Ip Man(film series)
Ip Manis a series of Hong Kongmartial arts filmsbased on the life events of theWing Chunmasterof the same name. The progenitor of the series wasIp Man(2008), which was followed by two sequels –Ip Man 2(2010),Ip Man 3(2015), the spin-offMaster Z: Ip Man Legacy(2018) and the final instalmentIp Man 4: The Finale(2019). All four main films were directed byWilson Yip, written by Edmond Wong and produced byRaymond Wong. Ip Man, Ip Man 2, Ip Man 3, and Ip Man 4: The Finale starDonnie Yen.Mandarin Filmsreleased 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 firstIp Manfilm was about “survival”,Ip Man 2focuses on “making a living and adaptation”, whileIp Man 3 focuses on “life” itself.
Ip Man’s original title was controversial. It was disputed when film director Wong Kar-wai announced plans to make his own Ip Man film with Tony Leung Chiu-wai while filming 2046. Wong had planned his own Ip Man biopic titled The Great Master (一代宗师), with Leung playing the role of Ip. Wong’s film, however, had been in development hell, having been announced several years earlier. Producer Raymond Wong wanted to name his film Grandmaster Yip Man, which bore a resemblance to the title Wong Kar-wai wanted to use for his film.
To settle the dispute, Raymond Wong publicly retracted the film title, stating “Actually, all along, we have called our film Ip Man, but our mainland investors said that Yip Man was a great master of his times, so we changed our title to Grandmaster Yip Man out of respect for him.” In a 2008 interview, Raymond Wong revealed that The Great Master was in development.
