When Bruce Lee died in 1973 at the peak of his superstardom, he had completed only four feature films
But within hours of his funeral, Hong Kong movie studios began to produce hundreds of unauthorized biopics, sequels, prequels, spinoffs, and rip-offs starring a competing series of Lee lookalikes. Over the next decade, fueled by both deception and demand, ‘Bruceploitation’ would become a staple of global cinema.