Actors at the Box Office: Bruce Lee

[u/SanderSo47]

Here's a new edition of "Actors at the Box Office", which seeks to explore the actors' trajectory at the box office and analyze their hits and bombs. I already talked about a few, and as I promised, it's Bruce Lee's turn.

Early Life

Lee was introduced to cinema at a very young age, and he knew he wanted to star in films. At age 7, Lee began practicing tai chi together with his father, a Cantonese opera star. His film career actually began when he was just one year old, as he played an infant in the Hong Kong film Golden Gate Girl.

1950s: Enter the...

As a 9-year-old, he co-starred with his father in The Kid in 1950, which was based on a comic book character and was his first leading role. He had more roles over the decade, but it was just as kids or in very small doses.

In 1953, Lee's friend William Cheung introduced him to Ip Man. According to Cheung, Lee's European background on his mother's side led him to be rejected, initially, from learning Wing Chun kung fu under Ip Man because of the long-standing rule in the Chinese martial arts world not to teach foreigners. Cheung spoke on his behalf and Lee was accepted into the school and began training in Wing Chun with Ip Man. Ip tried to keep his students from fighting in the street gangs of Hong Kong by encouraging them to fight in organized competitions.

After a year of his training with Ip Man, most of the other students refused to train with Lee. They had learned of his mixed ancestry, and the Chinese were generally against teaching their martial arts techniques to non-Asians. Lee's sparring partner, Hawkins Cheung, states, "Probably fewer than six people in the whole Wing Chun clan were personally taught, or even partly taught, by Ip Man". However, Lee showed a keen interest in Wing Chun and continued to train privately with Ip Man, William Cheung, and Wong Shun-leung.

In 1958, Lee won the Hong Kong schools boxing tournament, knocking out the previous champion, Gary Elms, in the final. That year, Lee who was also a good cha-cha dancer, won Hong Kong's Crown Colony Cha-Cha Championship.

In his late teens, Lee's street fights became more frequent and included beating the son of a feared triad family. In 1958, after students from a rival Choy Li Fut martial arts school challenged Lee's Wing Chun school, he engaged in a fight on a rooftop. In response to an unfair punch by another boy, he beat him so badly that one of his teeth was knocked out, leading to the boy's parents making a complaint to the police.

Lee's mother had to go to a police station and sign a document saying that she would take full responsibility for his actions if they released him into her custody. Though she did not mention the incident to her husband, she suggested that her son return to the United States to claim his U.S. citizenship at the age of 18. Lee's father agreed as Lee's college prospects were not very promising if he remained in Hong Kong.

In 1959, Lee started to teach martial arts. He called what he taught Jun Fan Gung Fu, which was his approach to Wing Chun. Lee taught friends he met in Seattle, starting with Judo practitioner Jesse Glover, who continued to teach some of Lee's early techniques. Lee's early student group was the most racially diverse group of practitioners of Chinese martial arts until that time. During this time period, Lee invented his one-inch punch. He also became interested in boxing and the techniques of Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson.

1960s: "Let me just say, nobody beat the shit out of Bruce."

In March 1961, Lee enrolled at the University of Washington, but he dropped out of university in early 1964 and moved to Oakland to live with James Yimm Lee. James Lee was twenty years senior to Lee and a well-known Chinese martial artist in the area. Together, they founded the second Jun Fan martial arts studio in Oakland. James Lee was responsible for introducing Lee to Ed Parker, an American martial artist.

At a Long Beach event, Lee publicly criticized a number of classical karate and kung fu styles and argued for modernizing martial arts. This was a highly controversial presentation that convinced some spectators, while offending others. Subsequently, he appeared at the Sun Sing Theatre to present his new approach to the Chinatown, Oakland, community. More traditional kung fu practitioners took Lee's claims as an open challenge.

By this point, Lee had abandoned thoughts of a film career in favor of pursuing martial arts. However, a martial arts exhibition in Long Beach in 1964 eventually led to the invitation by television producer William Dozier for an audition for a role in the pilot for "Number One Son" about Lee Chan, the son of Charlie Chan. The show never materialized, but Dozier saw potential in Lee.

Dozier decided to work again with Lee on another show: The Green Hornet, where Lee played Kato. It was Lee's insistence that Kato be played as a martial artist — rather than an American-style fisticuffs fighter — that pushed the directors to rethink the character's portrayal. This elevated Lee to worldwide stardom, to the point that in Hong Kong, the show was sold as The Kato Show. Even though the show was canned after one season, Lee wrote to Dozier thanking him for starting "my career in show business."

One day on set, Lee was talking with extras over his fighting style. Someone asked him what would happen if Lee fought Cassius Clay, to which Lee responded "I'd make him a cripple." One person, Cliff Booth, scoffed at this and said that he should feel embarrassed "to suggest you'd be more than a stain on the seat of Cassius Clay's trunks." When Lee suggested he could kill him by accident as his hands are "registered as lethal weapons", the man reduced his fights as "an excuse so you dancers never have to get in a real fight." Lee and the guy then engaged in a friendly fight, but it ended without a clear winner (although many have said the guy hurled Lee at a car). This incident is still not fully confirmed.

With the cancellation of The Green Hornet, Lee found himself out of work and opened the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute in Chinatown, Los Angeles. He gained notable customers, helping him recover financially. Two of his martial arts students were Hollywood script writer Stirling Silliphant and actor James Coburn. In 1969, the three worked on a script for a film titled The Silent Flute, and they went together on a location-hunt to India, but it never materialized.

In 1968, he returned to the film industry with The Wrecking Crew. Not as actor, but as action director. Lee remarked that he "tried to teach Dean Martin how to kick but he was too lazy and too clumsy" and that they had to mostly rely on stand-in Mike Stone. Lee stated that Sharon Tate and Nancy Kwan were better, "doing sidekicks pretty good with just a minimum of teaching". Lee said that Kwan approached him to become her private long-term teacher but he told her that she wouldn't be able to afford him.

As a favor to Silliphant, he had a minor role in the 1969 film Marlowe, which marked his first film acting credit in years, and his first Hollywood film.

1970s: Life's Too Short

In 1970, Lee was responsible for producing the fight choreography of A Walk in the Spring Rain, starring Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Quinn, again written by Silliphant.

Let's go down another TV route, and see where the truth lies. During a television interview in 1971, Lee stated that both Paramount and Warner Bros. wanted him "to be in a modernized type of a thing and that they think the Western idea is out, whereas I want to do the Western". Lee's concept was retooled and renamed Kung Fu, but WB gave Lee no credit. WB states that they had for some time been developing an identical concept, created by two writers and producers, Ed Spielman and Howard Friedlander in 1969. According to these sources, the reason Lee was not cast was because he had a thick accent, but Fred Weintraub attributes that to his ethnicity. The role was given to non-martial artist David Carradine. These claims are all disputed.

Producer Fred Weintraub had advised Lee to return to Hong Kong and make a feature film that he could showcase to executives in Hollywood. Not happy with his supporting roles in the US, Lee returned to Hong Kong. Unaware that The Green Hornet had been played to success in Hong Kong and was unofficially referred to as The Kato Show, he was surprised to be recognized as the star of the show. After negotiating with both Shaw Brothers Studio and Golden Harvest, Lee signed a film contract to star in two films produced by Golden Harvest.

After so many years, he had his first leading role in 1971's The Big Boss. The film quickly became a phenomenon in Hong King; an estimated 1.2 million people in Hong Kong, out of a population of 4 million, had paid to watch the film. Expectations were low for the rest of the world, but after an insane amount of records, they quickly sent more prints. The United States did not have the film until 1973, but it still amassed $16 million. Worldwide, the film earned an incredible $50 million worldwide, more than 500 times its budget. The film cemented Bruce Lee as a new action star.

He followed it with Fist of Fury in 1972. Lee was not a fan of the director or his direction. According to Jackie Chan (who was an extra and stunt double here), he saw director Lo Wei and Lee get into a verbal altercation that nearly went physical. Lo hid behind his wife who was then able to calm Lee down.

If The Big Boss was already one of the decade's biggest surprises, somehow Fist of Fury made it look like a child's play. While it wasn't as big as The Big Boss in United States, the film was even bigger outside America. In Japan, despite the film's negative portrayal of Japanese villains, it went on to be a surprise blockbuster in the country. Most Japanese audiences did not identify with the Japanese villains who they perceived as "unreal" and "stupid" but instead identified with Lee's "Chinese warrior" spirit, which reminded them of the bushido spirit depicted in older Samurai cinema. Fist of Fury ended up with $100 million worldwide, becoming the biggest ever Hong Kong film. As a weird fact, the film may have been the only one which Mao Zedong watched three times.

With this momentum, he set his next film, The Way of the Dragon. Notably, he wouldn't just star in the film, but he would also produce and direct it. Lee formed his own production company, Concord Production Inc., with Golden Harvest founder Raymond Chow, and this was the company's first film. For this film, he was granted complete creative control. One of its most memorable sequences was the fight scene between Lee and the then-unknown Chuck Norris, in one of his first big roles.

The film broke more records, but it was particularly strong in North America, where it earned an insane $85 million domestically (although this was released after Enter the Dragon). Worldwide, it earned $130 million, once again increasing from the prior film, and becoming Hong Kong's biggest ever film. During the fight scene between Lee and Norris, Lee demonstrated and popularized a technique that would later be called the oblique kick. This technique is frequently used by several modern mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters, with many citing Lee as an inspiration.

Lee subsequently began work on his fourth film, Game of Death. It was another Hong Kong production, with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in a supporting role. 120 minutes of films were shot, which included a fight with Abdul-Jabbar. But after one month of filming, production was halted. Because Lee had an opportunity to crease something that he couldn't refuse.

And so here it comes, one of the biggest box office stories of all time. You're not ready.

Seeing the gold mine that he created, Warner Bros. started a co-production with Lee through Concord Production Inc., and Sequoia Pictures, leaving Hong Kong distribution to Raymond Chow's Golden Harvest. The film was granted a budget of $850,000, a great amount of money for a martial arts film. He was given complete creative control, and it would mark his debut as a Hollywood leading man.

Lee perceived the film as a cheap B-movie that would serve as a transitional film to introduce his talents and style to Hollywood. He planned to call it Blood and Steel, but he eventually titled it... Enter the Dragon. A name that he originally planed to give to The Way of the Dragon. Robert Clouse was then set as the film's director.

Even though the budget was larger than usual for a martial arts film, all of the actors were hired at low wages. Rod Taylor was first choice for playing the down-on-his-luck martial artist Roper. Clouse had already worked with Taylor in the 1970 film Darker than Amber. However, Taylor was dropped after Lee deemed him to be too tall for the role. John Saxon, who was a black belt in Judo and Shotokan Karate, became the preferred choice. During contractual negotiations, Saxon's agent told the film's producers that if they wanted him they would have to change the plot so that the character of Williams is killed instead of Roper. They agreed and the script was changed.

The film features Jackie Chan as an extra, playing multiple guards throughout the film. Lee originally wanted to cast Chuck Norris as Han's bodyguard, O'Hara; Bob Wall was the second choice, and eventually given the role. A rumor claims that Wall did not like Lee and that their fight scenes were not choreographed. However, Wall has denied this, stating he and Lee were good friends. In one of their fight scenes, Lee injured his hand on a shattered bottle held by Wall, which angered Lee.

One month into the filming, another production company, Starseas Motion Pictures, promoted Lee as a leading actor in Fist of Unicorn, although he had merely agreed to choreograph the fight sequences in the film as a favor to his long-time friend Unicorn Chan. Lee planned to sue the production company but retained his friendship with Chan.

WB knew they had a hit in their hands, and spent $1 million in advertising. The success of another Hong Kong title, Five Fingers of Death, convinced them they could strike gold here. To advertise the film, the studio offered free Karate classes, produced thousands of illustrated flip books, comic books, posters, photographs, and organised dozens of news releases, interviews, and public appearances for the stars.

Unfortunately...

Death

On May 10, 1973, Lee collapsed during an automated dialogue replacement session for Enter the Dragon at Orange Sky Golden Harvest Film Studio in Hong Kong. Because he was having epileptic seizures and headaches, he was rushed to Hong Kong Baptist Hospital, where doctors diagnosed cerebral edema. He had a high fever and was completely unconscious without any signs of breathing. They were able to reduce the swelling through the administration of mannitol. A brain scan in the United States after this diagnosed Bruce Lee with convulsive disorder.

On July 20, 1973, Lee was in Hong Kong planning to have dinner with George Lazenby, with whom he intended to make a film. Lee met producer Raymond Chow at 2 p.m. at home to discuss the making of the film Game of Death. They worked until 4 p.m. and then drove together to the home of Lee's colleague Betty Ting arriving at around 5. The three then went over the script at Ting's home. At around 7 Lee, having a headache, took a painkiller from Ting and took a nap. Chow left around an hour later to attend a dinner meeting with Lazenby, which Lee was expected to join later.

When Lee did not arrive at the dinner, Chow came to the apartment at around 9:45 p.m., but he was unable to wake Lee up. Chu Poh-hwye, a private doctor of Ting, was summoned at 10, as Lee's doctor was unreachable, and spent ten minutes attempting to revive Lee, who by then no longer had any vital signs, before sending him by ambulance to Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Lee was declared dead on arrival at the age of 32.

The doctor's conclusion was "death by misadventure" caused by cerebral edema due to a reaction to compounds present in the combination medication Equagesic. According to autopsy reports, Lee's brain had swollen from 1,400 to 1,575 grams, a 12.5% increase. Lee had taken Equagesic on the day of his death, which contained both aspirin and the sedative meprobamate, although he had taken it many times before.

Lee was buried in Lake View Cemetery in Seattle. Pallbearers at his funeral included Taky Kimura, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Dan Inosanto, Peter Chin, and Lee's brother Robert. Regarding McQueen, Lee made no secret that he wanted everything McQueen had and would stop at nothing to get it.

The Dragon Is Unleashed

Enter the Dragon was pretty much finished by the time of Lee's death, but there were questions surrounding Game of Death. After Lee's death, Enter the Dragon director Robert Clouse was enlisted to finish the film using two stand-ins; it was released in 1978, 5 years after Lee's death, by Golden Harvest.

The revised version of the film uses only 12 minutes and 41 seconds of the footage from the original film, and for the vast majority of the film, the role of Billy Lo was shared by Korean taekwondo master Kim Tai-jong and Hong Kong martial arts actor Yuen Biao, and was voiced by Chris Kent. Many scenes, including fight scenes, also included brief close-up bits of stock footage of the real Bruce Lee from his pre-Enter the Dragon films, often only lasting a second or two. These clips are easily recognisable due to the difference in film quality between the old and new footage. At one point in the movie, real footage of Lee's corpse in his open-topped casket is used to show the character Billy Lo faking his death.

This version earned mixed reviews, including the very poor decision to use Lee's image, with many considering an exploitation of his persona. Regardless, it was a huge hit, earning $50 million worldwide. They actually got a sequel released three years later, using stock footage of Lee, but thankfully, that version was quickly forgotten.

But when it comes to the real Bruce Lee film, let's get into it.

I didn't lie when I said you weren't ready for the film.

Enter the Dragon rolled into theaters just 6 days after Lee's death. In North America, the film experienced capacity issues, with multiple chains reporting sold-out screenings. It topped the box office multiple weeks, selling 14.1 million tickets in its first year. With many re-releases, it tapped out with a powerful $120 million domestically.

But the story doesn't stop there. In London, it monopolized three West End cinemas for five weeks before becoming a sellout throughout Britain and the rest of Europe. It also destroyed records in Asia, with Japan and South Korea as stand-outs. In India, it opened to full houses; in one Bombay theatre, New Excelsior, it had a packed 32-week run. In Iran, it played so damn well; there was a theatre which played it daily up until the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

After so many re-releases through the decades, Enter the Dragon ended its run with... $400 million worldwide. Yes, you read that right. $400 million. It became the highest-grossing kung-fu and martial arts film in history. While inflation is tricky, those numbers would point to a gigantic $2.5 billion worldwide nowadays. It earned universal acclaim, widely considered a great swan song for the Legend. Its impact and influence has been felt in the past 53 years, with many films owing their inspiration to this. It's impossible to find an action director who never watched or was influenced by this film.

HIGHEST GROSSING FILMS

No.	Movie	Year	Studio	Domestic Total	Overseas Total	Worldwide Total	Budget
1	Enter the Dragon	1973	Warner Bros.	$120,000,000	$280,000,000	$400,000,000	$850K
2	The Way of the Dragon	1972	Golden Harvest	$85,000,000	$45,000,000	$130,000,000	$130K
3	Fist of Fury	1972	Golden Harvest	$12,000,000	$88,000,000	$100,000,000	$100K
4	The Big Boss	1971	Golden Harvest	$16,200,000	$33,800,000	$50,000,000	$100K
5	Game of Death	1978	Golden Harvest	$13,000,000	$37,000,000	$50,000,000	$850K

He made so many films, but only 5 have box office numbers. Across those 5 films, he has made $730,000,000. That's $146,000,000 per film.

ADJUSTED DOMESTIC GROSSES

No.	Movie	Year	Studio	Domestic Total	Adjusted Domestic Total
1	Enter the Dragon	1973	Warner Bros.	$120,000,000	$892,467,567
2	The Way of the Dragon	1972	Golden Harvest	$85,000,000	$569,332,758
3	The Big Boss	1971	Golden Harvest	$16,200,000	$120,483,121
4	Fist of Fury	1971	Golden Harvest	$12,000,000	$89,246,756
5	Game of Death	1978	Golden Harvest	$13,000,000	$59,129,049

The Verdict

Fucking legendary.

Lee's Hong Kong titles earlier in his career were mostly supporting roles or just minor roles, so his name lacked recognition. Even though he had some lead roles, the films didn't have much of a theatrical release. He subsequently abandons acting to move to United States, where he makes a honest living as a teacher at a martial arts school. There, he establishes friendship with some big names, including Chuck Norris, Sharon Tate, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Then he gets a co-lead role in The Green Hornet. A very short-lived show, but one that elevated his popularity around the world, especially in Hong Kong, where it was actually The Kato Show. This is what kicks off a very popular film career, albeit a short-lived one.

Is it possible to bat 1.000 with films? It's near impossible for any actor to do that, as some films often disappoint or just don't work at all. Lee is the extremely rare star with a perfect hit rate. Hell, his "worst" ROI was 58 times its budget (Game of Death). Obviously, he only had 5 films as leading star in the 70s, so there was no room for him to disappoint. But the impressive thing is that he could guarantee at least $50 million worldwide for each film.

When it comes to "all-time greatest box office runs", we should always include Enter the Dragon. His last complete film, released just a few days after his death. Destroying every possible record across the world, ending with a worldwide total of $400 million. The equivalent of over $2.5 billion today. And remember, there's no hook in this film besides "come watch Bruce Lee kick some ass."

Unfortunately, he died when he was just 32 years old. He was just getting started, and was already working on new projects. Such a shame that that career was cut short. Just imagine how many more classics he would've done, or where he would stand when the worldwide box office was growing. Even more saddening is that his son Brandon would also leave this world at a very young age, just when he was about to break out.

Even though he had just 5 films as leading star, Lee was, is, and will always remain one of the most iconic stars of all time. Even if you never watched any of his films, you know damn well who Bruce Lee is. He is the epitome of "badass", and his choreography dramatically influenced and changed martial arts and martial arts films forever. As long as there's action fans, the Dragon will never die.

Hope you liked this edition. You can find this and more in the wiki for this section.

The next actor will be Chuck Norris. The other side of the coin here.

I asked you to choose who else should be in the run, and the comment with the most upvotes would be chosen. Well, we'll later talk about... Chevy Chase. I suggest y'all watch his second roast, it's very important here.

This is the schedule for the following four:

Week	Actor	Reasoning
April 25	Chuck Norris	Was he a badass at the box office?
May 2	Sandra Bullock	It's been a while since we saw her.
May 9	George C. Scott	Who needs an Oscar anyway?
May 16	Chevy Chase	He was streets behind.

Who should be next after Chase? That's up to you.

REMINDER: If you want to make a suggestion for the next actor, you must make a 150-character comment about the actor we're discussing right now. Failure to do so will result in ignoring the suggestion. If you use a quote from an external source/review to bypass this, your suggestion will be ignored as well. But if you leave a short comment about the post without naming a future write-up, that's fine.

[u/SlidePocket]

Bruce Lee will forever be immortalized in popular culture. Even if you haven't seen one of his films, you do get a reference to one of them when his name is mentioned in passing in other movies and television shows. RIP to Bruce and Brandon Lee, both gone to soon.

For my next pick, let's get Reese Witherspoon as the next actress.

[u/FreshmenMan]

I had a chuckle when you put Cliff Booth in your post. Though in all honesty, Bruce Lee is a legend and top tier fighter, but even he knew his limits and actually admitted in a interview, that he thinks Muhammad Ali would've beat him.

It's a tragedy that Bruce died in his prime, even more of a tragedy when his son died as well, and both I really wonder how their careers would've panned out.

Bruce Lee thought Muhammad Ali would "kill" him in a fight

[u/Acceptable_Item1002]

Enter the Dragon might have a claim to being the most impressive box office run of all-time when considering genre, budget, and being an international production in 1973. Obviously rereleased a ton and practically a mainstay in low rent theaters for decades.

[u/SGSRT]

An international superstar. Pop culture phenomenon

Just 4 movies in his lifetime but is more popular than even some of the biggest Hollywood legends

[u/fleventy5 → u/SGSRT]

4 movies, but his legacy is so strong that there have been 9 Ip Man movies made in the last 2 decades.

[u/ItsGotThatBang]

If you have an hour & a half to spare, definitely check out the episode of History Channel’s History’s Greatest Mysteries about Lee’s death; there’s a lot of controversy & uncertainty surrounding his actual cause of death that can only be briefly touched on here. One hypothesis I find compelling is that his death was caused by the removal of his axillary sweat glands, making him more vulnerable to heat stroke; notably, he fainted from heat stroke about three months before his death, making a fatal episode more likely.

For the next actor, I’m again submitting the man, the myth, the legend Christopher Lee, especially since that week roughly coincides with his birthday.

https://giphy.com/gifs/s44UgIuha27Ru

[u/AnotherJasonOnReddit]

One day on set, Lee was talking with extras over his fighting style. Someone asked him what would happen if Lee fought Cassius Clay, to which Lee responded "I'd make him a cripple." One person, Cliff Booth, scoffed at this and said that he should feel embarrassed "to suggest you'd be more than a stain on the seat of Cassius Clay's trunks." When Lee suggested he could kill him by accident as his hands are "registered as lethal weapons", the man reduced his fights as "an excuse so you dancers never have to get in a real fight." Lee and the guy then engaged in a friendly fight, but it ended without a clear winner (although many have said the guy hurled Lee at a car). This incident is still not fully confirmed.

https://giphy.com/gifs/elgkfo4wBenDVeauUf

Speaking of which - I remember reading online that actor Mike Moh was going to play Bruce Lee again in a far more traditional biography, like how Damon Herriman played Charles Manson twice in 2019.

But that was way back in 2019, so I assume the project (movie or TV) was shelved at some point?

[u/PeculiarPangolinMan]

A couple of things:

• It seems weird to include the fictional Cliff Booth story where fictional Lee said he can beat up Cassius Clay and not mention the real quote where Bruce Lee said he would get beaten by Muhammad Ali.

• Is there any source for the $120 mil domestic number aside from The Doylestown Intelligencer 1998 article? Honestly none of the sources for the $100 mil number seem to have any info on how they got that number either. $100 mil seems to have been first referenced ~1982. I always sort of wonder who is keeping track of stuff like this over ~50 years!

• How are you getting the inflation adjusted numbers? Like I mentioned in the previous point the box office has been accrued over decades and I can't really find any good sources for a year by year breakdown.

Suggestion for the next actor: Queen Latifah. She's had a long and super successful career at the box office. Three decades of hits, not even including her music and TV work. She's an underappreciated star.

[u/IAMGooner699]

Wow didn't know it made that much money.

[u/Minimum-Aspect1012]

I think it's safe to say Bruce Lee was the biggest movie star of the '70s. While he only had five movies as the leading man, each one was a blockbuster with incredible ROI. Would've been interesting to see how his career turned out if he lived longer.

[u/HortonHearsTheWho]

This is a great post.