'Ip Man: Kung Fu Master' Trailer: The 'Ip Man' Series Will Never End

There have been more than a few movies based on the life of Ip Man, the grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun who counted Bruce Lee among his students. The films are meant to be biographical, but like most movies based on real-life figures, they play fast and loose with the truth. That's fine. I doubt at this point anyone is coming into an Ip Man movie looking for facts. The latest entry is Ip Man: Kung Fu Master, which goes back to Ip's early days during the Communist Revolution of 1949. Watch the Ip Man: Kung Fu Master trailer below.

So far there have been 5 Ip Man movies. The most recent title was titled Ip Man 4: The Finale (even though it's the fifth movie in the series), but don't let that The Finale subtitle fool you – there's already a new entry in the series. It's called Ip Man: Kung Fu Master, and it's skirting around that "finale" thing by being a prequel. Here's the synopsis:

IP MAN: KUNG FU MASTER harks back to Ip's early days before the Communist Revolution in 1949. Ip, portrayed by Dennis To for the third time as the martial artist who famously tutored Bruce Lee, was then a police captain who was framed for the murder of a ruthless but honorable mobster, and targeted for vengeance by his dangerous daughter. Forced to quit the force, Ip soon also has to contend with the arrival of the Japanese army in Guangzhou.

Liming Li directs the film and co-writes with Shi Qingshui. Ip Man: Kung Fu Master stars Dennis To, Yuan Li Ruoxin, Tong Xiaohu, Yue Dongfeng, Chang Qinyuan, Zhao Xioguang, Ren Yu, and Michael Wong. Donnie Yen played Ip Man in four out of the other five films (the fourth title, Master Z: Ip Man Legacy, doesn't actually feature Ip Man as a character, so Yen didn't appear – but he did produce), but he doesn't have any involvement with this title. Which begs the question: does this film even count as part of the official Ip Man series, or is this a completely different thing? Discuss among yourselves and take notes, there will be a quiz on all of this later (no there won't).

Magnet Releasing will release Ip Man: Kung Fu Master in theaters and On Demand on December 11, 2020. In addition to the trailer above you can check out a poster below.