Yip Man - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

Ip Man, a film loosely based on the life of Yip Man starring Donnie Yen as the martial artist, was released in cinemas in 2008. The film takes a number of liberties with Yip's life, often for dramatic effect. Yip's oldest son Ip Chun appears in the film and served as a consultant for the film. The film focuses on Yip's life during the 1930s to the 1940s during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The film is the first to be based on the life of Yip. The sequel Ip Man 2 focuses on Yip's beginnings in Hong Kong and his disciples—including Bruce Lee. Another film based on Yip Man's biography called The Legend is Born – Ip Man was released in June 2010. Herman Yau directed the film and it starred Dennis To as Yip Man. Ip Chun makes a special appearance in the film as Leung Bik.

Wong Kar-wai's The Grandmasters, a film starring Tony Leung as Yip Man, is scheduled to be released in 2012.

Amid a surge of Yip Man-related film projects in production, Donnie Yen told the Chinese media in March 2010 that after Ip Man 2, he will no longer play the Wing Chun master any more. He stated, "I would never ever touch any films related to Ip Man. This will be my final film on the subject. Whenever something becomes a success, everyone would jump on the bandwagon, this is very frightening. Did you know how many Ip Man films are in production? Under such condition, we would not progress, it'd only lead to over-saturation of the subject matter."

Yu Chenghui played Yip Man in The Legend of Bruce Lee, a 2008 television series based on the life story of Bruce Lee, who was one of Yip's students.