How Shanghai Noon Changed Jackie Chan’s Career

Jackie Chan had been acting since the early 1970s and rose to prominence in the 1980s for his martial arts and risky stunts. He began breaking into American audiences in the 1990s with films like Supercop and Rumble in the Bronx, and Rush Hour in 1998 brought him mainstream fame.

Still, it was the 2000 action-comedy Western Shanghai Noon, opposite Owen Wilson, that showcased his skills in a new genre and helped establish him as a bankable lead in the United States. In Shanghai Noon Chan plays Chon Wang, a Chinese Imperial Guard who travels to the Wild West to rescue a kidnapped princess played by Lucy Liu.

He teams with train robber Roy O'Bannon, played by Wilson, and the cast also includes Xander Berkeley, Walton Goggins, and Roger Yuan. The film blended martial-arts fights and comedy in a way similar to Rush Hour; Rush Hour was made for $33 million and grossed $244 million worldwide, while Shanghai Noon had a reported $55 million budget and earned $99 million, a modest but clear success for Chan as a comedic lead.

United States

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