Ip Man is a series of Hong Kong 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”, while Ip Man 3 focuses on “life” itself.
The film was never meant to be a true biographical film to Ip Man’s life, but to broadly touch on the elements from his life. Most of the central turns of the plot are there only for the purpose of making a movie more exciting, including the scenes depicting duels between Ip Man and the Japanese, including Consul General Miura Yoshiaki (三浦義秋), as well as Ip Man encountering hardship during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
Ip Man’s eldest son, Ip Chun, would have preferred the film to be shot on location in Foshan and noted the mansion was grander than the original one. The idea of an Ip Man biopic originated in 1998 when Jeffrey Lau and Corey Yuen discussed the idea of making a film based on Bruce Lee’s martial arts master. However, Paragon Films Ltd, the studio producing the proposed film, closed and the project was abandoned. Producer Raymond Wong decided to develop his own Ip Man film with full consent from Ip’s sons, and had filmmakers head to Foshan to research Ip’s life.
