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You Preach it! Amen Brother!

(It certainly doesn't hurt that Kung-Fu Hustle is a better film (slightly better, they are both great fun!).

Glad to see a bit of Chow-appreciation in the West, finally.

Wow! These are good news. I had my doubts regarding the Western appreciation of Chow's alternatively warped and minimalistic sense of humour, but I think I undervalued my people. Thank God!

It certainly doesn't hurt that the film is getting a MASSIVE promotion on television, particularly on MTV. Let's just hope the numbers hold up once it gets a wide release on the 22nd. My theater is getting it and I can't WAIT to see it on the big screen...

Aw hell yes. I'm waiting till it hits its wide release date to see it. Great news!

I just got a couple of packs of those trading cards from Kung-Fu Hustle...nifty! I'm going to have to maybe pick me up a poster or two from the series...

The vital stats on the back are fun, but run into 'dorky' at times...I'm sure that was the intent...

/end blather..

I've always wondered what constitutes a "sleeper hit". Obviously there are plenty of internet- and review-level definitions but it seems like Mr Rittenberry says above, Kung Fu Hustle is getting serious play, and to me that makes it Just A Hit. Or a Flop, financially, if it fails to do breakevens on its 2,000+ screen distro. Hustle deserves success, but when it comes who can say it wasn't because of the marketing machine?

Rewind to April 1999 when The Matrix was getting 1-2 spots per hour two weeks before release, same way Hustle is now. You could argue that film was a "sleeper hit" as well, being an Australia production starring then-relatively uncelebrated actors. (If Keanu feels too established to count as uncelebrated, ask the world - or even most Americans - if they considered Neo definite-ticket material when he was Johnny Mneumonic, Kasalivich or Kevin Lomax. And don't try pulling "Speed" or "Bill" as household names unless you're going to match everyone who uses them with someone who can dredge up a big-hit Chow parody from the same era. And then: that's how famous Chow is in his community. So he's about on par. Wait, what was my point again?)

If a sleeper needs to be foreign-produced or take a year or more to propagate through however many festivals or communities before they catch on, then aren't all Asian hits sleepers? And aren't many American ones as well, respectively, given they earn those $200 million sales abroad, showing up in Europe and SE Asian as late as we're getting things like Bin Jip? (A film which probably closer deserves the title, since it's getting not nearly as much press or distribution but just as many raves - and, as you've already reported, coming out a week after Kung Fu Hustle.)

Just thinking out loud! :)

Finally,

Lets just hope that this shows Mirimaxe they dont need to hack a movie to bits to 'suit' an American audience. Hustle is fantastic, as is soccer, long live the Chow!!