If you are into martial arts films, there is no way in hell you haven’t heard of the epic series that is Donnie Yen starrer IP Man. With 4 main films and 1 spin-off, IP Man has dominated the martial arts scenario of 21st century, making it the biggest martial arts franchise in the world. But IP Man 4: The Finale, which literally killed off the main character of Donnie Yen, no one expected an IP Man 5. But here we are, with another installment well underway and here’s everything we know about it.
How and Why is IP Man 5 Being Made? Release Date and More
As you may or may not know, IP Man 5 was confirmed back in May 2023. Martial arts superstar Donnie Yen and Hong Kong-based Mandarin Motion Pictures revealed their three upcoming films at the Cannes market. These included Ip Man 5, Flash Point Resurgence and Misjudgement. They were all announced alongside a poster but since then, not much has been revealed about any of these 3 films. But we do have some updates and speculations about IP Man 5.
Now let us talk about the elephant in the room – aka how the hell can a IP Man return? Well here are a few possible ways:
- A prequel about IP Man learning Wing Chun but considering Donnie Yen’s age, that seems unlikely
- A mid-quel set sometime between the main 4 films of the franchise, which would let them tell an untold story without messing with the finale.
- A continuation of the saga with one of his students or the people whose lives he affected. Considering how the film is titled “IP Man 5”, this could happen, however, the film won’t have the same kick without Donnie Yen.
Also, I would totally be in for it, if IP Man 5 taps into the fantasy mystical territory and is based on Yip Man’s adventures in the afterlife, spirit realm, or something. We don’t get films like that anymore! But that’s just me. Practically speaking, it would be one among the above mentioned 3 cases. Now let’s talk about a few more details.
All we know about the film’s cast and crew is that Donnie Yen is going to serve as a producer and the director for the film, since the film is titled Donnie Yen’s IP Man 5. Nothing else is known about the film from cast and crew to characters or themes. As for the release date, it is quite hard to get much information about any Chinese film but we’ll sure hear more about it as the release nears. For now we can speculate that the IP Man 5 will release sometime in 2026 or later. This is considering that IP Man 4 was announced in 2016 but released in 2019. So it would take a minimum of 3 years to complete filming and post production.
Considering how the franchise is quite loved across the globe, we also expect IP Man 5 to make a global release sometime after its Chinese release. All four main films were directed by Wilson Yip, written by Edmond Wong, produced by Raymond Wong, but how many of them will return is yet to be seen. And this is all we know about IP Man 5 so far, but stay tuned for more updates!
If you have any questions regarding IP Man 5, feel free to ask in the comments below. For more content, stay tuned. As usual, like, subscribe, and share our articles as we here are trying to build a community of people High On Cinema!
