Tai-Pan
“Smuggler. Prince. Murderer. Father. Sinner. Saint.”
Synopsis
The film begins following the British victory of the first Opium War and the seizure of Hong Kong. Although the island is largely uninhabited and the terrain unfriendly, it has a large port that both the British government and various trading companies believe will be useful for the import of merchandise to be traded on mainland China, a highly lucrative market.
Credits
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How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
A crew of 50+ credited
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by Antony GibbsShot by Jack CardiffScored by Maurice JarreDesigned by Anthony Masters
Box Office
1986 · Box office
📉 Underperformed — grossed 0.2× its budget
Why 2.5×?
Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).
Worldwide gross
$4.0M
Opening weekend: $1.9M — 47% of its US run. Front-loaded — most of its money arrived opening weekend.
Opening week (7-day): $2.5M — 62% of its US & Canada run.
Peak 860 theaters
Also known as
- Taï-Panfr
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Cast & Crew
50 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Bryan Brown
as Dirk Struan
Joan Chen
as May-May
Kyra Sedgwick
as Tess Brock
John Stanton
as Tyler Brock
Katy Behean
as Mary Sinclair
Tim Guinee
as Culum Struan
Bill Leadbitter
as Gorth Brock
Janine Turner
as Shevaun Tillman
Russell Wong
as Gordon Chen
Norman Rodway
as Aristotle Quance
John Bennett
as Orlov
Derrick Branche
as Vargas
Supporting cast
27Vic Armstrong
as Drunken Sailor
Dickey Beer
as Brecks's Crew
Phil Chatterton Tongplaw
as Boatswain
Chen Kuan Tai
as Pirate
Chen Shu
Chen Chuang
Rosemarie Dunham
Robert Easton
Nicholas Gecks
Gam Biu
Carol Gillies
Pat Gorman
as British Merchant 2
Michael C Gwynne
Billy Horrigan
as Brecks's Crew
Barbara Keogh
Joycelyne Lew
as Beaten Whore
Lisa Lu
Bronco Mcloughlin
as Brecks's Crew
Glen Murphy
as Martial Artist
Bert Remsen
Patrick Ryecart
Rob Spendlove
Patty Toy
Zhang Jie
Mason Cardiff
as Midshipman
Denise Kellogg
as Nude Model
Chan Lap Ban
Directors
1Writers
3Producers
1Other crew
6Parents Guide
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