Ip Man (film)

This article is about the 2008 film. For the film series starring Donnie Yen, see Ip Man (film series). For other films, see Ip Man (disambiguation).

Ip Man
In a black background, the top of the poster states, "The celebrated Kung Fu master of Bruce Lee." Below is a portrait of Donnie Yen with his head staring down, while his hands are forming a martial arts pose. The words "Ip Man" are coloured in red in both Cantonese and English dialect. The pronunciation of the name (eep ‧ mun) is shown in brackets below the English title.
Hong Kong theatrical release poster
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese葉問
Transcriptions
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingJip6 Man6
Directed byWilson Yip
Written byEdmond Wong
Chan Tai-lee
Produced byRaymond Wong
StarringDonnie Yen
Simon Yam
Lynn Hung
Gordon Lam
Fan Siu-wong
Xing Yu
Chen Zhihui
Hiroyuki Ikeuchi
Tenma Shibuya
CinematographyO Sing-Pui
Edited byCheung Ka-fai
Music byKenji Kawai
Distributed byMandarin Films
Release date
  • 18 December 2008 (2008-12-18)
Running time
108 minutes
CountriesChina
Hong Kong[1]
LanguagesChinese (dialect: Cantonese
Mandarin)
Japanese
BudgetUS$11,715,578[2]
Box officeUS$22,108,789

Ip Man (Chinese: 叶问 / 葉問) is a 2008 Hong Kong biographical martial arts film based on the life of Ip Man, a grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun and teacher of martial artist legend Bruce Lee. The film focuses on events in Ip's life that supposedly took place in the city of Foshan during the Sino-Japanese War. The film was directed by Wilson Yip, and stars Donnie Yen as the titual character, with martial arts choreography by Sammo Hung. The film co-stars Simon Yam, Lynn Hung, Lam Ka-tung, Xing Yu, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, and Tenma Shibuya. The film was a co-production between China and Hong Kong, and was the last film to be distributed by Mandarin Films.

Ip Man is the first film in the Ip Man film series. It premiered in Beijing on 10 December 2008, and was released theatrically in Hong Kong on 19 December 2008, receiving widespread acclaim from critics and audiences. Before the film's release, Raymond Wong announced that there would be a sequel; a second installment titled Ip Man 2, was released in April 2010, a third installment titled Ip Man 3 was released in 2015, and Ip Man 4: The Finale was released in 2019.[3] Ip Man grossed more than US$22 million worldwide, despite not being released in North America and most of Europe. Following its success, the film was nominated for 12 Hong Kong Film Awards, winning awards for Best Film and Best Action Choreography.

  1. ^ "Ip Man (2008)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 19 May 2018. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
  2. ^ "Ip Man (2008) Movie". movies.shut.net. Archived from the original on 30 April 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
  3. ^ Ip Man 4, retrieved 16 December 2018