Hong Kong The Way of the Dragon returned 207.7× its production cost, earning $27.0M against a $130K budget — one of the highest-return Hong Kong films in our catalog.
Synopsis
猛龍過江
“The Colosseum . . the battleground of Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris.”
Tang Lung arrives in Rome to help his cousins in the restaurant business. They are being pressured to sell their property to the syndicate, who will stop at nothing to get what they want. When Tang arrives he poses a new threat to the syndicate, and they are unable to defeat him. The syndicate boss hires the best Japanese and European martial artists to fight Tang, but he easily finishes them off.
The 1971–1973 Hong Kong Window
28 Hong Kong films released in this three-year window, ranked here by audience rating. The Way of the Dragon sits at position #3.
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with The Way of the Dragon. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From Orange Sky Golden Harvest
The 1970s Hong Kong Landscape
Catalog density by release year in the 1970s. Highlighted year (yellow) is when The Way of the Dragon premiered. 122 total titles in this decade from Hong Kong.
Budget & Box Office Efficiency
At a 1h 40m runtime, production spent $1K per minute on screen and earned $270K per minute back.
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #45 of 836 Hong Kong films indexed here (95th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +1.1 points above the Hong Kong average of 6.3/10.
Among Hong Kong Action productions specifically: #21 of 516 (top 4%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Hong Kong |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Cantonese |
| Spoken Languages | Cantonese, Mandarin, English, Italian |
| Production Companies | Orange Sky Golden Harvest, Concord Productions |
| Runtime | 1h 40m |
| Release Date | June 1, 1972 |
| IMDb | tt0068935 |
External Catalogs
Questions Answered
Was The Way of the Dragon profitable?
Yes — The Way of the Dragon earned $27.0M against a production budget of $130K, a return of 207.7× its cost.
How highly rated is The Way of the Dragon?
Among Hong Kong Asian filmss in this catalog, The Way of the Dragon ranks #45 of 836 — in the top 5%.