[2024.08.13] THE GOD OF COOKERY GETS MAINLAND RELEASE AFTER 28 YEARS

The Karen Mok and Stephen Chow starred GOD OF COOKERY is such a classic that viewers can watch it again and again
courtesy of on.cc

The Stephen Chow classic GOD OF COOKERY will be released for the first time in the mainland after 28 years

Wong Jing reveals that Stephen Chow forces investors to sign an unfair contract for SHAOLIN SOCCER that reverts its rights to Chow. He also refuses the change its title and hence loses the mainland release
courtesy of mingpao.com

The Stephen Chow Sing Chi, Karen Mok Man Wai, Vincent Kok Tak Chiu and Nancy Sit Ka Yin starred THE GOD OF COOKERY (SIK SUN) was released in Hong Kong in 1996, with a box office of over 40 million that year. After 28 years, it was announced yesterday that THE GOD OF COOKERY will premiere on the mainland's big screens on August 31st. Reportedly the restored version would be released, with a choice of two dialects. However the trailer was in Putonghua. In addition, Wong Jing talked about the reason why SHAOLIN SOCCER could not be released in the Mainland in his YouTube show, criticizing Chow Sing Chi for taking full advantage, demanding investors to sign unfair contracts, and also told when he became the "tyrant on the set".

THE GOD OF COOKERY's release in mainland China for the first time in 28 years attracted a lot of attention. Many people have watched the film on streaming platforms, with a Douban score of 8.2. This release was regarded as a reappearance of a classic, allowing audiences to go to the theater to reminisce together. However, some people questioned whether the "post-00s" would be attracted to the theater to watch nostalgic movies. Chow Sing Chi's social media has yet to promote THE GOD OF COOKERY's mainland release.

The first two episodes on Wong Jing's YouTube channel program featured Chow Sing Chi as the subject. The third episode was recently released to continue the conversation and mentioned the reason why Chow Sing Chi's SHAOLIN SOCCER was not released in the mainland in 2001. He said that Chow Sing Chi won the Best Actor and Best Director at the Hong Kong Film Awards for SHAOLIN SOCCER, which had a box office of over 60 million in Hong Kong and received good responses when it was released around the world. However, it was not released in the mainland completely because of the word "Shaolin".

Wong Jing claimed to have seen right through Chow Sing Chi as a person long ago, and revealed that when he was filming THE FLIRTING SCHOLAR (TONG BAK FU DIM CHAU HEUNG) he was still "watching himself". By FROM CHINA WITH LOVE (KOK CHAN LING LING CHAK), he started to be a little disrespectful, which made some actors unhappy. He revealed that many people participated in the film, but were eventually vanished. Thus the running time FROM CHINA WITH LOVE was only 70 some minutes, which was shorter than the average movie and the end credits ran particularly long. Wong Jing said, "You can really see his reputation as a "tyrant on the set" starting to appear, beginning with SHAOLIN SOCCER." He said that Chow Sing Chi spent a lot of time looking for investors for SHAOLIN SOCCER. Universe's Daneil Lam Siu Ming really wanted to produce a Chow Sing Chi movie, so he was willing to accept the unfair conditions Chow proposed but ended up unhappy in the end.

Wong Jing agreed that SHAOLIN SOCCER was very good, very serious and quite a breakthrough, but later he learned that the contract between Chow Sing Chi and the investors was absolutely unfair. All copyrights belonged to Chow; even the SHAOLIN SOCCER title was his, with no room for the producer. He said that because of this, when Chow Sing Chi won the Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Film with SHAOLIN SOCCER, Lam Siu Ming's wife Chiu Suet Ying rushed to the stage to accept the award and even said, "Justice is in the hearts of the people." Wong Jing said, "Because he (Chow Sing Chi) didn't care about the investors over one thing, which was his insistence on calling the movie SHAOLIN SOCCER." Wong Jing said that the Songshan Shaolin Temple in the mainland has a business registration and trademark of the word "Shaolin". No one could use the word "Shaolin" for commercial purposes without the consent of the Songshan Shaolin Temple.

Chow Sing Chi did not consult the Songshan Shaolin Temple. Later he refused to change the name to KUNG FU SOCCER, so SHAOLIN SOCCER could not be released in the mainland. Wong Jing agreed that the name of SHAOLIN SOCCER was better than KUNG FU SOCCER; but when compared to the fact that the entire film could not be released in the mainland and causing investors to lose hundreds of millions in revenue, Chow Sing Chi's refusal to change the name was unfair to the investors. "How unfair was it to the investors? They lost a lot of money for no reason. They could have made a lot of money, but in the end the movie almost turned into a loss. The movie was a big hit in other places, but everyone in the mainland could only watch it in the pirated format. The movie so far has yet to pass inspection."

Wong Jing said that Stephen Chow's mentality was like making the most use out of the wind behind him. "I think he felt that you promised me that I was in charge, whatever I said went. If you didn't agree then let's not make it. That was his mentality. It was none of my business if you lose money. I took my share of the money. Your loss or damage had nothing to do with me. It's none of my business once you signed with me. He would make the most use out of the wind behind him."