Stephen Chow's latest martial‑arts comedy, 'Kung Fu Soccer', has become a surprise hit in China, grossing over 600 million yuan within its first three days of release. The film blends sports, humor and kung fu, appealing to audiences hungry for genre‑bending entertainment.
Cultural flashpoint
The controversy centers on a sequence that depicts the South Korean women's national team as employing fouls and underhanded tactics. In the scene the players wear circle‑shaped contact lenses, obsess over makeup and speak in an exaggeratedly awkward Korean that many viewers find caricatured.
Seo Kyung‑duk, a professor at Sungshin Women’s University, has publicly criticized the portrayal, arguing that it reinforces stereotypical notions of Korean culture. He compared the depiction to a 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics short film that cast Korean athletes as habitual foulers.
Seo has called on the production team to edit the offending scenes before the movie is launched overseas, warning that the current version could perpetuate misconceptions about Korean society.
Box‑office triumph amid criticism
Despite the cultural backlash, 'Kung Fu Soccer' has surged past 600 million yuan at the box office, underscoring the appetite for crossover genres that blend sports, comedy and martial arts. The commercial success highlights the film's resonance across Asian markets, even as calls for revision grow.