Louis Koo is back at Hong Kong FilMart this year with a heavy presence stemming in part from the slate at his One Cool Film banner. It is there that he is joined by Paradox cohorts producer Soi Cheang and Wilson Yip as the team is now sounding off with a trailer for upcoming crime drama, The Dream, the Bubble and the Shadow.
Depending on where you are in the world and when you catch this particular article, it’ll be a matter of days or hours before the epic and emotional Ip Man 4: The Finale, closes the Donnie Yen-led saga for good.
Call it providence. Call it luck. Call it what you will. At the height of their careers, a film like Ip Man 4: The Finale, couldn’t have come at a better time for actors Donnie Yen and Scott Adkins, both who’ve successfully garnered the acclaim and passable demand that their fanbases have been hoping for.
Christmas will undoubtedly come a bit earlier for Donnie Yen fans looking toward advance screenings this month for Wilson Yip’s Ip Man 4: The Finale. Expect some heavy-handed press by then with some of the film’s own stars touring select territories to promote the film, including the ‘Man’ himself in what he now elucidated will be his final kung fu movie according to his statements to South China Morning Post in the past week as of this article.
Well Go USA is answering the call once more for Donnie Yen fans the world around with a first teaser for the U.S. release of Ip Man 4. More than ten years since the first installment and roughly seven since I wrote an op-ed aspiring for a two-hander between Yen and actor Scott Adkins, it’s fan service to the fullest at this point, in particularly for a franchise spotlighting a style of martial arts that has taken life in various forms through other IP.
They say “ask and you shall receive”…
The early two-thousandsies saw an essential shot-in-the-arm rebirth of Hong Kong action cinema with the pairing of actor Donnie Yen and Wilson Yip for S.P.L.. In its wake, it left fans fawning over one two of the genre’s greatest action matches in film history also featuring Wu Jing and a brutal finale with Sammo Hung, thus etching a major success for the actor/director duo as the first in a string of staple thrillers and adventures that would further make Yen into a cult-driven household name since falling short years earlier with crossover efforts, Highlander: Endgame and Blade 2.
Another headlining rematch is on deck for Wilson Yip’s Ip Man 4 with Jackie Chan apparently set to appear opposite star Donnie Yen. This little detail, by way of a report on Wednesday at Jaynestars cites local news sources, confirms that filming has wrapped for the fourth installment in which Chan will play a respected Chinatown Big Brother amid the story setting that lands our title hero in the U.S. alongside martial arts progeny Bruce Lee.
Casting further continues for the current production of Ip Man 4 this week as actor Chris Collins has joined the cast. Character details are unknown whilst following suit with fellow Wolf Warrior co-star, actor and martial arts star Scott Adkins who signaled his addition to the film once again starring martial arts action star Donnie Yen.
Produced by Raymond Wong from a script by Edmund Wong, the folkloric period martial arts drama sequel inspired by the life and legend of the late Wing Chun Grandmaster now sees him traveling stateside to the U.S. where his Wing Chun protégé, Bruce Lee, has begun challenging the norms of not allowing Westerners to learn martial arts. Kidari Entertainment is distributing the film locally.
Collins is a former U.S. Marine, now based in Hong Kong where he trains and instructs with specialities in martial arts and firearms. The Wolf Warrior co-star can be seen last taking on Tony Jaa in Wilson Yip’s SPL spin-off, Paradox, which is now available in the U.S. courtesy of Well Go USA, as well as the current theatrical release of Nick Cheung’s crime thriller, The Trough.
Ok, so I can finally announce that I am working on Ip Man 4. I am so excited to be working with such a legend as Donnie Yen. I have Always been a huge fan and to finally be able to learn from him in his iconic role is a dream come true for me. An amazing martial artist with a scientific approach to cinematic action and of course a family man. #ipman #ipman4 #donnieyen #hongkong #hk #hkig #martialarts #kungfu #wingchun #wingtsun #hkwta #actionmovie #movies #superstar #legend #china #sifuchriscollinsA post shared by chris collins (@sifuchriscollins) on May 8, 2018 at 1:14am PDT
The film hails from sales and distro banner Pegasus Motion Pictures Distribution LTD. which also houses Master Z: Ip Man Legacy which spins-off the third film with appearances by Michelle Yeoh, Tony Jaa and title star Max Zhang. That film is directed by Ip Man 3 action director Yuen Woo-Ping (Gong Shu Dao) who also reprises Ip Man 4 which reunites him with Adkins since Black Mask 2: City of Masks and the Louis Leterrier-directed Unleashed – a.k.a. Danny The Dog (2005).
Hong Kong cop Lee (Louis Koo) goes on a search in Thailand for his missing daughter Chi (Hanna Chan). Thai Chinese police officer Chui Kit (Wu Yue) lets Lee join the investigation, having no idea that Lee is going to use the mass media to hunt for clues. A short clip which accidentally filmed Chi’s capture is uploaded to the police website, but subsequently deleted. Chui Kit and colleague Tak (Tony Jaa) tracks down the clip owner, but the evidence is destroyed before they can stop it. The duo begins tracking down the culprit. As they get closer to the truth, they realize that the case is more complicated than they expected, and the mastermind behind the scene is not someone they can deal with…
The past several years have been headline making for martial arts star Donnie Yen. Pairing with Wong Jing for an Enter The Fat Dragon revival in addition to confirming a live action for Sleeping Dogs and finishing MMA drama, Big Brother, are all a priority among others for the actor who has since weighed in with word that he’ll be shooting Ip Man 4 next month.
The news, forwarded from Chinese media at On.cc by way of Jaynestars this week, came as Yen was reportedly visiting his family in Australia with further details suggesting the new installment, to be directed by Wilson Yip for another turn at the helm, would see the Wing Chun grandmaster searching for his disciple, Bruce Lee, in the 1960s-set United States. Next to the unlikely return of actress Lynn Hung whose role as his wife, Cheung Wing-sing, it is not yet clear if actor Danny Chan, prolific for iconically portraying the late Jeet Kune Do founder both on television and in the preceding hit threequel of the Ip Man franchise, will reprise the role.
The Ip Man film series launched in 2008 with Donnie Yen hailing the title role and setting a trend that would see the iconic real-life Wing Chun legend played continually in other incarnations by other actors on film and TV. The Yip-directed trilogy has earned well over $210 million dollars on top of achieving rafts of wins and nominations with Bests in actor, director and action choreography.
A spin-off also remains pending from Yuen Woo-Ping titled Ip Man Legacy: Master Z, which stars Ip Man 3 antagonist Zhang Jin opposite Dave Bautista and the legendary Michelle Yeoh, and with an appearance by fellow international star Tony Jaa.
Director Wilson Yip’s latest narrative S.P.L. induction, Paradox, is inching closer to its release in Asia later this month and throughout the Fall and I’m really moreso concerned when we’ll hear on its distribution elsewhere. Everyone and their next of kin is sold on this one as I am and the latest trailer and BTS featurette now online haven’t changed that in the least.
Check out the trailer!
Wilson Yip’s latest, Sha Po Lang: Paradox, is on deck for an August 25 release…
Yep. You read that correctly. Apparently the film’s Chinese title as shown on the newest poster now unveils the film’s standing as something of an installment of the Sha Po Lang crime saga. I can’t really explain why but given the sort of nebulous treatment of the narrative and how the characters added and otherwise written as well as the seemingly stark, spiritual aesthetic applied here, I can understand why Bravos would want to go this route.
It sort of works, kind of like an anthology piece or a spin-off piece considering there is actually a third Sha Po Lang film in the works subtitled as Lord Needs War as of 2015. I guess we’ll wait see how this plays out, but the message is definitely clear either way with Yip at the helm and backing a hearty cast that includes Louis Koo and the seeming return of Tony Jaa back in the protagonist cop role under a different character, and actors Wu Yue and Wolf Warrior co-star Chris Collins among the cast and action legend Sammo Hung serving as the foundation for the action.
Hong Kong cop Lee (Louis Koo) goes on a search in Thailand for his missing daughter Chi (Hanna Chan). Thai Chinese police officer Chui Kit (Wu Yue) lets Lee join the investigation, having no idea that Lee is going to use the mass media to hunt for clues.
A short clip which accidentally filmed Chi’s capture is uploaded to the police website, but subsequently deleted. Chui Kit and colleague Tak (Tony Jaa) tracks down the clip owner, but the evidence is destroyed before they can stop it. The duo begins tracking down the culprit. As they get closer to the truth, they realize that the case is more complicated than they expected, and the mastermind behind the scene is not someone they can deal with…
Check out the new poster below and stay tuned for a final trailer as Bravos Pictures readies a round of TV spots and all sorts of promos to keep the hype going. (H/T: Asian Film Strike)
There’s nothing new in the latest trailer for Wilson Yip’s upcoming crime thriller, Paradox, although save for a release date in Hong Kong now stamped for August 25. You get Louis Koo, Tony Jaa, Wu Yue and Chris Collins among the roster along with action director Sammo Hung on board designating all available means of screenfighting brutality surrounding a story that poses more than meets the eye.
Hong Kong cop Lee (Louis Koo) goes on a search in Thailand for his missing daughter Chi (Hanna Chan). Thai Chinese police officer Chui Kit (Wu Yue) lets Lee join the investigation, having no idea that Lee is going to use the mass media to hunt for clues.
A short clip which accidentally filmed Chi’s capture is uploaded to the police website, but subsequently deleted. Chui Kit and colleague Tak (Tony Jaa) tracks down the clip owner, but the evidence is destroyed before they can stop it. The duo begins tracking down the culprit. As they get closer to the truth, they realize that the case is more complicated than they expected, and the mastermind behind the scene is not someone they can deal with…
When Hong Kong police negotiator Lee Chung-chi (Louis Koo) was informed about the sudden disappearance of his 16-year-old daughter, Lee Wing-chi (Hanna Chan), during her trip to Pattaya, he decides to travel to Thailand to search for her daughter’s whereabouts. There, Lee receives assistance from local Chinese detective, Chui Kit (Wu Yue), and his colleague, Tak (Tony Jaa), and also encounters American gangster, Sacha (Chris Collins).
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