Fearless, also known as Huo Yuanjia (霍元甲) in Chinese, and as Jet Li’s Fearless in the United Kingdom and in the United States, is a 2006 martial arts film directed by Ronny Yu and starring Jet Li. It is loosely based on the life of Huo Yuanjia, a Chinese martial artist who challenged foreign fighters in highly publicized events, restoring pride and nationalism to China at a time when Western imperialism and Japanese manipulation were eroding the country in the final years of the Qing Dynasty before the birth of the Republic of China.
Li stated in an interview that the film was his last wushu martial arts epic, a point also made in the film’s television promotions and other publicity.[citation needed]
Fearless was released on 26 January 2006 in Hong Kong, on 23 June 2006 in the United Kingdom, and on 22 September 2006 in the United States.
Fearless opened in Hong Kong on 26 January 2006 during the Chinese New Year holidays.
The film played to blockbuster business, eventually grossed an exceptional HK$30,201,600 by the end of its run on 8 March 2006, making it the highest-grossing domestic film of the territory of 2006.
On 22 September 2006, Fearless was released in 1,806 North American cinemas under the title Jet Li’s Fearless. In its opening weekend, it placed 2nd at the box office to the sequel to Jackass,
grossing US$10,590,244 (US$5,863 per screen). It was Jet Li’s seventh film in a row to open to over US$10 million. The film went on to gross US$24,633,730 by the end of its North American run—making it the sixth highest-grossing non-English language foreign film in the United States to date — and its total worldwide gross US$68,072,848.
