Fight and martial arts films of 2001
In 2001, Hong Kong fight choreography went global. Christophe Gans brought in Philip Kwok for Brotherhood of the Wolf, which turned the Beast of Gévaudan into a Hong Kong-style action film and sold more than five million tickets in France. In Hollywood, Corey Yuen staged Jet Li's fight against himself in The One, giving the villain xingyi and the hero bagua, two internal kung fu styles. Jackie Chan designed his own action for Rush Hour 2, the year's biggest hit in the genre at about $347 million worldwide.
In Hong Kong, Stephen Chow blended football, kung fu and slapstick in Shaolin Soccer, which broke the local box-office record and set up Kung Fu Hustle. Boxing got its prestige biopic: Michael Mann's Ali, with Will Smith facing real professional boxers, nominated for two Oscars but a box-office disappointment.
To start, Rush Hour 2 and Shaolin Soccer work for the whole family; Brotherhood of the Wolf and Ali ask for more time and reward it, one for its fights, the other for its ring work.
Film directory 5 films
Ranked by renown: the number of Wikipedias with a page on the film.