Bruce Lee filmography: Difference between revisions

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This article details the filmography of actor and martial artist Bruce Lee.

Several of Lee's films premiered after his death, including Enter the Dragon, Game of Death and Circle of Iron.

Bruce Lee as Kato in the television series,The Green Hornet.

Filmography

Year	Title	Chinese title	Role	Notes
1941	Golden Gate Girl	金門女		As an infant
1946	The Birth of Mankind	人类的诞生
1948	Wealth is Like a Dream	富貴浮雲
1949	Sai See in the Dream	夢裡西施	Yam Lee
1950	The Kid	細路祥	Kid Cheung	a.k.a. My Son, A Chung. Available on region 1 English-subtitled DVD from Cinema Epoch.
1951	Infancy	人之初	Ngau
1953	A Myriad Homes	千萬人家
	Blame it on Father	父之過		a.k.a. Father's Fault
	The Guiding Light	苦海明燈	Son as teenager	Available on region 1 English-subtitled DVD from Cinema Epoch
	A Mother's Tears	慈母淚
	In the Face of Demolition	危樓春曉
1955	An Orphan's Tragedy	孤星血淚	Frank Wong (child)	Available on region 1 English-subtitled DVD from Cinema Epoch
	Orphan's Song	孤兒行
	Love	愛
	Love Part 2	愛(下集)
	We Owe It to Our Children	兒女債
1956	The Wise Guys Who Fool Around	詐痲納福
1956	Too Late For Divorce	早知當初我唔嫁
1957	The Thunderstorm	雷雨	Chow Chung	Based on the play Lei Yu by Cao Yu
1960	The Orphan	人海孤鴻	Sam
1968	The Wrecking Crew	風流特務勇破迷魂陣		Action director
1969	Marlowe	醜聞喋血	Winslow Wong	Also action director
1970	A Walk in the Spring Rain	春雨漫步	Action Director	Lee, personal friend of producer Stirling Silliphant, is credited as the film's fight choreographer.
1971	The Big Boss	唐山大兄	Cheng Chao-an	Also action director a.k.a. Fists of Fury
1972	Fist of Fury	精武門	Chen Zhen	Also action director a.k.a. The Chinese Connection
1972	Way of the Dragon	猛龍過江	Tang Lung	Also producer, director, action director and screenwriter The film was released in the U.S. after Enter the Dragon; hence the alternate title Return of the Dragon
1973	Fist of Unicorn	麒麟掌		Action Director and fight choreographer

Note: the title The Chinese Connection (a play on the then-recently released The French Connection) was originally intended for The Big Boss due to the drugs theme of the story and Fists of Fury was intended for Fist of Fury. When it was exported, the titles somehow got switched.

Released posthumously

Year	Title	Chinese title	Role	Notes
1973	Enter the Dragon	龍爭虎鬥	Mr. Lee	Also action director, writer and producer Sent as a spy into a martial arts tournament hosted by a rogue-monk-turned-drug lord Released six days after Lee's death
1974	The Green Hornet	青蜂侠	Kato	A compilation of episodes from the TV series edited together and released as a feature film Released one year after Lee's death
1978	Game of Death	死亡遊戲	Billy Lo	There are two versions of this film, each one with a different plot (the original from an incomplete 1972 film and the 1978 build doing a "footage mashup") Lee was shown in incomplete original footage from 1972, plus stock footage from Enter the Dragon and other films The original was finally released as a short film in the year 2000. Template:Simple
1978	Circle of Iron			Co-writer a.k.a. The Silent Flute Film co-written by Bruce Lee, who was seeking to illustrate the differences between Eastern and Western philosophies
1981	Game of Death II	死亡塔	Billy Lo / Lee Chen Chiang	a.k.a. Tower of Death Unrelated to the first Game of Death, it was marketed as a sequel in the U.S. Lee appears in stock footage from Enter the Dragon and other films
1993	City Hunter	死亡塔	Billy Lo	Lee appears in archival footage from Game of Death 1

Box office performance

Year	Title	Worldwide gross revenue (est. US dollars)		Budget (US dollars)	Return on investment (ROI)	Notes
Year	Title	Nominal value	Inflation adjusted	Budget (US dollars)	Return on investment (ROI)	Notes
1968	The Wrecking Crew	$8,000,000	$70,000,000	?	?	^[a]
1971	The Big Boss (Fists of Fury)	$50,000,000	$400,000,000	$100,000	50,000%	^[b]
1972	Fist of Fury (The Chinese Connection)	$100,000,000	$730,000,000	$100,000	100,000%	^[c]
1972	Way of the Dragon (Return of the Dragon)	$130,000,000	$730,000,000	$130,000	100,000%	^[d]
1973	Enter the Dragon	$350,000,000	$1,200,000,000	$850,000	41,000%	^[e]
1978	Game of Death	$43,054,960	$200,000,000	$850,000	4,700%	^[f]
1978	Circle of Iron	$2,600,000	$12,000,000	?	?	^[g]
1981	Game of Death II	$349,181	$1,200,000	?	?	^[h]
	Total	$684,004,141	$3,080,000,000	$2,030,000	100,000%
	Average	$85,500,518	$385,000,000	$406,000	33,000%

Television appearances

Year	Title	Chinese title	Role	Country and channel	Notes
1966	The Green Hornet	青蜂侠	Kato	U.S. - ABC	a.k.a. The Kato Show (Hong Kong title) 1966-1967
1966	Where the Action Is		Himself	U.S. - ABC
1967	Batman	蝙蝠俠	Kato	U.S. - ABC	Visiting hero Episodes: "The Spell of Tut", "A Piece of the Action" and "Batman's Satisfaction"
1967	Ironside	無敵鐵探長	Leon Soo	U.S. - NBC	Guest star Episode: "Tagged for Murder"
1968	Blondie		Mr. Yoto, Karate Instructor	U.S. - CBS	Guest star Episode: "Pick on a Bully Your Own Size"
1969	Here Come the Brides	新娘駕到	Lin	U.S. - ABC	Guest star Episode: "Marriage, Chinese Style"
1970	Enjoy Yourself Tonight	歡樂今宵	Himself	Hong Kong - TVB
1971	Longstreet	血灑長街	Li Tsung / Fight Choreographer	U.S. - ABC	Appeared in four episodes: "The Way of the Intercepting Fist", "Spell Legacy Like Death", "Wednesday's Child" and "I See, Said the Blind Man"
1971	The Pierre Berton Show		Himself	Canada - Screen Gems
1972	Enjoy Yourself Tonight	歡樂今宵	Himself	Hong Kong - TVB
1993	Fame in the Twentieth Century		Himself	U.K. - BBC
1999	Famous Families		Himself	U.S. - FOX	Episode: "The Lees: Action Speaks Louder"
2003	I Love the '70s		Lee	U.S. - MTV
2007	La Rentadora		Himself	Spain - TV3	Episode: "Be Water My Friend"

Note: all the series produced after Lee's death (1973) feature archival footage of Lee.

Documentaries

Year	Documentary title	Chinese title	Notes
1973	Bruce Lee, the Man and the Legend	李小龍的生與死	Updated in 1984 and re-titled Bruce Lee, the Legend
	The Real Bruce Lee
	The Last Days of Bruce Lee
1974	Kung Fu Killers
1984	Bruce Lee, the Legend	李小龍的生與死(下)	Golden Harvest tribute; focused on their films starring Lee. Featured on the Hong Kong Legends Bruce Lee, the Man and the Legend DVD.
1990	The Best of the Martial Arts Films	金裝武術電影大全
1990	Bruce Lee - Best of the Best
1992	Bruce Lee and Kung Fu Mania
1993	Top Fighter
	The Life of Bruce Lee
	Bruce Lee: The Curse of the Dragon		Included on Enter the Dragon DVDs and Blu-rays
	Death by Misadventure
1994	Bruce Lee: The Lost Interview
	Cinema of Vengeance		History of martial arts cinema with clips of Lee
	Bruce Lee: The Immortal Dragon		Biography episode; available on DVD
1998	Bruce Lee: The Path of the Dragon
	Bruce Lee: In His Own Words		Featurette on Enter the Dragon DVDs and Blu-rays
	Mystic Origins of the Martial Arts
	The Immortal Masters
	Jackie Chan: My Story	成龍的傳奇
1999	Century Hero
1999	Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 2
2000	Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey	李小龍：死亡遊戲之旅	Found as a special feature on the 2004 DVD release of Enter the Dragon. Also on HD DVD and Blu-ray.
2000	Bruce Lee in G.O.D.: Shibōteki Yūgi	Bruce Lee in G.O.D. 死亡的遊戲
2001	The Unbeatable Bruce Lee
2002	Bruce Lee: The Legend Lives On
	The Art of Action: Martial Arts in Motion Picture	功夫片歲月
	Jackie Chan: Fast, Funny and Furious
	Modern Warriors
2003	Cinema Hong Kong: Kung Fu	電影香江：功夫世家
2004	Dragon: Since 1973	龍：一九七三以後
2009	Sebring
2011	I Am Bruce Lee
2013	Fighter of Death
2020	Be Water		Part of ESPN Films' 30 for 30

Note: all the documentaries listed here were produced after Lee's death; therefore, all the Lee footage is composed of archive footage and some never-before-seen footage.

Video games

Year	Video game title	Role	Notes
1984	Bruce Lee	Himself
1984	Kung-Fu Master	Thomas	Originally based on Game of Death
1989	Bruce Lee Lives	Himself
1993	Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story	Himself
2002	Bruce Lee: Quest of the Dragon	Himself
2003	Bruce Lee: Return of the Legend	Himself
2010	Bruce Lee: Dragon Warrior	Himself	Smartphone game Limited release
2011	Kung Fu Warrior	Himself	Smartphone game
2014	EA Sports UFC	Himself	PS4 and Xbox One game
2014	Bruce Lee: Enter The Game	Himself	Smartphone game
2018	Bruce Lee Dragon Run	Himself	Smartphone game

Notes

^ In the United States and Canada, the film earned $2.4 million in theatrical rentals.^[1] This was equivalent to estimated box office gross receipts of approximately $8 million.^[2]
^ See The Big Boss § Box office
^ See Fist of Fury § Box office
^ See The Way of the Dragon § Box office
^ See Enter the Dragon § Box office
^ See Game of Death § Box office
^ See Circle of Iron § Box office
^ See Game of Death II § Box office

References

^ "Big Rental Films of 1969", Variety, 7 January 1970 p 15
^ Vogel, Harold L. (2010). "Table 3.4. Motion picture theater industry statistics, 1965-2009". Entertainment Industry Economics: A Guide for Financial Analysis. Cambridge University Press. pp. 88–9. ISBN 978-1-139-49732-9. 1965 (...) MPAA U.S. + Canadian rentals % of BO (...) 29.8

External links

Bruce Lee at the Hong Kong Movie Database
Bruce Lee at Hong Kong Cinemagic
Bruce Lee at IMDb

[3] In the United States and Canada, the film earned $2.4 million in theatrical rentals.^[1] This was equivalent to estimated box office gross receipts of approximately $8 million.^[2]

[4] See The Big Boss § Box office

[5] See Fist of Fury § Box office

[6] See The Way of the Dragon § Box office

[7] See Enter the Dragon § Box office

[8] See Game of Death § Box office

[9] See Circle of Iron § Box office

[10] See Game of Death II § Box office

[1] "Big Rental Films of 1969", Variety, 7 January 1970 p 15

[2] Vogel, Harold L. (2010). "Table 3.4. Motion picture theater industry statistics, 1965-2009". Entertainment Industry Economics: A Guide for Financial Analysis. Cambridge University Press. pp. 88–9. ISBN 978-1-139-49732-9. 1965 (...) MPAA U.S. + Canadian rentals % of BO (...) 29.8

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[b]

[c]

[d]

[e]

[f]

[g]

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@@ Line 75: / Line 75: @@
 | [[1974 in film|1974]] || ''The Green Hornet'' || 青蜂侠 || [[Kato (The Green Hornet)|Kato]] || A compilation of episodes from the TV series edited together and released as a feature film<br />Released one year after Lee's death
 |-
-| rowspan="2" | [[1978 in film|1978]] || ''[[Game of Death#Game of Death (1978)|Game of Death]]'' || 死亡遊戲 || Billy Lo || There are two versions of this film, each one with a different plot (the original from an incomplete 1972 film and the 1978 build doing a "footage mashup")<br />Lee was shown in incomplete original footage from 1972, plus stock footage from ''Enter the Dragon'' and other films<br />The original was finally released as a short film in the year 2000
+| rowspan="2" | [[1978 in film|1978]] || ''[[Game of Death#Game of Death (1978)|Game of Death]]'' || 死亡遊戲 || Billy Lo || There are two versions of this film, each one with a different plot (the original from an incomplete 1972 film and the 1978 build doing a "footage mashup")<br />Lee was shown in incomplete original footage from 1972, plus stock footage from ''Enter the Dragon'' and other films<br />The original was finally released as a short film in the year 2000. {{Simple|The Game of Death}}
 |-
 | ''[[Circle of Iron]]'' || || || Co-writer<br />a.k.a. ''The Silent Flute''<br />Film co-written by Bruce Lee, who was seeking to illustrate the differences between Eastern and Western philosophies