The new film ‘Kung Fu Women’s Soccer’, directed by Stephen Chow (Star Master), has surpassed 2 billion yuan (around 1.2 billion ringgit) at the Chinese box office after 18 days in theaters. However, behind this impressive achievement, box office skimming controversies have emerged, with reports that approximately 400 million yuan (about 240 million ringgit) in ticket sales may have been siphoned off during the film’s run, causing losses to Star Master and investors.
‘Kung Fu Women’s Soccer’ continues to soar at the Chinese box office, officially breaking the 2 billion yuan mark on the 28th, surpassing ‘Letter to Grandma’ to become the second highest-grossing film of 2026, behind only ‘Pegasus 3’. Just as the movie's sales explode, allegations of “box office skimming” have surfaced, and even Star Master has shared related suspicions on his personal social media. Recently, a data company released the “2026 Screening Terminal Revenue Concealment and Underreporting Report”, which states that the actual revenue of Chinese cinemas in the first half of this year was around 21 billion yuan (approximately 12.6 billion ringgit), but the publicly reported figure was only 15.56 billion yuan (around 9.4 billion ringgit), with claims that ‘Kung Fu Women’s Soccer’ may have lost approximately 400 million yuan at the box office during its run.
Previously, Star Master’s fans even initiated “rights protection actions”, recovering about 1.6 million yuan (around 965,000 ringgit), but this is a modest sum compared to the immense reported losses. The release of the relevant report sparked industry-wide discussions, with insiders pointing to severe skimming problems. Still, members of the Star Master fan club believe the reported figure for the box office losses from ‘Kung Fu Women’s Soccer’ might be exaggerated.
Since lead actress Zhang Xiaofei originally chose to forgo an 8-million-yuan (approx. 4.82 million ringgit) fee to work with Star Master for zero base salary plus a percentage of box office revenue, the box office figures directly impact her final earnings. According to movie box office website forecasts, ‘Kung Fu Women’s Soccer’ is expected to gross up to 3 billion yuan (about 1.8 billion ringgit), giving her the chance to earn over 20 million yuan (about 12.06 million ringgit). However, if box office skimming does exist, this would directly affect her revenue share.
Source: Liberty Entertainment