Birth of the Dragon (2016)

Set against the backdrop of 1960s San Francisco, BIRTH OF THE DRAGON is a modern take on the classic movies that Bruce Lee was known for. It takes its inspiration from the epic and still controversial showdown between an up-and-coming Bruce Lee and kung fu master Wong Jack Man - a battle that gave birth to a legend.

Director:

George Nolfi

Writers:

Stephen J. Rivele, Christopher Wilkinson

Stars:

Billy Magnussen, Yu Xia, Philip Ng

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Yu Xia	...	Wong Jack Man (as Xia Yu)
Wang Xi'An	...	Tai Chi Grandmaster / Wang Lian
Hai Yu	...	Shaolin Abbot (as Yu Hai)
Yue Wu	...	Wang Biao (as Wu Yue)
Billy Magnussen	...	Steve McKee
Steven Roberts	...	Beat Poet (as Steven F. Roberts)
Riley Wood	...	Hippie Girl
Philip Ng	...	Bruce Lee (as Philip Wan-Lung Ng)
Simon Yin	...	Vinnie Wei
Terry Chen	...	Frankie Chen
Ron Yuan	...	Tony Yu
Lillian Lim	...	Janet Wei
Yee Jee Tso	...	Winston Peng
Jingjing Qu	...	Xiulan Quan (as Qu Jingjing)
Simon Chin	...	Wai Fu

Storyline

In 1964, a young Bruce Lee owns and operates a San Francisco Kung Fu Academy, specializing in the Chinese martial art Wing Chun. Lee cares for his students, providing advice, roles as extras in his upcoming projects, and defending them from the gangs of Chinatown. One of Lee's students, Steve McKee, spars with Lee while fighting in anger, causing Lee to counter and embarrass him. McKee and Vinnie Wei work for the latter's mother's laundry business, where they find out that master Wong Jack Man is on a pilgrimage from China to observe the Kung Fu scene in the United States. While carrying out a delivery to the China Gate restaurant, McKee falls for an employee, Xiulan, who is forbidden to communicate with anyone on the outside. One night, McKee sneaks over to the restaurant to give her a grammar book, teaching her fellow roommates basic English..

---

Plot Keywords:

bruce lee character | 

---

Taglines:

The Fight That Created The Legend

---

Genres:

Action | Biography | Drama

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for martial arts violence, language and thematic elements

Did You Know?

Trivia

The character of Steve McKee was based on actor Steve McQueen who studied with Bruce Lee in the late 1960s.

---

Goofs

The movie falsely has Lee working on a martial arts film starring himself to boost his profile. At this time in his life Lee, who had starred in 20 films in Hong Kong before coming to the US, had given up acting to concentrate on his Martial Arts studies.

---

Quotes

Bruce Lee: You're a great advertisement for our training.
[telling a former student he sees badly beaten in an alley way]
Steve McKee: I'm fine.
[he says weakly]

---

Crazy Credits

A few of the job titles in the scrolling credits such as "stunt coordinator" and "set designer" change back and forth from English to Chinese.

---

Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Movies You're Glad You Missed This Summer (2017)

User Reviews

Without dissecting actual events vs. Hollywood version, this film was still enjoyable

Sure there are added characters and the story is not accurate, but the premise is - the Bruce Lee & Wong Jack Man conflict. And even though the origin of this film has been adapted for a "Hollywood story", I still had difficulty getting past the poor acting. The fight choreography was decent though. A 7/10 from me

Details

Country:

China Canada USA

Language:

English Mandarin

Release Date:

25 August 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

Birth of the Dragon

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$31,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,702,430, 27 August 2017

Gross USA:

$6,901,965

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$7,215,027

Company Credits

Production Co:

Anomaly Entertainment, Groundswell Productions, Kylin Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Color:

Color