"Lucky Stars Go Places" (1986) was a departure from the original trilogy, with Hung giving up directing duties to Eric Tsang. Prior to joining the Lucky Stars crew, Tsang had directed the first two films in the "Aces Go Places" series - "Aces Go Places" (1982) and "Aces Go Places 2" (1983). Like the Lucky Stars films, they were successful action comedies with an ensemble cast. However, the plots were parodies of James Bond films and characters fought with guns more often rather than kung fu.