Bruce Lee had several clashes with Warner Bros. over Enter the Dragon and its title. The 1973 martial arts film was a new experience for both the actor and the studio, as it marked Lee’s first Hollywood movie and Warner Bros’ first foray into the kung fu genre on the big screen. For years, Lee had dreamed of starring in big-budget Hollywood movies but wasn’t able to generate enough interest with the higher-ups, even after playing Kato in ABC’s The Green Hornet show.
After leaving the United States, Lee signed a contract with Hong Kong studio Golden Harvest and made three kung fu movies. Thanks to his success in the Hong Kong movie industry, Lee finally got what he wanted: an offer from Hollywood to play the lead role in a martial arts movie. Having taken notice of Lee’s growing fame in Hong Kong, Warner Bros. convinced Golden Harvest founder Raymond Chow to co-finance the film, which turned out to be a huge box office success in the aftermath of Lee’s death in July 1973.
While Lee was naturally enthusiastic about getting the chance to make Enter the Dragon with Warner Bros., he didn’t hesitate to fight the studio whenever he took issue with one of their decisions. In Bruce Lee: A Life by Matthew Polly, it’s explained that one of the biggest problems Lee had was the title, which was supposed to be Blood and Steel. From the beginning, Lee was insistent on retitling it Enter the Dragon, but this plan faced resistance from executives. This was originally a title he had intended to use for his third movie but ultimately went with Way of the Dragon instead. He wanted Enter the Dragon for his fourth film mostly because it put the focus on him (Bruce Lee’s nickname was “Little Dragon”).
His interest made sense because as Polly notes in his book, the movie centered on a multiracial trio; Bruce Lee (an Asian actor), John Saxon (a white actor) and Jim Kelly (a Black actor). According to Polly, Lee was determined to make sure Warner Bros. didn’t re-edit the movie and make Saxon the star during post-production. Lee continued to lobby hard for the title change, but Warner Bros. didn’t like the idea, with studio president Ted Ashley expressing concern people would mistake it for a monster movie.
Eventually, Warner Bros. tried to appease Lee by scrapping Blood and Steel and going with the title, Han’s Island, which was the setting of the movie and would have been appropriate to the story; Lee remained undeterred. He received an advantage in their fight when Warner Bros. came to realize just how big Enter the Dragon was going to be. When Five Fingers of Death with Lo Lieh (a Hong Kong kung fu movie) released in the United States and performed well, the studio’s confidence in Lee’s film reached new heights. It developed plans for a franchise but Lee refused to commit. He told them he wouldn’t return for a sequel if they didn’t use his title. Knowing Lee had to be on board, the studio. finally conceded. Looking at how the movie is now perceived as one of the greatest and most successful martial arts movies of all time, it’s hard to argue with the notion that Lee was right all along about Enter the Dragon.