Martial arts and kung fu movies are so commonplace nowadays that it is easy to forget that they were ever a novelty at all. However, the genre has evolved quite a bit over time. But, throughout these changes, the basic attraction of these action movies has remained the same. Fans love the fast-paced action and intricate forms of combat on display.

Believe it or not, people shot martial arts and kung fu movies from the silent film era. One of the most famous is the Burning of the Red Lotus Monastery. This drew upon a series that appeared in a newspaper. The resulting series of films would total 27 hours if viewed as a whole. This extremely long movie did, in fact, become a hit with a wide audience.

A typical aspect of these motion pictures is the filming of highly choreographed, large group fights. These scenes require many cameras and trained martial artists in order to look realistic and exciting. Increasingly, computerized special effects are able to fill in the scene so not so many actual people have to be on the set.

This type of film, though, really took off in Hong Kong during the 1970s. Bruce Lee and his style of fighting fueled a lot of this passion. He had had some success on television in the United States, but it was in Hong Kong that he made several motion pictures in quick succession. These helped the Hong Kong industry develop more and even spawned a new generation of actors.

These films became famous not only in Asia, but also in North America and Europe. Lee also sometimes starred in films that featured other martial artists, which propelled them to fame as well. Moreover, other Westerners began to train on their own and star in feature martial arts films as well.

Some of these names, such as Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal and Jean Claude Van Damme, are still relatively well known. They made these films popular to a new generation and used the power of Hollywood to spread the form to many more people around the globe. Hollywood has also come up with films that use some of the aspects of kung fu movies, but with a different kind of plot.

One exciting recent development, though, is that much of the momentum is swinging back to Asia. Actors like Jackie Chan remain extremely popular in Asia and the rest of the world. Mainland China is also producing high quality movies now and several actors have risen to the industry\’s top there. Even places like Thailand have an industry with a global reach. Tony Jaa is considered by many to be one of the next big stars.

Martial arts and kung fu movies seem to rise and fall in popularity, but they never truly die out. Eventually, someone decides to try a new take on the genre and it comes back to prominence. Whether they are pure action films or stories with complex plots and characters, fans love watching skilled actors and fighters showing off their skills on the big screen.

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Category: Entertainment
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