen Chow's name of the movie "Kung Fu" is also a tribute to the idol Bruce Lee, because Bruce Lee had the word "kung fu" and because Bruce Lee pioneered action movies.
It was also because Bruce Lee broke the Western view of Chinese, and because Bruce Lee spread Chinese kung fu to the world. Stephen Chow also chose to be an actor because of Bruce Lee. When Stephen Chow watched Bruce Lee's "Jingwumen" in the cinema, he fell in love with Bruce Lee and dreamed of becoming an action actor like Bruce Lee in the future.
Stephen Chow's Final Dream of "Kung Fu"
In order to make "Kung Fu", Zhou Xingchi used two of China's best action directors, Hong Jinbao and Yuan Heping, for the first time in history, because Zhou Xingchi had studied Wing Chun before, but he also deliberately practiced fitness when shooting.
At the same time, in order to let "Kung Fu" be released in Chinese mainland and avoid the recurrence of the situation of "Shaolin Football", he spent his best efforts, Zhou Xingchi cooperated with the Huayi brothers Wang Zhongjun and Wang Zhonglei who Chinese mainland for the first time, Zhou Xingchi found Han Sanping, chairman of the China Film Group, many times confirmed the process of film review and release, and also specially found Feng Xiaogang to make a cameo.
In the end, "Kung Fu" was successfully released during the Chinese New Year in 2005, becoming the first Stephen Chow film work to be released in Chinese mainland. At the same time, "Kung Fu" was released in 56 countries and regions around the world, with North America taking 17 million US dollars and Chinese mainland taking 173 million. Hong Kong grossed $100 million at the global box office of 61.28 million US dollars, and at the same time created the global box office champion of Chinese films, winning the first place in the Chinese box office that year.
"Kung Fu" grossed 61.28 million at the Hong Kong box office, more than 30 million yuan higher than the second place "Ghost Horse Rhapsody", and nearly three times the box office of "New Police Story" starring the third jackie Chan, and Jackie Chan was also suppressed in front of Stephen Chow. Numerous awards at home and abroad, and won one of the top ten films in the world in 2005 by Time in the United States.
And "No Thief in the World", starring Andy Lau a week earlier than "Kung Fu", grossed 120 million yuan and was inferior to "Kung Fu" 170 million at the box office. Stephen Chow defeated the stars led by Andy Lau and Rene Liu with one of his superstars.
The successful release of "Kung Fu" finally fulfilled Chow Sing Chi's second dream! The success of "Kung Fu" has also completely opened the gap with Jackie Chan, Jackie Chan returned from Hollywood in 2000, only to find that the box office market in Chinese mainland and Hong Kong has changed, the market is basically Chow Sing Chi's world, his own late!
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the third song of the dream - "Yangtze River No. 7"</h1>
After Zhou Xingchi realized his kung fu dream in "Kung Fu", Zhou Xingchi also had a dream, that is, to make up for the father's love lost in childhood.
Because of Stephen Chow
"Yangtze River Seven" is not a pure science fiction film at all, but a family film cloaked in the skin of science fiction films, Zhou Xingchi is very smart, with the slogan of China's first science fiction film, actually telling his father-son experience.
Chow Sing Chi's mother Ling Bao'er, as an intellectual from the mainland, she came to Hong Kong with great hardship and met Chow Sing Chi's father, but in the end, because she and her son Chow Xing Chi went to the cinema to watch a movie, met Chow Sing Chi's father with a woman to watch a movie, due to Chow Sing Chi's father's cheating, they finally divorced. Although his father cheated on him, in Zhou Xingchi's view, his father was very good to him.
Zhou Xingchi and his mother Ling Bao'er
Therefore, Zhou Xingchi wants to make a movie to tell his childhood experience with his father, in fact, the cockroach in the movie is the real experience of Zhou Xingchi's childhood.
"Yangtze River No. 7" is the last film of Zhou Xingchi's dream, and it is also the last film of the starring role. After starring Stephen Chow after filming "Yangtze River Seven", he quit the screen and concentrated on being a director.
Zhou Xingchi has completed the autobiography in the time of his self-directing and self-acting, paying tribute to idols and remembering the dream of his father' love, and Zhou Xingchi finally completed the famous dream "trilogy" and successfully turned to the background.