# Never Say Die (羞羞的铁拳) (2017 film)
**Never Say Die** (羞羞的铁拳, *Xiūxiū de Tiěquán*) is a 2017 Chinese body-swap comedy directed and written by Song Yang and Zhang Chiyu, adapted from the stage play of the same name by the comedy troupe Mahua FunAge (开心麻花). A disgraced mixed martial arts fighter and an investigative sports reporter swap bodies after being struck by lightning, and the film was Mahua FunAge's third feature, following *[Goodbye Mr. Loser](https://www.edgepedia.org/goodbye-mr-loser)* (2015) and *[Mr. Donkey](https://www.edgepedia.org/mr-donkey)* (2016).[1](https://ent.cnr.cn/gd/20170901/t20170901_523929129.shtml) Released in China on 30 September 2017, it earned about 2.21 billion RMB and finished as the highest-grossing film of the 2017 National Day holiday and the second-highest-grossing domestic film of the year.[2](https://www.mahuafunage.com/movies/never-say-die) • [3](https://www.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/2019/0123/ltn20190123021.pdf) • [4](https://www.bjdyj.gov.cn/zwxx/gzdt/63127196169a463997f7e41e8e31c76c.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Chinese / English title | 羞羞的铁拳 / Never Say Die[2](https://www.mahuafunage.com/movies/never-say-die) |
| Directors and writers | Song Yang and Zhang Chiyu (张吃鱼, also credited as Zhang Chiyu 张迟昱)[1](https://ent.cnr.cn/gd/20170901/t20170901_523929129.shtml) • [5](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/2239634/) |
| Lead cast | Ai Lun (艾伦) as Edison, Ma Li (马丽) as Ma Xiao, with Shen Teng, Tian Yu, and Xue Haowen[1](https://ent.cnr.cn/gd/20170901/t20170901_523929129.shtml) |
| Release | 30 September 2017 (China); 100 minutes; comedy, fantasy, sport[2](https://www.mahuafunage.com/movies/never-say-die) |
| Production companies | Mahua FunAge, New Classics Media (新丽电影), and Maoyan Pictures[6](https://www.ncmchina.com/workTemplate.html?id=6) |
| Box office | 2,213 million RMB gross (co-producer and lead distributor per the distributor's filing); $334,536,622 worldwide per The Numbers[3](https://www.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/2019/0123/ltn20190123021.pdf) • [7](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Never-Say-Die-%28China%29) |
| Audience rating | Douban 6.8 from 715,928 ratings as of 11 December 2023[8](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E7%BE%9E%E7%BE%9E%E7%9A%84%E9%93%81%E6%8B%B3/16133553) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Edison (艾迪生), played by Ai Lun, was once a promising MMA fighter, but three years earlier he was disgraced in a title match against Wu Liang (薛皓文) and now makes a living taking dives in fixed bouts arranged through his manager Dong (田雨). Ma Xiao (马小), played by [Ma Li](https://www.edgepedia.org/ma-li), is a principled sports reporter who exposes fixed fights; she is also Dong's daughter. When Edison and Dong discuss a rigged match, Ma Xiao records the conversation, and in the chase that follows the two fall into a swimming pool and are struck by lightning. They wake in each other's bodies.[9](https://sino-cinema.com/tag/xue-haowen/) • [10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAmBjrIRpDQ)
With no way to swap back, Edison asks Ma Xiao, now in his body, to fight Wu Liang, who is also Ma Xiao's fiancé, in an upcoming championship. The two learn kung fu from Zhang Zhuyu (张茱萸), the deputy chief of the Juanlian sect played by Shen Teng, and along the way they uncover the truth behind Edison's earlier defeat and the corruption in the fight world.[10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAmBjrIRpDQ) • [11](https://www.jiemian.com/article/1659187.html)
## From stage play to film
The story began as a stage project. Song Yang and Zhang Chiyu worked out the premise in a Shaxian snack shop while preparing a play for Mahua FunAge's 2014 year-end season; their first idea was a three-way body swap among a boxer, a makeup artist, and an office worker, which they cut to a two-person male-female swap because it was easier for audiences to follow and funnier.[12](https://media.people.com.cn/n1/2017/1005/c40606-29572925.html) The stage play premiered at the end of 2014 and ran for several hundred performances, with Ma Li and Ai Lun appearing in more than a hundred of them.[1](https://ent.cnr.cn/gd/20170901/t20170901_523929129.shtml)
The film version was developed deliberately. Mahua FunAge considered a film adaptation in 2015 while *Goodbye Mr. Loser* was still shooting, and the project started in February 2016; Song Yang proposed co-directing with his co-writer Zhang Chiyu. Both directors were making their first film, and Song Yang said the fight scenes, designed largely by a stunt choreographer, were the part he felt least experienced about.[8](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E7%BE%9E%E7%BE%9E%E7%9A%84%E9%93%81%E6%8B%B3/16133553) • [12](https://media.people.com.cn/n1/2017/1005/c40606-29572925.html)
**Differences from the stage version.** The directors put the divergence at more than 50 percent: character relationships and story beats changed, and where the play relied on verbal gags suited to the stage, the film used camera work to create comedy. The final championship fight, represented on stage by a half boxing cage behind a mirrored screen, could be staged fully on film, and the film added an extended mountain training sequence that the stage version could not depict.[12](https://media.people.com.cn/n1/2017/1005/c40606-29572925.html) • [13](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1812962) An IMAX version was converted using the IMAX DMR digital remastering process.[14](https://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/IROL/25/254124/2017/Never_Say_Die_IMAX_version_announcement_release_C.pdf)
## Box office
The film opened at the head of China's crowded 2017 National Day holiday. It took 4.93 billion... 4.93亿 RMB in the first three days of the holiday, well ahead of *The Foreigner* (英伦对决) at 1.98亿 and *[Chasing the Dragon](https://www.edgepedia.org/chasing-the-dragon-film)* (追龙) at 1.44亿, and its daily grosses rose over those three days while its rivals' fell or recovered only slowly.[15](https://ent.cnr.cn/zx/20171005/t20171005_523975594.shtml) After nine days the cumulative total reached 14.6亿 RMB, more than the other eight holiday releases combined.[16](https://www.bfa.edu.cn/cfer/images/e4a4718fc9c91d0c42f83d.pdf) By 15 October it had passed 18亿 and set a new box office record for a 2D film in China; it passed 20亿 on 21 October and 21亿 on 28 October.[8](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E7%BE%9E%E7%BE%9E%E7%9A%84%E9%93%81%E6%8B%B3/16133553)
Final figures place the film among 2017's biggest hits. The Beijing film authorities reported 22.12亿 RMB, making it the year's second-highest-grossing domestic film behind *Wolf Warrior 2* (56.83亿); industry tables list it third overall for 2017 behind *Wolf Warrior 2* and *The Fate of the Furious*.[4](https://www.bjdyj.gov.cn/zwxx/gzdt/63127196169a463997f7e41e8e31c76c.html) • [17](https://pdf.dfcfw.com/pdf/H3_AP201801081074990964_01.pdf) The Numbers records a worldwide total of $334,536,622, of which $333,937,568 came from China, with smaller totals from Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom; the film was released in the UK, Ireland, and the US from 29 September 2017 and later in Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Taiwan.[7](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Never-Say-Die-%28China%29) • [8](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E7%BE%9E%E7%BE%9E%E7%9A%84%E9%93%81%E6%8B%B3/16133553)
## Reception
Commercially the film confirmed Mahua FunAge as a reliable comedy brand. Reviewers noted that the troupe had refined its jokes over hundreds of stage performances before filming, and the film's audience profile skewed young, with viewers aged 20 to 29 accounting for about 60 percent of its Maoyan-rated audience.[1](https://ent.cnr.cn/gd/20170901/t20170901_523929129.shtml) • [18](https://media.people.com.cn/n1/2019/0115/c424970-30539502.html) Critics were divided. Positive reviews praised original gags that fit the plot and the leads' detailed performances; negative reviews found the body-swap premise unoriginal and the exaggerated acting in the gender-swap sections overdone.[8](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E7%BE%9E%E7%BE%9E%E7%9A%84%E9%93%81%E6%8B%B3/16133553) • [13](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1812962) Douban registered 6.8 from more than 715,000 ratings as of December 2023, and the review site Sino-Cinema gave it 6 out of 10, judging it a mixed bag that did not reach the level of *Goodbye Mr. Loser*.[8](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E7%BE%9E%E7%BE%9E%E7%9A%84%E9%93%81%E6%8B%B3/16133553) • [9](https://sino-cinema.com/tag/xue-haowen/)
The film received several honors: the 2016–2017 Most Valuable Film award at the 2017 China Pan-Entertainment Index Ceremony (ENAwards) on 29 November 2017, a Smoke-free Film Award from the China Association on Tobacco Control for 2017, and the 2017 Outstanding Love Film honor at the first China Shuangtashan Love Film Week in August 2018, along with a Golden Deer Award nomination at the 14th Changchun Film Festival.[8](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E7%BE%9E%E7%BE%9E%E7%9A%84%E9%93%81%E6%8B%B3/16133553) • [19](https://baike.sogou.com/v99723058.htm)
## References
1. 《羞羞的铁拳》曝"换身版"特辑, 央广网. https://ent.cnr.cn/gd/20170901/t20170901_523929129.shtml
2. Never Say Die, MahuaFunage Official. https://www.mahuafunage.com/movies/never-say-die
3. Huanxi Media Group listing document (landmark movie projects table), HKEXnews, 23 January 2019. https://www.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/2019/0123/ltn20190123021.pdf
4. 2017年北京电影领跑全国, 北京市电影局. https://www.bjdyj.gov.cn/zwxx/gzdt/63127196169a463997f7e41e8e31c76c.html
5. 羞羞的铁拳 Never Say Die (2017), 1905电影网. https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/2239634/
6. 作品详情页：羞羞的铁拳, 新丽传媒. https://www.ncmchina.com/workTemplate.html?id=6
7. Never Say Die (2017) – Box Office and Financial Information, The Numbers. https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Never-Say-Die-%28China%29
8. 羞羞的铁拳, 百度百科. https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E7%BE%9E%E7%BE%9E%E7%9A%84%E9%93%81%E6%8B%B3/16133553
9. Review: Never Say Die (2017), Sino-Cinema. https://sino-cinema.com/tag/xue-haowen/
10. 《羞羞的铁拳》剧情简介 (film upload description), YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAmBjrIRpDQ
11. 专访《羞羞的铁拳》主演田雨, 界面新闻. https://www.jiemian.com/article/1659187.html
12. 导演揭秘《羞羞的铁拳》 电影版话剧版差别超50%, 人民网. https://media.people.com.cn/n1/2017/1005/c40606-29572925.html
13. 《羞羞的铁拳》：电影比舞台更增色, 澎湃新闻. https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1812962
14. Never Say Die IMAX version announcement, IMAX China investor relations. https://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/IROL/25/254124/2017/Never_Say_Die_IMAX_version_announcement_release_C.pdf
15. 国庆档票房：麻花喜剧拿冠军 王晶新片口碑升, 央广网/新华网. https://ent.cnr.cn/zx/20171005/t20171005_523975594.shtml
16. 电影教育参考 2017年第8期, 中国电影教育研究中心 (北京电影学院). https://www.bfa.edu.cn/cfer/images/e4a4718fc9c91d0c42f83d.pdf
17. 2017年票房过10亿电影 (中银证券行业报告). https://pdf.dfcfw.com/pdf/H3_AP201801081074990964_01.pdf
18. 定位准确的电影营销分析——以《羞羞的铁拳》为例, 人民网/今传媒. https://media.people.com.cn/n1/2019/0115/c424970-30539502.html
19. 羞羞的铁拳, 搜狗百科. https://baike.sogou.com/v99723058.htm
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2017 to 2018 › Titles K to W*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license