Stephen Chow's CJ7

After (another) 3 long years of waiting, Stephen Chow's next movie is finally crawling to the big screen in Jan 2008. His previous movie (Kungfu Hustle) had taken the same amount of time to appear after Shaolin Soccer in 2001.

And for once, I'm not really excited.

When I was a kid, I always looked forward to the Chinese New Year. Knowing that I would be able to catch Jackie Chan AND Stephen Chow movie around that period, which I totally love. That trend is long gone already lost but one might still be able to catch a Jackie Chan's given the frequency of his movies.

From 2001 - 2008, Jackie Chan has given us:

1. Accidental Spy (2001)
   
2. Rush Hour 2 (2001)
3. The Tuxedo (2002)
4. Shanghai Knights (2003)
5. The Medallion (2003)
6. Around the World in 8 Days (2004)
7. New Police Story (2004)
8. The Myth (2005)
9. Rob-B-Hood (2006)
10. Rush Hour 3 (2007)
11. The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) - In production
    

Jackie has been very consistent in his output since the 1990s. In 1990 itself, Stephen Chow actually produced the same number of movies. A far cry from his recent productivity.

It seemed that Stephen is very insistent that a movie must be written by him otherwise he won't direct or act in it.

Many of his old partners and colleagues when he was a rising star had been very critical of his growing ego and arrogance. Many had not worked with him since mid 1995 (very apparent from the quality for his movies since then) with his most successful partner Ng Man Tat leaving him after Shaolin Soccer.

And from the recent press conference in Beijing on CJ7, he obviously do not want to entertain questions about his older (and in my opinion, better) movies like Flirting Scholar and A Chinese Odyssey.

I have always been a huge Stephen Chow's fan. I'd watched, rewatched in Cantonese and bought the VCD of almost all his movies since All for the Winner. On Hail the Judge itself, I had watched more than 10 times (yes I was so crazy about him).

Which made me very disappointed about the lengthy wait between his recent movies. And even more disappointed after I'm done as it usually isn't as good as his classics. They never stoke me to re-watch it in Cantonese.

Nevertheless I will still be catching the comedic maestro latest movie when it's out. But I should be taking my time rather than rushing to catch the midnight preview like I used to. Doing so would minimize the next long wait before his next movie arrives.

Oh, his next movie should be Kung Fu Hustle 2. It is supposed to be released in 2008. I am thinking more of probable 2018.