“Kung Fu Soccer” Poster
Celebrated Hong Kong filmmaker Stephen Chow (Kung Fu Hustle) is currently prepping Kung Fu Soccer (aka Shaolin Women’s Soccer), his anticipated sequel to 2001’s Shaolin Soccer.
Unlike the original, Chow is only directing this time around. The sequel shifts its focus to a female soccer team and boasts an ensemble cast that includes Zhang Xiaofei (Five Hundred Miles), Dilraba Dilmurat (21 Karat), Yixing Zhang (A Legend), Xu Jiao (CJ7), Mi Ai (Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force), Sisley Choi (The Prosecutor), Isabelle Zhang, Jiayue Li and Zhao Lina.
Wong Yat-fei (Lee Rock), who played the blithering, chain-smoking Iron Head from the original, returns as the same character.
Additionally, Carina Lau (Warriors of the Future), Takeru Satoh (Rurouni Kenshin), MC Jin (Gallants) and comedian Jimmy O. Yang (Silicon Valley), are also part of the cast.
🔥 Footnote: When Shaolin Soccer hit theaters in 2001, it became an instant hit. It broke Hong Kong box office records, earning over HK$60 million and becoming the highest-grossing local film in the city at the time. What started as a major Hong Kong success quickly grew into an international cult favorite. Miramax Films brought the movie to U.S. audiences on DVD in 2004, introducing mainstream viewers to Stephen Chow’s signature blend of comedy, action, and heart.
Singapore distributor Encore Films has acquired worldwide rights to Kung Fu Soccer, which is currently targeting a release for July 11, 2026 release to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the original Shaolin Soccer.
Watch the New Trailer below, as well as a “Making of” Feature + recent Teasers:
50/50 chance this is good. While The Mermaid was a slightly different Mainland flavoured version classic Chow it felt like a Stephen Chow movie even if the CG was terrible. New King of Comedy on the pther hand was a total misfire. Unfunny and oddly mean spirited, it did itself no favors by referencing iconic moments from the first movie either.
Released it in the U.S.? Where? I think you’re mixing up Miramaxe and Shaolin Soccer with Sony and Kung Fu Hustle, which did get a proper release.
The DVD was released by Miramax Films.
I mean theatrical.
A little too late, maybe, Stephen…
And I think most people wanted to see you back in…Kung fu hustle…
Hopefully, Stephen will let Wellgo have it.
Hope it’s better than the 2016 Ghostbusters.
Another fragile male chauvinist Trumper who can’t handle a movie led by women.
Hey, I took one for the team to save you the trouble of seeing that Ghostbusters.
A bit sterile, especially in the scenes on the football field, in Shaolin soccer these were more organic and smooth. I hope it will be an entertaining at least, but I doubt it will reach the cult status of its predecessor.
Can’t wait to see this one. The Spielberg of Asia rarely misses. And any movie that puts strong Asian women front and center has my full support.
It just looks…bad. And not funny at all.
Stephen is an opportunist here (Hey, football world cup, let’s do a sequel to a 25 year old movie!
Sad…
At least it’s not Bend it like Beckham 2.
I’ll definitely see it when it comes out here but I don’t have high hopes. Stephen Chow’s humour works better a) in Cantonese and b) with Stephen Chow and Ng Man Tat. Shen Teng is the king of Mandarin comedy right now, and while he’s legitimately hilarious, it’s a very different style of comedy. All of Chow’s Mandarin films have felt like Mainland actors doing Stephen Chow impersonations, and while they’re not bad, it just makes you miss the man himself – he’s irreplaceable. Also, apparently there are guest appearances by MC Jin and Jimmy O Yang, which just turns the cringe factor up to 11.
(Unrelated, but it’s a crime that Ng Man Tat’s last big film, The Wandering Earth, felt the need to dub over his performance. His voice is so distinctive (like Stephen Chow’s or Jackie Chan’s), that dubbing just robs his performance of its power.)
Chow walked away from acting and went out on a relative high….CJ7 while not great at least he played a different type of role. Not just the underdog or the asshole with an ego who needs to be put in his place before he starts his redemption journey.
In this respect Chow should have retired from directing as well after The Mermaid. Again this was a perfectly respectable to have this as your last directorial effort.
Remaking/rebooting/legacy sequelling/ whatever you want to call his old classics twice in a row just shows that he’s creatively empty at the moment.
And as you rightly point out Chow was the star but he had great talent in front and behind the camera backing him up during his imperial phase. Now we have to put with Jimmy O Yang and MC sqaured. I don’t mind him in a youtube short but in a Stephen Chow movie??? I’m ready to be wrong. At best surely it will only seem like a pale imitation of the original. At worst its gonna get called the woke virus by protein shake chuds
Looks like it’s a hit in China. https://deadline.com/2026/07/stephen-chow-kung-fu-soccer-opening-china-box-office-1236980601/