It seemed CJ7 not so popular in america as in China. Chinese media all say americans only like china kungfu movie, so CJ7 deemed to fail in north america. But I heard australians like this movie. Can someone explain to me why american not like this movie? Same to Prison Break series. We chinese like very much the prison break series but Fox is forced to terminate this series so hurry. Why american don't like Prison break2 and 3?
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Honestly, I think the main problem in this case is the the movie executives who brought it over to the USA. Unlike Shaolin Soccer and especially Kung Fu Hustle, this movie has gotten absolutely no advertising or exposure whatsoever, to the extent that nobody I've mentioned it to even realized it existed, despite many of them being big fans of his previous work. Once they heard about it, they were definitely interested. It's also been given a very limited release (I'm in Philadelphia, a major city, and the one place it's listed as playing in the newspaper isn't even listed on the showtimes on this site), so even those who've heard of it may be robbed of the chance to see it due to lack of as venue where it's playing.
"I am a warrior. Let the battle be joined."
I completely agree with Lord Starscream. CJ7 was given a limited release in LA, NY etc in the beginning (that too on a pushed back date) and when it did come to other cities, it wasn't advertised well. For example, in the city I live in, it played at an art house theater for exactly one week!
I caught it on the first day, but was going to watch it again with a bunch of friends the next weekend, but it was gone. I was very very disappointed. I was lucky to have caught it when I did. Actually, it wasn't really luck - I was eagerly awaiting its arrival and was tracking it pretty much every day since the original Jan 17th release date for the US was announced.
It's not that the American audience do not like comedy or only like kung fu based movies in Chinese. It's just that enough marketing was not given to the movie. Why that is so is unknown to me.
I think CJ7 had great potential to make popularize Stephen Chow's name and style in the US, and also for better box office collection numbers. True, CGI assisted comedies are plenty these days, but Stephen Chow Sing-Chi's unique brand of comedy and style are unmatched. Overall, CJ7's US release feels like a wasted opportunity.
I'm very glad to hear what you say. It means Stephan.Chow the greatest comic star in china still get chance to success in North America maybe through his next movie. His style affect a whole generation of chinese include me, lot young people talk in the way he talk in his movie. I think if Hollywood want a genius to bring them sth new and great, Stephan.Chow should be their first choice. He is a genius.
totally true.
ROFL at how much the Chinese like Prison Break. I don't even understand it.
shareReason 1:We like mental games. Fight with brain. Ancient china has developed advanced (The Art of War). Prison break absolutely satisfy our taste.
Reason 2:The two actors are great.
(Wentworth Earl Miller capture lot girl's heart).
(ROBERT KNEPPER: so cool).
Being an Australian, I'd like to say that yes I did enjoy this movie, and find it weird how so many people on here don't like it. Or parts of it. I think Prison Break is/was more popular here too.
I think it all has something to do with how we expect children to behave and act. The different values of children have a lot to do with it I expect.
Well, I'm not sure if I can speak for everyone... but I'm American and I absolutely loved CJ7.
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the cockroach scene was NOT gross and useless
it showed a tender moment shared between father and son
maybe not how you connect with your father but they live in a slum..what else they gonna do?
I just saw this movie and I absolutely loved it. Stephen Chow, as always, is fantastic and a master at comedic elements. But of course, I also watch a lot of Asian movies and Asian dramas. I think Americans view Asian movies through an American point of view, rather than the view of the culture to which the movie was originally written to appeal.
shareI love Stephen Chow. This movie was just too mean spirited for american audiences. The humor was great, the acting was great, it was just to mean to sympathize with the characters. Especially when Stephen Chow locks his son in the closet, not cool (thats called child abuse in this country)
shareseasandwind the fact that CJ7 wasn't a Box-Office hit in USA is normal. Yanks don't watch foreign films. That's a fact. One of the reasons for this is that most yanks are too lazy to read subtitles.
Look, each year foreign language movies only takes about 3-5% of the Box Office in the US.
Only 1 foreign language movie have grossed over US$ 100 million domestically in the US (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), and the reason why it reached that figure is because most theaters only showed the dubbed version in english not the original one in Mandarin. BTW crappy movies like Scooby-Doo, Scary Movie or The Flintstones have grossed more domestically in the USA than ANY foreign film ever! []
Some other movies:
Life is Beautiful grossed $57 millions (ranked 2)
Pan's Labyrinth $37 millions (ranked 4)
Y tu mamá también almost $14 millions (ranked 14)
City of God $7.5 millions (ranked 27)
La femme Nikita $5 millions (ranked 55) I bet the awful remake made 10 times more.
CJ7 is not even in the Top100.
Of course those movies have done better on DVD, but still...
You can watch here the complete list from 1980 to the present:
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=foreign.htm