Ip Man (film series)

Ip Man is a series of Hong Kong biographical martial arts films based on the life events of the Wing Chun master of the same name. The progenitor of the series was Ip Man (2008), which was followed by two sequels – Ip Man 2 (2010), Ip Man 3 (2015), the spin-off Master Z: Ip Man Legacy (2018) and the final instalment Ip Man 4: The Finale (2019). All four main films were directed by Wilson Yip, written by Edmond Wong and produced by Raymond Wong. Ip Man, Ip Man 2, Ip Man 3, and Ip Man 4: The Finale star Donnie Yen. Mandarin Films released the first two films in Hong Kong, which earned more than $37 million with a budget of around $24.6 million. Donnie Yen has mentioned each film has a unique theme, that the first Ip Man film was about "Survival", Ip Man 2 focuses on "Making a Living and Adaptation", Ip Man 3 focuses on "Life" itself, while Ip Man 4 focuses on "Racist discrimination".[1]

Ip Man
Series logo
Directed byWilson Yip
Produced byRaymond Wong
Screenplay byEdmond Wong
Based onIp Man
StarringDonnie Yen
Music byKenji Kawai
Cinematography
  • O Sing-Pui (1)
  • Poon Hang-sang (2)
  • Kenny Tse (3)
Edited byCheung Ka-fai
Distributed byMandarin Films
Pegasus Motion Pictures (3-4)
Release date
2008–2019
Running time
322 minutes
CountryHong Kong
LanguageCantonese
BudgetUS$140.6 million
Box officeUS$426.2 million

Films

Ip Man (2008)
Main article: Ip Man (film)

Ip Man was directed by Wilson Yip and written by Edmond Wong.[2] It was Raymond Wong's idea to develop a biographical film about Wing Chun master Ip Man. Principal photography began in Shanghai in March 2008 and ended in August. The film was released in Hong Kong on 18 December 2008 by Mandarin Films, and earned around US$21.8 million against the US$11.7 million budget.[3] Donnie Yen portrayed the role of Ip Man in the film, set in the 1930s, focuses on events in Ip's life in the city of Foshan during the Sino-Japanese War.[2]

Ip Man 2 (2010)
Main article: Ip Man 2

The sequel is set in 1949, when Ip Man moved to Hong Kong and attempts to promote Wing Chun in the region.[4] It was intended to focus on the relationship between Ip Man and his most famed disciple Bruce Lee.[5] The film was directed by Yip and written by Edmond Wong, while Raymond Wong produced the film and was released in Hong Kong on 29 April 2010 by Mandarin Films. The film grossed more than $50 million against the budget of $12.9 million.[6][7]

Ip Man 3 (2015)
Main article: Ip Man 3

Principal photography began in Shanghai on 25 March 2015, which Yip is again directing the film based on the script by Wong.[8] Donnie Yen is again portraying the role of Ip Man, along with him Mike Tyson is also playing a role of a street fighter.[8] Bruce Lee's character was initially supposed to be featured in CGI, because the producers could not find an actor who could portray Lee convincingly,[8] but Danny Chan was eventually cast in the role.[9]

Principal photography for Ip Man 3 began on 25 March 2015, and the film was released in Hong Kong on 24 December 2015.

Master Z: Ip Man Legacy (2018)
Main article: Master Z: Ip Man Legacy

Max Zhang reprises his role as Cheung Tin Chi from Ip Man 3 in this spin-off film. Directed by Yuen Woo-ping, it also stars Tony Jaa, Dave Bautista and Michelle Yeoh.[10]

Ip Man 4: The Finale (2019)
Main article: Ip Man 4: The Finale

On 30 September 2016, Yen announced via Facebook that he and Wilson Yip would continue the franchise with Ip Man 4.[11] The film began production in April 2018 and ended in July of the same year. It was released on 20 December 2019, and portrays Ip Man traveling to San Francisco to secure a spot for his son at a local school. Meanwhile, he crosses paths with his student, Bruce Lee, who had set up a Wing Chun school there.

Untitled Master Z: Ip Man Legacy sequel

In April 2019, it was reported that Max Zhang is set to reprise his role in a sequel to Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy. The sequel is reported to be taking a budget cut, down to $13 million, from the first film's budget of $28 million.[12][13]

Recurring cast and characters
Character Film
Ip Man Ip Man 2 Ip Man 3 Master Z: Ip Man Legacy Ip Man 4: The Finale
Ip Man Donnie Yen Donnie Yen
Cheung Wing-sing Lynn Hung Lynn Hung
Ip Chun Li Chak
Chow Ching-chuen Simon Yam
Chow Kwong-yiu Calvin Cheng
Kam Shan-chau Louis Fan
Fatso Kent Cheng Kent Cheng
Bruce Lee Jiang Dai-Yan Danny Chan Danny Chan
Cheung Tin Chi Max Zhang
Ma King-sang Patrick Tam

Reception

Box office
Film Hong Kong release date Box office gross (US$) Budget (US$) Ref
Hong Kong China United States and Canada Other territories Worldwide
Ip Man December 19, 2008 $3,300,847 $13,728,640 N/A $5,084,936 $22,114,423 $11.7 million [14][15]
Ip Man 2 April 29, 2010 $5,559,550 $33,973,412[16][17] $205,675 $9,983,317 $49,721,954 $12.9 million [18][19]
Ip Man 3 December 16, 2015 $7,842,871 $124,101,198 $2,679,437 $22,221,247 $156,844,753 $36 million [20]
Master Z: Ip Man Legacy December 20, 2018 $1,976,450 $19,490,366 $209,454 $156,379 $21,832,649 $28 million [21]
Ip Man 4: The Finale December 20, 2019 $3,725,263 $165,290,606 $3,956,031 $2,685,469 $175,657,369 $52 million [22]
Total $22,404,981 $356,584,222 $7,050,597 $40,131,348 $426,171,148 $140.6 million

Critical response
Film Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic
Ip Man 85% (27 reviews)[23] 59% (9 reviews)[24]
Ip Man 2 96% (28 reviews)[25] 67% (13 reviews)[26]
Ip Man 3 76% (51 reviews)[27] 57% (14 reviews)[28]
Master Z: Ip Man Legacy 89% (37 reviews)[29] 72% (14 reviews)[30]
Ip Man 4: The Finale 87% (31 reviews)[31] 62% (11 reviews)[32]

Home media

Ip Man Trilogy, a Blu-ray compilation that features the first three films in the series, was released by Well Go USA in November 2016. The Blu-ray also includes special features such as deleted scenes, "behind-the-scenes" featurette and interviews with Donnie Yen and Mike Tyson.[33]

See also

References
  1. "Donnie Yen and Mike Tyson exchange blows". The New Straits Times. 18 December 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  2. Elley, Derek (20 January 2009). "Review: 'Ip Man'". Variety. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
  3. "Ip Man (2008)". boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
  4. "News: IP MAN Sequel Gets The Green Light!". Twitchfilm. 26 November 2008. Archived from the original on 26 August 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
  5. "Ip Man 2 May Still Focus on... Ip Man – Wu-Jing.org". wu-jing.org. 6 March 2009. Archived from the original on 25 February 2010. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
  6. "Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster". boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
  7. "Three Yip Man Biopics to Commence Filming Soon – Wu-Jing.org". wu-jing.org. 27 July 2009. Archived from the original on 14 April 2010. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
  8. Karen Chu (25 March 2015). "Former Boxing Champ Mike Tyson Signs Up for Hong Kong Action Flick 'Ip Man 3'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
  9. Tsui, Clarence (17 December 2015). "'Ip Man 3': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
  10. Kerr, Elizabeth (12 October 2018). "'Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy' ('Ye wen wai zhuan: zhang tian zhi'): Film Review | Busan 2018". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  11. Chew Hui Min (30 September 2016). "Donnie Yen will make Ip Man 4, despite hinting previously he was retiring from gongfu films". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  12. Vo, David (27 April 2019). "MAX ZHANG To Return For MASTER Z Sequel". MAActionCinema. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  13. Bona, JJ (26 April 2019). "Max Zhang to return for 'Master Z: Ip Man Legacy' Part II". City on Fire. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  14. "Ip Man". The Numbers. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  15. "Ip Man". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  16. "Ip Man 2". Maoyan (in Chinese). Tianjin Maoyan Weiying Culture Media. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  17. "Official exchange rate (LCU per US$, period average) - China". World Bank. 2010. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  18. "Ip Man 2". The Numbers. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  19. "Ip Man 2". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  20. "Ip Man 3". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
  21. "Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy (2018)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  22. "Ip Man 4: The Finale (2019)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  23. "Ip Man". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  24. "Ip Man". Metacritic. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  25. "Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  26. "Ip Man 2". Metacritic. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  27. "Ip Man 3". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  28. "Ip Man 3". Metacritic. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
  29. "Master Z: Ip Man Legacy". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  30. "Master Z: Ip Man Legacy". Metacritic. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  31. "Ip Man 4: The Finale". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  32. "Ip Man 4: The Finale". Metacritic. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  33. Gopaul, Sarah (13 November 2016). "Review: New on DVD for 8 November (Includes first-hand account)". Digital Journal. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
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