Bloodsport (1988)
1988 film directed by Newt Arnold
- Released
- 1988
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Genre
- Martial arts film
- Director
- Newt Arnold
- Screenplay
- Sheldon Lettich
- Producer
- Yoram Globus, Menahem Golan
- Music
- Paul Hertzog
- Cinematography
- David Worth
- Editing
- Jean-Claude Van Damme, Carl Kress
- Starring
- Jean-Claude Van Damme, Roy Chiao, Leah Ayres, Bolo Yeung, Forest Whitaker, Michel Qissi, Norman Burton, Victor Wong
- Running time
- 92 minutes
- Production company
- The Cannon Group
- Distributor
- The Cannon Group, Netflix
- Box office
- $50 million
- Budget
- $2.3 million
- Set in
- Hong Kong
Bloodsport is a 1988 martial arts film directed by Newt Arnold and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. The film centers on Frank Dux (Van Damme), a United States Army captain and ninjutsu practitioner who goes absent without leave to compete in an underground full-contact martial arts tournament called the Kumite in Hong Kong. Marketed as a true story based on Dux's real-life claims, the film was one of Van Damme's first lead roles, launching his career as a mainstream action star.
The screenplay drew from a 1980 Black Belt piece detailing Dux's purported exploits. Though Dux served as a technical advisor on the film, many of his claims were subsequently disputed, including by co-screenwriter Sheldon Lettich, who stated that Dux fabricated his fight record and the existence of the Kumite.
Cast
- Jean-Claude Van Damme
- Roy Chiao
- Leah Ayres
- Bolo Yeung
- Forest Whitaker
- Michel Qissi
- Norman Burton
- Victor Wong
- Philip Chan
- Mark DiSalle
- Cihangir Ghaffari
Nominations
- Golden Raspberry Award for Worst New Star
External links
Facts from Wikidata Q724960 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.
Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.