After several movies together, Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao, and Sammo Hung split up. Due to two missed opportunities, the Three Dragons never reunited.
Jackie Chan could have starred in two more Three Dragons movies, but these plans never came to fruition. Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao were a trio of martial arts actors who made a string of movies together during the 1980s. Over time, they became known as the Three Dragons.
Trained in kung fu by the same martial arts master, the three actors have a storied friendship that dates back to their childhood. After all three transitioned into acting, they began working together and were eventually able to headline movies, with the three actors typically playing the protagonists. Some of their films, including Wheels on Meals and Jackie Chan’s Project A, evolved into beloved kung fu classics, making them arguably one of the most popular acting teams in the martial arts movie genre. However, their partnership didn’t last long. The last Three Dragons movie was 1988’s Dragons Forever. Not a single movie made since has united all three members of the group.
2 Movies Almost United Jackie Chan’s Three Dragons
Dragons Forever remains their final film together, but that’s not to say that efforts weren’t made to get the three actors to share the same screen again. In fact, there were two movies where a proper Three Dragons reunion almost happened. The first was Don’t Give A Damn, a Hong Kong martial arts comedy starring Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung. Released in 1995 and directed by Hung, Don’t Give A Damn was originally set to star Chan as well, but scheduling conflicts prevented this from happening. At the time, Chan was busy filming Rumble in the Bronx in the United States.
Years later, it was Chan who tried to organize a Three Dragons reunion via his 2006 movie, Rob-B-Hood. Yuen had a supporting role in the film, but Hung was absent. Similar to what happened with Don’t Give A Damn with Chan dropping out for Rumble in the Bronx, scheduling conflicts once again stood in the way, this time with Hung not being available. As a result, it couldn’t be a true throwback to the comedic shenanigans of the Three Dragons trio in movies like My Lucky Stars, Wheels on Meals, and Project A.
Why Did Jackie Chan Stop Making Movies With Sammo Hung & Yuen Biao?
It’s important to note that while they’re not a trio anymore, they have appeared in each other’s films numerous times, just not with all three in the same project. As for why that is, Chan remarked in an interview that while the three felt like they made a “good combination,” they all agreed that they should split up before the audience could grow tired of them. This makes sense, considering that by 1988, they had already starred in four movies together as a trio.
They moved on, with Jackie Chan obviously finding the most success after the split. Yuen too embarked on a career as a solo star, making a number of kung fu films in the 1990s. As for Hung, he became an accomplished martial arts movie director and continues to find work in the industry to this day. Yuen hasn’t acted since 2016, but it’s not impossible that yet another opportunity for a Three Dragons reunion will one day present itself.