| Detective Chinatown 3 | |||||||||||
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| Director: | Chen Sicheng | ||||||||||
| Cinematography: | Jie Du | ||||||||||
| Editing: | Hongjia Tang | ||||||||||
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| Runtime: | 136 minutes | ||||||||||
| Country: | China | ||||||||||
| Language: | Mandarin | ||||||||||
| Budget: | $117 million[1] | ||||||||||
| Gross: | $686 million[2] [3] [4] | ||||||||||
Detective Chinatown 3 is a 2021 Chinese comedy mystery buddy film directed and written by Chen Sicheng, starring Wang Baoqiang and Liu Haoran. It is a sequel to Detective Chinatown 2 (2018) and is the third installment in the Detective Chinatown series. It was released on 12 February 2021.
The film set several box office records, including the biggest opening weekend ever in a single territory, and grossed over US$699 million, becoming the highest-grossing non-American R-rated film of all time. It is also the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2021 and the sixth-highest-grossing non-English film of all time.
After the events in Bangkok and New York, Tang Ren and Qin Feng are invited to Tokyo to investigate another crime that has occurred there, leading to a battle between the strongest detectives in Asia. The film starts with Tang and Qin on plane eating junk food and Tang needs to use the bathroom. Later, he was escorted to meet the suspected murder of the Don who stated not guilty. Following examination of the body, Tang found a needle prick in the victim's body, which was not reported in the autopsy report. Also, he used a visual stimulisor of the broken glasses and found the missing glass from the murdered Don's car. Tang convinces the judge that Anna had committed the murder by showing the murder weapon and examining the CCTV footages. Anna was the daughter of the suspected murderer, who left her and her mother in their worst times. Driven by revenge of her mother's sufferings and death, Anna planned to make her father suffer, by making him suspect of the murder she had committed. The film ends with all the detectives from the investigation app united against Q, who turned out to be a group of individuals with high IQ, planning to destroy the established systems of the world.
The film was initially planned for release in China for the 2020 Chinese New Year but the release was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in China.[5] The film was rescheduled and released on February 12, 2021.[6]
Warner Bros. Pictures planned to distribute the film in select theaters in the United States on January 24, 2020,[7] but the release was postponed likely for the same reasons as the initial delay in China. As of 2023, the film has not been released in the United States.
Detective Chinatown 3 made RMB 673 million ($104 million) in advance tickets for its opening day and RMB 950 million ($147 million) for its first week, the highest amount ever in China beating ($95.5 million) and resulting in a projected opening weekend of over $200 million.[8] [9] The film grossed $163 million (RMB 1.05 billion) on its first day of release, the biggest opening day in world history (beating Endgames $157 million in North America) and pushing weekend projections to as high as $400 million.[10] [11] The film ended up debuting to RMB 2.56 billion ($398 million), becoming the biggest opening weekend ever in a single territory (beating Endgames $357 million in April 2019).[12] The film grossed over US$424 million in its opening weekend, making it the ninth-highest-grossing opening for a film. By the end of its second weekend the film had a running total of RMB 4.36 billion ($673 million), making it the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2021 and the sixth-highest-grossing non-English film of all time.[13] [14]
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film 3/5 stars, calling it "more no-holds-barred slapstick action".[15] Todd McCarthy of Deadline Hollywood was less favorable, writing: "Its enormous box office numbers notwithstanding, I have to rate Detective Chinatown 3 as something of a disappointment after the raucously engaging first two entries."[16] John Berra of Screen International gave the film a favorable review, writing that it "exudes a heightened zaniness which is most welcome in today's largely homogenised franchise landscape" and "is an insanely colourful, no expense spared blockbuster".[17]
Chinese audiences on Maoyan gave the film a 8.8/10, while those on Douban gave it an average score of 5.6.
Just like the previous entries in the Detective Chinatown series, the next story location is teased at the end of each film. At the conclusion of the latest instalment, we are finally introduced to the villainous group known as 'Q'. This group is composed of previous villains from the Detective Chinatown universe, including Song Yi (Xiao Yang) from Detective Chinatown 2, Ivy (Janine Chang) from the Detective Chinatown (Web Series), and Naoki Tanaka (Tadanobu Asano) from Detective Chinatown 3. The leader of 'Q' is portrayed by Andy Lau. It is then revealed that the group is based in London, England, hinting that this will be the next location our main characters will visit.
Prior to the original release date during the Chinese New Year season of 2020, a web series that follows the events after the first Detective Chinatown film premiered on January 1, 2020. This series introduces three new detectives: Lin Mo (Roy Chiu), Sa Sha (Zhang Yishang), and Noda Koji (Chen Zheyuan). It delves deeper into the intricate mysteries and cases that run concurrently with the events of Detective Chinatown 2 and Detective Chinatown 3. Following the series, both Lin Mo and Noda Koji make cameo appearances in the third film, Detective Chinatown 3.
In February 2024, a second season of the web series was produced, featuring the return of Kiko (Yuxian Shang) from Detective Chinatown 2. She reprises her role as one of the main protagonists, with the show expanding on her motives and backstory as a character.
On April 24, 2024 at the 13th Beijing International Film Festival director Chen Sicheng announced that production has moved forward with the next film in the Detective Chinatown series. The film titled Detective Chinatown 1900 would be a prequel to the series which is set in China during the Qing Dynasty and will be a completely independent story from the previous films. Actor Zhu Yilong has been signed on to start in the main role. Shooting will begin in the middle of July in Qingdao, China and wrap sometime between late September and mid-October.