Over 100 movies starring names like Bruce Li, Bruce Lai, Bruce Le, Bruce Thai, Dragon Lee, Conan Lee, and Bronson Lee came to define this sub-genre.
How Bruce Lee was cloned by over 10 Kung Fu stars
When Bruce Lee passed away in 1973, a cinematic cottage industry called Bruceploitation grew out of his tragic celebrity and thereby created Bruce Lee clones.
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The movies they put out were Re-Enter the Dragon, Enter Three Dragons, Return of Bruce, Enter Another Dragon, Return of the Fists of Fury, Enter the Game of Death etc.
Jackie Chan as a clone
New Fist of Fury starred a young Jackie Chan. The film was billed as a sequel to “Fist of Fury” and was supposed to make Chan the new Lee.
However, Chan messed that plan up by saying: “I never wanted to be the next Bruce Lee. I just wanted to be the first Jackie Chan.”
How Bruce Lee became a legend
By the early 1970s, Bruce had already starred in three movies, all shot in Hong Kong. These were Big Boss, Fists of Fury and the Way of the Dragon.
However, "When the seminal martial arts film Enter the Dragon premiered in August 1973, it was exactly what Bruce Lee had been waiting for: A starring role in a Hollywood production.”
The film was a majestic mix of part Kung fu, part blaxploitation, and all action.
It was an instant hit at the box office, grossing over $200 million in the United States, even beating out a Steve McQueen film, and was Warner Brothers' top grossing film internationally that year.
It sparked an explosion of martial arts movies — which until then had largely only existed in Hong Kong. It was supposed to make Bruce Lee a star.
"Enter the Dragon was really a very precious project for him," says Shannon Lee, Bruce's daughter. "And the one that he had been waiting for."
What Bruce Lee wanted to do was to create a heroic Asian male character, but a month before the film's premiere, he died.
“Instead of becoming a star, he became a legend,” added his daughter.
This explains why there we so many Bruce clones, all hoping to have a piece of that legendary status.
However, one potential Bruce Lee clone went his own way and is arguably a bigger star than Bruce: Jackie Chan has an Oscar, over 200 movies and over 300 awards
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