In cooperation with Rogue Pictures and UNLEASHED, the Tiger Claw Foundation led a fund drive for Jet Li’s new international relief organization, The ONE Foundation, inspired from Jet Li’s near-death Tsunami experience in Maldives. The Tiger Claw Foundation raised $2149.71 towards this new and worthy cause. Throughout the month of March 2005, this fund drive adopted multiple approaches in order to reach the widest audience. UNLEASHED served as the perfect springboard for this project and through the cooperation and support of UNLEASHED, Rogue Pictures, and The ONE Foundation, this fundraiser was made possible.

On the WEB: This website held an online raffle for six posters and earned $226.00. Winners were selected at random using numbers generated by random.com. The lucky winners were Tracy Cledgett, Isabel Hodge, Yienmin Hsen, Irene Hsu, Nathan Leazer, and William Reeves. In addition, two posters were auctioned consecutively on eBay, earning $112.50 and $105.38 respectively.
Total for the WEB drive: $443.88

At Tiger Claw-sponsored events: Tiger Claw representatives donated some of their table space at martial arts tournaments and events across the nation. Posters were raffled or donated to the promoters to be raffled and donations were collected.
Total for Tiger Claw-sponsored events drive: $255.24

At the Sneak Previews: Kung Fu Tai Chi Magazine and Tiger Claw hosted five invitation-only advance screenings of UNLEASHED on May 11th and 12th, graciously provided by Rogue Pictures in exchange for promotional consideration. There were screenings in Hanover, MD, Knoxville, TN, San Francisco, CA, Tampa, FL and Union City, CA. Two posters were raffled at each event.
Total for the Sneak Previews: $900.59

Friends of the Tiger Claw Foundation: A few generous supporters donated directly to this fund.
Total for the Friends of the Tiger Claw Foundation: $550.00

In addition to generating funds and awareness of Jet Li’s ONE Foundation, UNLEASHED had a strong opening weekend, earning $10,900,901, besting the two other martial arts films that debuted in 2005 (Kung Fu Hustle: $6,749,572 and Ong Bak: $1,334,869). It also outperformed House of Flying Daggers ($1,737,497) and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ($8,647,295) but fell behind Elektra ($12,804,793) and Jet Li’s last tour de force, Hero ($18,004,319). Of course, UNLEASHED was eclipsed the following week by the all-time box office champion, Star Wars Episode III ($108,435,841). Nevertheless, UNLEASHED did admirably and won critical acclaim for its acting performances by Morgan Freeman, Bob Hoskins, and surprisingly, Jet Li.

Note: Box office stats are extracted from boxofficemojo.com