#areyouready

The production of Donnie Yen’s latest upcoming flick, Ip Man 4, was revealed some months back now. Now fans, like me, eagerly await details of its impending release since production wrapped up in July last year. Thanks to the series’ star, Donnie Yen, with a clever use of the latest social media craze, one of Ip Man 4’s first images has been revealed.

What latest social media craze you say, given there are so many? The 10 year challenge. Simply post 2 photos of yourself, 10 years apart. And while that provides many friends, families and social groups to reveal their changes over the years, it is of course the celebrity stars that have caught the eye the most. And Donnie’s is no exception, as you can see below.

Fans of the the Ip Man series will need little explanation of the above. But for the uninitiated, the Ip Man series stars Donnie Yen as the eponymous Grandmaster of Wing Chun. Although most recognised as movie legend Bruce Lee’s Wing Chun teacher, Ip held the rank of Grandmaster during his lifetime. This series, along with other Hong Kong movies based around him, have helped raise the popularity of the teachings of Wing Chun, as well as Chinese culture in general.

The top image is from the first sequel in the series, Ip Man 2. The shot itself is taken from Ip Man’s “trial” fight against Hung-Chun-Nam (portrayed by the movie’s action choreographer, Sammo Hung), where Ip must prove his worth to carry on teaching Wing Chun in Hong Kong. The scene, with both fighters confined to battle atop a tea room table, is one of many memorable fight sequences. The movie won the best action choreography award at the 2011 Hong Kong Movie awards.

Fast forward ten years, and Donnie’s next image looks to come directly from the latest in the series. It captures the reflective stance Donnie has mastered during his time in the role, in a wonderful black and white crowd shot.

The hashtag #areyouready is certainly appropriate; I am more than ready, and cannot wait for this one.

Ip Man 4 will release sometime in 2019, and is directed by Wilson Yip.