Where was Wu Jing before Wolf Warrior 2? Five Hong Kong directors who helped the martial arts actor become a star

Actor-director Wu Jing has beaten Stephen Chow’s all-time China box office record. So what was he doing before his big break? Acting in Hong Kong films, but mostly as the lead in B-movies or a bit-part player in bigger productions

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Wu Jing and Celina Jade in Wolf Warrior 2.

Published: 2:28pm, 8 Aug 2017Updated: 3:15pm, 8 Aug 2017

Move over, Stephen Chow. In just 12 days since its release on July 27, actor-director Wu Jing’s action sequel Wolf Warrior 2 has grossed 3.4 billion yuan (US$505.9 million) at the Chinese box office, beating the 3.39 billion record set by Chow-directed film The Mermaid last year.

Wolf Warrior 2’s commercial prowess throws up several questions – and not just about its pro-military stance, pervasive nationalism or less than stellar storytelling. The biggest question of all is: what was Wu doing with his film career all these years before this astonishing breakthrough?

Wu Jing pictured in 2008. Photo: Oliver Tsang

A 2006 profile by the Post identified Wu as “the most likely candidate to follow in the footsteps of Jet Li and Jackie Chan”. But while he was recognised as one of China’s most popular martial-arts performers when he began to appear regularly in movies in the early 2000s, Wu has since repeatedly found himself settling either for leading roles in mediocre B-movies or fourth billing in larger productions, as he recently did in SPL2: A Time for Consequences and Call of Heroes .

Wu has spent the bulk of his filmmaking career to date working under Hong Kong directors. Here are the five with whom he collaborated more than once – though probably not any more given the superstar salary they’d have to pay him now:

Yuen Woo-ping

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