While he died shockingly young at the age of just 32, Bruce Lee established himself as one of the most important figures in film history. As an action star his appeal to moviegoers around the world was unparallelled and as a creative and martial artist, he was consistently pushing himself to his limits. Yet because of his untimely death, we only got four movies with him in the lead role. Five, if you count the unfinished Game of Death, of which Lee basically only shot the finale. However, he was in the Hong Kong film industry from the time he was an infant, moving over into Hollywood with his breakout role as Kato in The Green Hornet.
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That show only lasted 26 episodes, but after it ended, he began working as an action director on major movies including The Wrecking Crew with Dean Martin (this is the film we see Margot Robbie’s Sharon Tate watch “herself” in in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood). And, after filling that role in a few movies, he went back to Hong Kong for his first lead role in The Big Boss. And, after that, Fist of Fury, which was released 54 years ago today, and set an extremely impressive record.
What Record Did Fist of Fury Set?
Long story short, Fist of Fury became the highest-grossing Hong Kong film at the time. But let’s unpack that further. First off, the movie it unseated for the throne was none other than The Big Boss. With just his first film, Lee set records. Then he set it again with this one and, when his third lead role movie, The Way of the Dragon (Featuring his iconic fight with the late Chuck Norris), came out, he set it once more. If the pattern weren’t clear enough, his fourth, final, and most beloved completed film, Enter the Dragon, did even better.
When The Big Boss hit Hong Kong cinemas, it made a grand total of HK$3.2 million. That amounted to an estimated 1.2 million tickets sold in a locale with a population of four million. When Fist of Fury hit theaters the next year, however, its gross exceeded Big Boss by HK$1.2 million. Even better is the fact that it topped the U.S. box office, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and France. By the time Lee’s sophomore leading man movie had left theaters it had earned 1,000 times its $100,000 budget.
Compare that to The Big Boss, which netted $50 million against its own $100,000 budget. That goes to show how, in just one year, Lee blew up the world over. Fist of Fury wasn’t the end of his 1972 dominance, though, because towards the end of the year The Way of the Dragon made $130 million worldwide against $130,000, repeating his times 1,000 return on investment. As for Enter the Dragon, which first premiered in Hong Kong less than a week after Lee’s death, it made $400 million against $850,000 (a massive jump, but one well worth it). To this day, Enter the Dragon remains one of the most successful films of all time adjusted for inflation.
As for Fist of Fury, it ended up getting a sequel in 1976 that effectively repeated history. New Fist of Fury didn’t necessarily hold a candle to its predecessor’s financial viability, but it did help give rise to another Hong Kong megastar: Jackie Chan, in his first lead role.
Stream Fist of Fury & New Fist of Fury for free on Tubi.
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