‘Enter the Dragon’ to Return to Theaters for 50th Anniversary!!

This August Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon will celebrate its 50th anniversary in style. The movie is getting a 4K restoration and will be in theatres next month, set to enchant new and old audiences alike. A new restored trailer for the martial arts classic has been released and it is everything fans could ask for.

The restored trailer takes one back to Han’s deadly tournament and gives the audience a fresh perspective to the age-old tale. The trailer promises the same action-packed ride with vivid visuals. Enter the Dragon sees Lee as a martial arts expert who is engaged by the government to take down a crime lord, who is also responsible for Lee’s sister’s death. As he enters a kung fu competition in an attempt to fight his way to the dealer’s headquarters, he makes new friends.

The Legacy of Enter the Dragon

Enter the Dragon is Lee’s final completed before his death in July 1973. The movie directed by Robert Clouse from a story written by Michael Allin seamlessly combines the elements of spy film with the then-emerging blaxploitation genre. The success of the feature paved the way for a number of movies in the sub-genre and its influence is still undeniable on the worldwide box office. Back in the day it grossed over US$400 million worldwide against a budget of $850,000 essentially earning 400 times more than its budget putting it in the coveted category of the most profitable films of all time.

While the West had seen a very cliché version of Asian characters on screen in the 70s, Enter the Dragon broke many conventions from the diversity of the characters to how action is handled in the movie. The movie’s success contributed to mainstream interest in forms of martial arts and also inspired numerous action films, television shows, games, comic books, manga and anime, which are pretty popular today.

The movie also stars John Saxon as Roper, Jim Kelly as Williams, Ahna Capri as Tania, Shih Kien as Han, Bob Wall as O’Hara, Angela Mao Ying as Su Lin, Betty Chung as Mei Ling, Geoffrey Weeks as Braithwaite. Further, rounding off the cast are Yang Sze as Bolo, Peter Archer as Parsons, while Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan, and Yuen Wah appear in uncredited roles.