Stephen Chow's 'Kung Fu Soccer Girls' Loses Top Box Office Spot to Animated Rival

Stephen Chow's latest directorial effort, "Gong Fu Nü Zu" (Kung Fu Soccer Girls), has seen its box office dominance in China challenged after a successful 13-day run at the top.

The film was recently overtaken by the animated movie "The Eight Immortals," which has now held the second position for five consecutive days. While "Gong Fu Nü Zu" has accumulated over 2 billion yuan (approximately NT$9.56 billion), "The Eight Immortals" has garnered 870 million yuan (approximately NT$4.158 billion) to date. Despite the difference in total earnings, "The Eight Immortals" has benefited from better word-of-mouth and has even surpassed Chow's film in daily screen time allocations.

This shift in the box office landscape has led to a downward revision of "Gong Fu Nü Zu's" projected total earnings, from an initial expectation of 3 billion yuan to 2.582 billion yuan (approximately NT$12.341 billion). Conversely, "The Eight Immortals'" projected total has been raised to 2.113 billion yuan (approximately NT$10.1 billion).

The market dynamics were further shaken with the release of the Hollywood blockbuster "Spider-Man: No Way Home" in China. The film immediately secured the number one spot on its opening day, driven by strong pre-sale ticket revenue exceeding 100 million yuan, indicating a potentially dominant run in the coming weeks.