HONG KONG, June 23 \u2014 Stephen Chow is finally preparing to make his long-awaited return to the big screen.<\/p>\n
The Hong Kong filmmaker has revealed that he is aiming to release Kung Fu Soccer in July, potentially ending a seven-year gap between theatrical features and marking his first cinema outing since The New King of Comedy debuted in 2019.<\/p>\n
Chow, who turned 64 yesterday, teased the film\u2019s release plans in a light-hearted 13-second video shared on social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen will it be released?\u201d an off-camera voice asks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m working hard to make it by July 10,\u201d Chow replies.<\/p>\n
When pressed on what happens if he misses that date, Chow jokes: \u201cThen it\u2019ll be July 17.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked what happens if that deadline also slips, the filmmaker laughs: \u201cWell, we\u2019ll make it one day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The playful exchange came with a hand-drawn concept poster bearing the words: \u201cKung Fu Soccer. July 10? July 17?\u201d, suggesting post-production is entering its final stretch after more than a year of work.<\/p>\n
The project has been one of Chow\u2019s most closely watched in years. Filming began in March 2025 and wrapped that June, initially fuelling expectations of a Chinese New Year 2026 release.<\/p>\n
But Chow later indicated the film would arrive later in the year, with yesterday\u2019s announcement providing the clearest indication yet that audiences may not have much longer to wait.<\/p>\n
Written and directed by Chow, Kung Fu Soccer serves as a spiritual successor to his beloved 2001 comedy Shaolin Soccer, although this time the story centres on a women\u2019s football team mounting an unlikely run to a championship.<\/p>\n
The cast is led by Chinese actress Zhang Xiaofei alongside singer-actor Lay Zhang and actress Dilraba Dilmurat. Former China goalkeeper Zhao Lina and defender Li Jiayue also make appearances, while acclaimed South Korean actor Song Kang-ho is expected to feature in a cameo as a referee.<\/p>\n
The film represents Chow\u2019s return to the director\u2019s chair for a theatrical feature after The New King of Comedy, a remake of his 1999 hit King of Comedy.<\/p>\n
Across three decades, Chow has established himself as one of Hong Kong cinema\u2019s defining comedy auteurs with box-office hits including Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle, CJ7 and The Mermaid.<\/p>\n
He also served as executive producer on Netflix\u2019s animated feature The Monkey King in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HONG KONG, June 23 \u2014 Stephen Chow is finally preparing to make his long-awaited return to the big…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506996,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[458,233005,146,85,46,233001,233004,233002,233000,233003],"class_list":["post-506995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-dilraba-dilmurat","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-kung-fu-soccer","tag-lay-zhang","tag-shaolin-soccer","tag-stephen-chow","tag-zhang-xiaofei"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}