Posted Tue Mar 5, 2013 at 08:00 AM PST by Tom Landy
The Bruce Lee classic will be getting a re-mastered double dip this summer!
In an early announcement to retailers, Warner Brothers is working on 'Enter the Dragon: 40th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition' for Blu-ray on June 11.
Bruce Lee was an incredible athlete and mixed martial artist who, despite making a limited number of movies during his short life, became a charismatic megastar and left a permanent mark on cinema and popular culture. Even Time Magazine agreed. They included Lee in the “100 Most Important People of the 20th century” issue (Heroes and Icons 1999*). 'Enter the Dragon' continues to resonate with today’s audiences. It was a major theatrical hit 40 years ago, grossing approximately $25 million domestically – the equivalent of almost $180 million in today’s box-office. 'Enter the Dragon' has sold more than 450,000 units on DVD and Blu-ray since 2004. In 2004, 'Enter the Dragon' was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." It also received a 95% positive rating on the critics’ review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes (www.rottentomatoes.com).
Lee was born in San Francisco on November 27, 1940. As a young boy in Hong Kong, he acted in some 20 films there and first became known in the U.S. in 1966 for his role as sidekick Kato in TV’s “The Green Hornet.” He also appeared in TV shows like “Ironside” and “Longstreet,” with his most notable American role coming in the 1969 movie, Marlowe, starring James Garner. Returning to Hong Kong, Lee starred in a number of successful films for Raymond Chow’s Golden Harvest Productions and soon became a superstar in China. His enormous overseas success ultimately reached Hollywood and the attention of filmmaker Fred Weintraub and Warner Bros., who produced 'Enter the Dragon' and tapped the actor to star. Lee died suddenly in Hong Kong, at the age of 32, of a cerebral edema. That was on July 20, 1973, less than a month before the film’s August 17 U.S. premiere. Posthumously, 'Enter the Dragon' rocketed him to international superstardom.
'Enter the Dragon' producer Fred Weintraub, who also wrote the book Bruce Lee, Woodstock, and Me said: “If fans want to hail Bruce as the greatest and most influential martial artist who ever lived, you’ll get no argument from me. He was a shining star who streaked across the night sky of our collective awareness in a flash of white hot unsustainable intensity only to burn up in the atmosphere of fame, wealth, and worldwide adulation. Watching him again (this time even better on Blu-ray), you can see why he became the first international superstar from a third world country.”
The film, which helped bring interest in the Asian martial arts genre to mainstream Western cinema, has been re-mastered for its 40th anniversary, and will now feature new bonus materials, such as the featurette, No Way as Way, on the legacy of Bruce Lee, plus other featurettes and commentary. Memorabilia -- which includes collectible art cards, lenticular card and an embroidered patch --are also part of the giftset.
Suggested list price for the Blu-ray set is $49.99.
You can find the latest specs for 'Enter the Dragon: 40th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it is indexed under June 11.
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