House of Lee, a new anime about legendary martial artist Bruce Lee, is coming in 2024.
According to Deadline, the first trailer for the project will launch alongside the upcoming 50th Anniversary 4K re-release of Enter the Dragon, which appears in theaters on August 13 and 16.
“Anime is an amazing medium for telling a truly creative story where Bruce Lee can be Bruce Lee,” said Lee’s daughter, Shannon Lee. “I’m so excited for the possibilities for action, fantasy, history, culture, and creativity within this medium.”
Shibuya presents: pic.twitter.com/3loX6gI6xj
— Shibuya (@shibuyaxyz) August 10, 2023
Bruce Lee Entertainment has reportedly eyed a Bruce Lee anime for years and has now partnered with Shibuya, and its co-founder, artist Emily Yang for the project.
The Enter the Dragon 4K re-release debuts in 650 theaters across the U.S., with the House of Lee trailer attached.
House of Lee is described as an action/fantasy series that sees the legendary Bruce Lee assemble a team of Dragon Warriors to stop the world from plunging into “darkness and shadow”. The show reportedly takes inspiration from the famous Bruce Lee quote: “Those who are unaware they are walking in darkness will never seek the light.”
“I love Emily and Shibuya’s perspective,” said Lee. “They are such creative, hardworking, skilled artists with an amazing brand, I just knew that they would be perfect collaborators. The organic way it all came together spoke volumes of our potential collaboration, and it’s been great!”
Lee chose to partner with Shibuya after watching its White Rabbit anime short, which was shown to her by Bruce Lee Entertainment managing partner, Dennis Chang.
“He connected us and she told me about her House of Lee project which is an anime about the Lee family legacy,” Yang said. “I found myself immediately resonating with the narrative as it touches on themes of spirituality, the battle against your inner demons, and so many aspects of the AAPI experience. It being such a personal story, Shannon wanted to really retain creative control and ownership. At Shibuya, our mission is to help creators do just that and so I knew this was something we had to be a part of.”
The 50th-anniversary screenings of Enter the Dragon include an introduction by film historian Leonard Maltin examining the movie’s long-reaching legacy.
Want to read more about Bruce Lee? Check out the art of realistic movie combat as well as who will star as Bruce Lee in the upcoming biopic.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
