''Little Big Soldier'' () is a 2010 action comedy film directed by Ding Sheng and produced and written by

Jackie Chan Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...

, also starring Chan and

Leehom Wang Wang Leehom (; born May 17, 1976), sometimes credited as Leehom Wang, is an American singer-songwriter, actor, producer, and film director. Formally trained at Eastman School of Music, Williams College and Berklee College of Music, his music i ...

. The film was produced with a budget of US$25 million and filmed between January and April 2009 at locations in

Yunnan, China Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...

. According to Chan, the film was stuck in development hell for over 20 years. ''Little Big Soldier'' takes place during the

Warring States period The Warring States period () was an era in ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded with the Qin wars of conquest ...

of China, and tells the story of three men and a horse. An old foot soldier (Chan) and a young high-ranking general from a rival state (Wang) become the only survivors of a ruthless battle. The soldier decides to capture the general and bring him back to his own state in hopes for a reward in return.

Plot

On 1 December 2009, a press conference was held for the film, along with Chan's announcement of a new teaser trailer posted on the film's official

Sina Sina may refer to: Relating to China * Chin (China), or Sina (), old Chinese form of the Sanskrit name Cina () ** Shina (word), or Sina ( ja, 支那, links=no), archaic Japanese word for China ** Sinae, Latin name for China Places * Sina, Al ...

website. ''Twitch'' also released a plot synopsis of the film:

Cast

as Big Soldier *

as Little General *

Yu Rongguang Yu Rongguang (; born 30 August 1958), also known as Ringo Yu, is a Chinese actor and martial artist. He is best known for the title role in '' Iron Monkey'' along with Donnie Yen as well as being featured in films such as '' The East Is Red'', ' ...

as Deputy General Yu *

Ken Lo Ken Lo (Kenneth Houi Kang Low) (born 19 March 1957) is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, and stuntman. He is known for his martial arts and stunt work as a former member of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team, most notably for his antagonistic role as Jo ...

as Guard Yong * Lin Peng as Singer * Steve Yoo as Prince Wen *

Xu Dongmei Xu or XU may refer to: People and characters * Xu (surname), one of two Chinese surnames ( or /), transliterated as Xu in English * ǃXu, a name for the ǃKung group of Bushmen; may also refer to the ǃKung language or the ǃKung people * ǃXu ...

as Lou Fan Yan * Song Jin as Lou Fan Wei *

Du Yuming Du Yuming (; 28 November 1904 – 7 May 1981), was a Kuomintang field commander. He was a graduate of the first class of Whampoa Academy, took part in Chiang's Northern Expedition, and was active in southern China and in the Burma theatre of the ...

as Guard Wu * Yuen Woo-ping as Liang official * Wu Yue as Beggar

Production

''Little Big Soldier'' was a joint production of

China's China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Polybona Films Beijing Polybona Film Distribution Co. Ltd. (), also known as Polybona Films or the Bona Film Group, is a Chinese production company and distributor of films from mainland China and Hong Kong. It is run as a subsidiary of the China Poly Group, an ...

and Hong Kong's JCE Movies Limited, a company set up by Jackie Chan in 2003. The film is notable for having been in production for over 20 years. Chan had wanted to perform in and write a comedic film that took place in a historical background since the 1980s, when Hong Kong action cinema was rising in prominence.

Casting

Chan originally had

Daniel Wu Daniel Ng Neh-Tsu (, born September 30, 1974) is an American actor, director and producer based in Hong Kong. He is known as a "flexible and distinctive" leading actor in the Chinese language film industry. Since his film debut in 1998, he has ...

in mind to play the part of the young general, but Chan disregarded that thought after realising that he had already filmed two movies earlier with Wu.

Joan Lin Joan Lin Feng-jiao (born 30 June 1953) is a Taiwanese former actress. She is married to Hong Kong-Chinese actor and martial artist Jackie Chan. Early life Born 30 June 1953 in Taipei, Lin was the second child out of five children. She dropped out ...

, Chan's wife, suggested their son

Jaycee Chan Jaycee Joming Chan (, born 3 December 1982), known professionally as Jaycee Chan, is an American singer and actor. In 2004, he released his first Mandarin CD album in Hong Kong. He later went to Taiwan to continue his music career. He is the son o ...

, but Chan was highly against it. Lin later suggested

, whom Chan agreed to immediately. Chan and Wang have remained close friends ever since, and went on to collaborate on numerous songs, movies, concerts, and official events.

Home media

In the United Kingdom, ''Little Big Soldier'' was one of 2011's top ten best-selling foreign-language films on physical

home video Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming me ...

formats, and the fourth best-selling Chinese film (below ''

Ip Man 2 ''Ip Man 2'' (Chinese: 葉問2:宗師傳奇, also known as ''Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster'') is a 2010 Hong Kong biographical martial arts film loosely based on the life of Ip Man, a grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun. A sequel to ...

'', ''

Ip Man Ip Man, also known as Yip Man, ( / 叶问; 1 October 1893 – 2 December 1972) was a Hong Kong-based Cantonese people, Cantonese martial artist and a grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun when he was 20. He had several students who later ...

'' and ''

Confucius Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...

'').

Video game

At a conference in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

on 20 November 2009,

announced, along with Universal Culture Limited and EURO WEBSOFT, that an MMO is being released to promote the film. Chan and Wang's characters in the game were also shown at the conference. On 26 January 2010, the MMO went online under the name ''FLASH Little Big Soldier'' (). It is free to play under an account subscription. However, the game is available only in Chinese.

References

External links

* * {{Jackie Chan 2010 films 2010 action comedy films 2010s adventure comedy films Chinese action comedy films Films directed by Ding Sheng Films set in the Warring States period Hong Kong action comedy films Hong Kong buddy films 2010s Hong Kong films