The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss
Encyclopedia
The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss, also known as Stoner, A Man Called Stoner, and Hong Kong Hitman is a Hong Kong
film which was produced by Raymond Chow
and directed by Huang Feng
. The film was released in 1974
. It was originally scheduled to be Bruce Lee
's next film after Game of Death
1978. However Lee died while filming Game of Death in 1973 and that film's release date was delayed by 5 years.
ese film star Sonny Chiba
as well. The film was to pit Lee against "The Western Adversary" played by James Bond
star George Lazenby
. Lazenby had been signed to a multi-picture deal by Lee and Chow during Game of Death and was to star in that film, as well as 2 subsequent films with Lee. The film's original tagline was "It's Lee! It's Lazenby! It's Bruce Versus Bond!".
Warner Brothers was going to co-produce and distribute the film before Lee's sudden death and was going to give The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss a large worldwide release, a $10,000,000 production budget and a $10,000,000 worldwide marketing budget (which was astronomical at that time - as a comparison the 1974 James Bond film The Man With The Golden Gun
also a 1974 release had only a $7,000,000 production budget and a $6,000,000 worldwide marketing budget). Forecasts for The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss worldwide box office gross were around $400,000,000. This based on Lee's previous two films. Enter the Dragon
(1973) cost just $850,000 to produce and also had a $10,000,000 worldwide marketing budget, and in turn it grossed more than $265,000,000 worldwide at the box office (through 2006), making it the 2nd highest grossing movie worldwide of the year 1973, behind The Exorcist
.
Enter the Dragon grossed more than $21,000,000 in the US just in 1973 alone and more than $4,000,000 in the US in 1974. Through 2006 the film has grossed more than $115,000,000 in the US alone. It grossed more than $65,000,000 overseas through 1973, and more than $90,000,000 overseas through 1974. Through 2006 it has grossed more than $150,000,000 overseas. Lee's film prior to Enter the Dragon, Way of the Dragon
(1973), had cost just $130,000 to produce and about $1,000,000 to market worldwide and it in turn grossed more than $85,000,000 worldwide at the box office, which made it the 6th highest grossing film worldwide of 1973.
So considering that Way of the Dragon grossed more than $85,000,000 at the box office worldwide with just a $130,000 production budget/$1,000,000 marketing budget, and that Enter the Dragon grossed more than $265,000,000 at the box office worldwide with just an $850,000 production budget/$10,000,000 marketing budget, then it isn't too far-fetched to realize Warner Brother's $400 million gross prediction for Shrine with its $20,000,000 total cost in production and marketing, as well as Lazenby and Chiba joining Lee in the cast.
Interestingly enough, George Lazenby had said that one of the main reasons that he quit the role of Bond was because he felt that he could gross more at the box office in other films. The Bond film The Man With The Golden Gun
(1974), ended up grossing $97,600,000 worldwide, so if not for Lee's sudden death, Lazenby's quite bold and now rather infamous prediction may have come true.
. Third, Lee's death brought terrible press, especially since the film's other star Lazenby was supposed to have dinner with Lee the very night he died. Fourth, Warner Brothers then dropped out and the film lost its large worldwide theatrical distribution. And finally, because of all of this Raymond Chow cut the film's production budget from $10,000,000 to $850,000 and severely cut the marketing budget to cover the film's new small theatrical release. Although this was still an enormous production budget for a Hong Kong based film at that time, and actually matched Enter the Dragon as the most expensive martial arts film of all time at that point, the huge cut in marketing and loss of worldwide distribution greatly hurt the film's box office.
Despite this the film still featured former 007 Lazenby, whom despite being tabbed by the press as a "failed Bond financially," had still nonetheless grossed well over $100 million worldwide at the box office in the early 1970s, as his Bond
film On Her Majesty's Secret Service
(1969) had grossed $87,400,000 worldwide through 1970, and his subsequent two films Universal Soldier (1971 film)
(1971) and Who Saw Her Die?
(1972) had pushed him over the $100 million mark at the box office, which at that time established actor's as international super stars. Even though Lazenby never got that label in the US or UK from the press, in reality it was true as he had tremendous box office success in Europe
, Asia
, and Australia
(he actually outgrossed Steve McQueen
in that time as just one example. So the film still had Chow's studio behind it, a big international star, and a large budget for a martial arts film.
To try and keep the success of Lee's films going, Chow added in Asian
stars Angela Mao
, Betty Ting Pei, and Sammo Hung
and also well-known Australian wrestler Roger Ward to the film's cast along with Lazenby. In addition to this he also enlisted rival studio Shaw Brothers run by Run Run Shaw
as another producer to help pay for the film's huge production cost based on Hong Kong film industry standards. Chow also kept producer Andre Morgan onboard as he had helped with Lee's films and this would help to bring video revenue years later.
studios are probably the second best in the genre of that era after Lee's. Although without Lee and a large international release Shrine obviously fell short of the box office of Lee's previous 2 films. Nonetheless, The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss was very successful financially. No terms of what the film grossed worldwide were ever released by Golden Harvest or Run Run, but some journalist's estimates put it as high as $25 million worldwide, with another $10–$15 million worldwide in video revenue later on in the 1980s. Considering the film's cost and the fact that its initial theatrical release was very limited by number of countries and screens, that was an astonishing feat.
Whether the film actually took in around $25,000,000 worldwide at the box office (about $103,000,000 in today's money) is debatable, but what is not debatable is that within just 2 months of the film's release in Hong Kong, large production studios from both the UK and Australia were already in negotiation with Chow to co-produce Lazenby's next martial arts film, The Man From Hong Kong
(1975), which Chow had already approved at the highest budget ever for a Hong Kong film or martial arts film, surpassing the previous record held by Enter the Dragon and Shrine. In fact, one UK production company wanted to co-produce Lazenby's next 2 films, just 2 months after Shrine's release. The Man From Hong Kong and A Queen's Ransom (1976), which was Lazenby's third Golden Harvest film were then both given large scale international theatrical releases, and Man From Hong Kong even had a wide US release the same year it was released in Hong Kong, something only Hong Kong films starring Bruce Lee had previously accomplished. So although The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss never turned out to be what it could have, it still was remarkably successful and it still holds firm as one of the all-time classic 1970s martial arts flicks.
On a side-note, Lazenby was reportedly paid (according to the Hong Kong and Australian presses at the time) $220,000 USD to make The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss. The $10,000 USD figure that imdb.com lists was actually his salary per week. Lazenby was paid $10,000 US per week for his acting, plus $1,000 US per week for expenses for a total of $11,000 US per week for each of his 3 Golden Harvest films. Each film covered about 20 weeks worth of work, so Lazenby earned $220,000 US per film. Only Bruce Lee commanded more in Hong Kong, earning $12,500 ($1,000 of it for living expenses) per week. After Lee died, Lazenby was the highest paid actor in Hong Kong for the next 3 years, with his $11,000 per week salary. The next highest paid actor in Hong Kong was Lazenby's co-star in The Man From Hong Kong and A Queen's Ransom, actor Jimmy Wang Yu
, who earned a total salary of just $2,500 per week.
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
film which was produced by Raymond Chow
Raymond Chow
Raymond Chow Man-Wai is a Hong Kong film producer, and presenter and was responsible for successfully launching martial arts and the Hong Kong cinema onto the international stage...
and directed by Huang Feng
Huang Feng
Huang Feng is a Hong Kong based film director, screenwriter, and actor.-Filmography:* Frosty Night * A Marriage for Love * Appointment After Dark...
. The film was released in 1974
Hong Kong films of 1974
A list of films produced in Hong Kong in 1974:.-1974:-External links:* * Hong Kong films of 1974 at...
. It was originally scheduled to be Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee was a Chinese American, Hong Kong actor, martial arts instructor, philosopher, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and founder of the Jeet Kune Do martial arts movement...
's next film after Game of Death
Game of Death
The Game of Death is a 1972 film starring Bruce Lee. It was almost the last film Bruce Lee had planned to be the demonstration piece of his martial art Jeet Kune Do. Over 100 minutes of footage was shot before his death, some of which was later misplaced in the Golden Harvest archives...
1978. However Lee died while filming Game of Death in 1973 and that film's release date was delayed by 5 years.
Production
Originally, The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss was to star not only Lee, but also JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese film star Sonny Chiba
Sonny Chiba
, also known as Sonny Chiba, is a Japanese actor, singer, film producer, film director and martial artist.Chiba was one of the first actors to achieve stardom through his skills in martial arts, initially in Japan and later before an international audience.- Early life :Born in Fukuoka, Fukuoka,...
as well. The film was to pit Lee against "The Western Adversary" played by James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
star George Lazenby
George Lazenby
George Robert Lazenby is an Australian actor and former model, best known for portraying James Bond in the 1969 film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.-Early life:...
. Lazenby had been signed to a multi-picture deal by Lee and Chow during Game of Death and was to star in that film, as well as 2 subsequent films with Lee. The film's original tagline was "It's Lee! It's Lazenby! It's Bruce Versus Bond!".
Warner Brothers was going to co-produce and distribute the film before Lee's sudden death and was going to give The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss a large worldwide release, a $10,000,000 production budget and a $10,000,000 worldwide marketing budget (which was astronomical at that time - as a comparison the 1974 James Bond film The Man With The Golden Gun
The Man with the Golden Gun (film)
The Man with the Golden Gun is the ninth spy film in the James Bond series and the second to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond...
also a 1974 release had only a $7,000,000 production budget and a $6,000,000 worldwide marketing budget). Forecasts for The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss worldwide box office gross were around $400,000,000. This based on Lee's previous two films. Enter the Dragon
Enter the Dragon
Enter the Dragon is a 1973 Hong Kong martial arts co-production with Golden Harvest and Warner Bros. studios, directed by Robert Clouse; starring Bruce Lee, Jim Kelly and John Saxon. This is Bruce Lee's final film appearance before his death on July 20, 1973...
(1973) cost just $850,000 to produce and also had a $10,000,000 worldwide marketing budget, and in turn it grossed more than $265,000,000 worldwide at the box office (through 2006), making it the 2nd highest grossing movie worldwide of the year 1973, behind The Exorcist
The Exorcist (film)
The Exorcist is a 1973 American horror film directed by William Friedkin, adapted from the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty and based on the exorcism case of Robbie Mannheim, dealing with the demonic possession of a young girl and her mother’s desperate attempts to win back her...
.
Enter the Dragon grossed more than $21,000,000 in the US just in 1973 alone and more than $4,000,000 in the US in 1974. Through 2006 the film has grossed more than $115,000,000 in the US alone. It grossed more than $65,000,000 overseas through 1973, and more than $90,000,000 overseas through 1974. Through 2006 it has grossed more than $150,000,000 overseas. Lee's film prior to Enter the Dragon, Way of the Dragon
Way of the Dragon
The Way of the Dragon is a 1972 Hong Kong martial arts film written, produced, directed by and starring Bruce Lee.- Plot :Tang Lung is sent from Hong Kong to Rome to help his friend's niece Chen Ching Hua, and family friends, whose restaurant is being targeted by the local Mafia, which has been...
(1973), had cost just $130,000 to produce and about $1,000,000 to market worldwide and it in turn grossed more than $85,000,000 worldwide at the box office, which made it the 6th highest grossing film worldwide of 1973.
So considering that Way of the Dragon grossed more than $85,000,000 at the box office worldwide with just a $130,000 production budget/$1,000,000 marketing budget, and that Enter the Dragon grossed more than $265,000,000 at the box office worldwide with just an $850,000 production budget/$10,000,000 marketing budget, then it isn't too far-fetched to realize Warner Brother's $400 million gross prediction for Shrine with its $20,000,000 total cost in production and marketing, as well as Lazenby and Chiba joining Lee in the cast.
Interestingly enough, George Lazenby had said that one of the main reasons that he quit the role of Bond was because he felt that he could gross more at the box office in other films. The Bond film The Man With The Golden Gun
The Man with the Golden Gun (film)
The Man with the Golden Gun is the ninth spy film in the James Bond series and the second to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond...
(1974), ended up grossing $97,600,000 worldwide, so if not for Lee's sudden death, Lazenby's quite bold and now rather infamous prediction may have come true.
Aftermath of Bruce Lee's death
When Lee died the film's destiny took a turn for the worst. First, Lee, who may have been the biggest star in the world at the time the film was to be shot, was now not going to be in the film. Second, upon hearing of Lee's death, Chiba refused to sign his contract for the film and promptly flew back to JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Third, Lee's death brought terrible press, especially since the film's other star Lazenby was supposed to have dinner with Lee the very night he died. Fourth, Warner Brothers then dropped out and the film lost its large worldwide theatrical distribution. And finally, because of all of this Raymond Chow cut the film's production budget from $10,000,000 to $850,000 and severely cut the marketing budget to cover the film's new small theatrical release. Although this was still an enormous production budget for a Hong Kong based film at that time, and actually matched Enter the Dragon as the most expensive martial arts film of all time at that point, the huge cut in marketing and loss of worldwide distribution greatly hurt the film's box office.
Despite this the film still featured former 007 Lazenby, whom despite being tabbed by the press as a "failed Bond financially," had still nonetheless grossed well over $100 million worldwide at the box office in the early 1970s, as his Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
film On Her Majesty's Secret Service
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (film)
On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the sixth spy film in the James Bond series, based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. Following the decision of Sean Connery to retire from the role after You Only Live Twice, Eon Productions selected an unknown actor and model, George Lazenby...
(1969) had grossed $87,400,000 worldwide through 1970, and his subsequent two films Universal Soldier (1971 film)
Universal Soldier (1971 film)
Universal Soldier is a 1971 film starring George Lazenby as a mercenary.The film had a £1,000,000 production budget. George Lazenby and his manager, Ronan O'Rahilly, financed the film and were the executive producers. The film was directed by controversial director Cy Endfield...
(1971) and Who Saw Her Die?
Who Saw Her Die?
Who Saw Her Die? is a 1972 thriller film directed by Aldo Lado and starring George Lazenby. In this film, the parents of a murdered woman search for the killer as the body count grows.-Cast:* George Lazenby - Franco Serpieri...
(1972) had pushed him over the $100 million mark at the box office, which at that time established actor's as international super stars. Even though Lazenby never got that label in the US or UK from the press, in reality it was true as he had tremendous box office success in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
(he actually outgrossed Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen
Terrence Steven "Steve" McQueen was an American movie actor. He was nicknamed "The King of Cool." His "anti-hero" persona, which he developed at the height of the Vietnam counterculture, made him one of the top box-office draws of the 1960s and 1970s. McQueen received an Academy Award nomination...
in that time as just one example. So the film still had Chow's studio behind it, a big international star, and a large budget for a martial arts film.
To try and keep the success of Lee's films going, Chow added in Asian
Asian people
Asian people or Asiatic people is a term with multiple meanings that refers to people who descend from a portion of Asia's population.- Central Asia :...
stars Angela Mao
Angela Mao
Angela Mao is a martial arts film actress best known for the string of kung fu films in which she starred during the 1970s. She is also known as Mao Ying, Angela Mao Ying, and Mao Fu Ying...
, Betty Ting Pei, and Sammo Hung
Sammo Hung
Sammo Hung is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film producer and director, known for his work in many martial arts films and Hong Kong action cinema...
and also well-known Australian wrestler Roger Ward to the film's cast along with Lazenby. In addition to this he also enlisted rival studio Shaw Brothers run by Run Run Shaw
Run Run Shaw
Sir Run Run Shaw CBE, GBM is a Hong Kong media mogul.-Overview:Sir Run Run Shaw was born in Ningbo, Zhejiang, China in 1907. There has been no official or formal announcement on the exact day and month of his birth. According to A&C Black published Who's Who 2007, Shaw Run Run was born on 14...
as another producer to help pay for the film's huge production cost based on Hong Kong film industry standards. Chow also kept producer Andre Morgan onboard as he had helped with Lee's films and this would help to bring video revenue years later.
Release
In the end, The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss turned out to be one of the better martial arts films of the 1970s, not on par with Lee's films, but Lazenby's three films in the genre for Chow's Golden HarvestGolden Harvest
Golden Harvest is a film production, distribution, and exhibition company based in Hong Kong. It played a major role in becoming the first Chinese film company to successfully enter the western market for an extended period of time, especially with the films of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan...
studios are probably the second best in the genre of that era after Lee's. Although without Lee and a large international release Shrine obviously fell short of the box office of Lee's previous 2 films. Nonetheless, The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss was very successful financially. No terms of what the film grossed worldwide were ever released by Golden Harvest or Run Run, but some journalist's estimates put it as high as $25 million worldwide, with another $10–$15 million worldwide in video revenue later on in the 1980s. Considering the film's cost and the fact that its initial theatrical release was very limited by number of countries and screens, that was an astonishing feat.
Whether the film actually took in around $25,000,000 worldwide at the box office (about $103,000,000 in today's money) is debatable, but what is not debatable is that within just 2 months of the film's release in Hong Kong, large production studios from both the UK and Australia were already in negotiation with Chow to co-produce Lazenby's next martial arts film, The Man From Hong Kong
The Man from Hong Kong
The Man from Hong Kong, known in the U.S.A. as The Dragon Flies is a 1975 action film that was the first Australian-Hong Kong co-production being filmed in both nations. The film was also the first Australian martial arts film. It was produced by Raymond Chow and John Fraser, directed by Brian...
(1975), which Chow had already approved at the highest budget ever for a Hong Kong film or martial arts film, surpassing the previous record held by Enter the Dragon and Shrine. In fact, one UK production company wanted to co-produce Lazenby's next 2 films, just 2 months after Shrine's release. The Man From Hong Kong and A Queen's Ransom (1976), which was Lazenby's third Golden Harvest film were then both given large scale international theatrical releases, and Man From Hong Kong even had a wide US release the same year it was released in Hong Kong, something only Hong Kong films starring Bruce Lee had previously accomplished. So although The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss never turned out to be what it could have, it still was remarkably successful and it still holds firm as one of the all-time classic 1970s martial arts flicks.
On a side-note, Lazenby was reportedly paid (according to the Hong Kong and Australian presses at the time) $220,000 USD to make The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss. The $10,000 USD figure that imdb.com lists was actually his salary per week. Lazenby was paid $10,000 US per week for his acting, plus $1,000 US per week for expenses for a total of $11,000 US per week for each of his 3 Golden Harvest films. Each film covered about 20 weeks worth of work, so Lazenby earned $220,000 US per film. Only Bruce Lee commanded more in Hong Kong, earning $12,500 ($1,000 of it for living expenses) per week. After Lee died, Lazenby was the highest paid actor in Hong Kong for the next 3 years, with his $11,000 per week salary. The next highest paid actor in Hong Kong was Lazenby's co-star in The Man From Hong Kong and A Queen's Ransom, actor Jimmy Wang Yu
Jimmy Wang Yu
Jimmy Wang Yu is a Chinese actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. He shot to fame with the Shaw Brothers Studio's martial arts film, The One-Armed Swordsman, in 1967...
, who earned a total salary of just $2,500 per week.
Cast and roles
- George LazenbyGeorge LazenbyGeorge Robert Lazenby is an Australian actor and former model, best known for portraying James Bond in the 1969 film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.-Early life:...
- Joseph Stoner - Angela MaoAngela MaoAngela Mao is a martial arts film actress best known for the string of kung fu films in which she starred during the 1970s. She is also known as Mao Ying, Angela Mao Ying, and Mao Fu Ying...
- Angela Li Shou-Hua - Betty Ting Pei - Agnes Wong Yen-Yen
- Hwang In-ShikHwang In-ShikHwang In Shik is one of the foremost Korean hapkido teachers today. A great popularizer of the art in Asia through his work in the Hong Kong based films of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Angela Mao, he is known nevertheless as one the top teachers of the art and was eventually awarded a 10th degree...
- Mr. Big - Joji Takagi - Mr. Chin
- Sammo HungSammo HungSammo Hung is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film producer and director, known for his work in many martial arts films and Hong Kong action cinema...
- Chin Chi Chu
- Chin Lu
- Feng YiFeng YiFeng Yi was a Chinese general of the Eastern Han Dynasty. He was famous for his modest character; he would sit under a tree while the other generals were receiving rewards for their conquests. For this particular reason, he was called The Big Tree General...
- Hung Hsing Chung
- Nick Lam Wai Kei
- Andre Morgan
- Samuel J. Peake
- Ren Hao
- Romanolee Rose
- Su Chiang
- Suen Lam
- Roger Ward
- Yuen BiaoYuen BiaoYuen Biao is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist. He specialises in acrobatics and Chinese martial arts and has worked on over 80 films as actor, stuntman and action choreographer...
- Thug - Yuen WahYuen WahYuen Wah is a Hong Kong based Chinese action film actor, action choreographer, stuntman and martial artist who has appeared in over 160 films and over 20 television series.-Early life:...
- Thug