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Donnie Yen loves Mao Shan Wang!

By Abel Teo / 10 Dec 2019 (Tuesday)

Donnie Yen is in town to promote his latest film Ip Man 4: The Finale, the swan song to his kungfu pugilistic acting career. Held today at the Mandarin Orchard, the man of the hour was in all seriousness and sincerity hoping to bring the best he can to the fourth instalment of the Ip Man franchise.

Ip Man 4 The Finale Press Conference

When asked about his favourite durian variety by the host Danny Yeo, Donnie answered without hesitation - Mao Shan Wang. Having come to Singapore both for work and for personal holidays with his family, he has nothing but praise for Singapore. With that we launch into the press conference for the movie.

Donnie was as candid that not all his films in the past were good, but counted himself lucky that the Ip Man films has made him synonymous with the much revered wing chun master, allowing him to be remembered for this very iconic character over the course of more than a decade.

Indeed, when the production team felt that they did their best when they released Ip Man 3, they didn’t think they would go on to make Ip Man 4, especially when it gets increasing difficult to uphold the interest of a franchise beyond the second film in most movie franchises. The box office support for Ip Man 3 and requests from both fans and film distributors made them seriously consider how they could possibly make another film. Director writer Yip Wai Shun pondered on the next natural development of the character and story, and it took him several years before the story development became more concrete for Ip Man 4.

Given the immense hype and interest surrounding the first three films, many Ip Man and Wing Chun related films and television productions sprang up, and Wing Chun as a martial arts form also saw a revival as a result. Donnie felt that beyond the fourth film, it will be unlikely that there will be an Ip Man 5, as the story progresses to a logical conclusion in this film, the finale.

Throughout the course of this action-star’s career, Donnie admitted that he was injured many times, and the old injuries would flare up, some times without warning, during a shoot. However he needed to give his best, and often took those pain and aches in his stride.

Ip Man 4: The Finale has broken a local record for being the Asian film with the highest number of print counts at 75, with the last Ip Man 3 having 50 print counts. This obviously shows the level of interest and confidence that film exhibitors are expecting from the latest movie. Added to that, it is also one of the rare Asian films to have advance ticket sales available, usually the domain of Hollywood titles and, if you are into them, Korean boy/girl band films.

Advance tickets for Ip Man 4: The Finale will be available from 12 Dec from 10am onwards at major cinemas. The movie will sneak in theatres from 19 December from 7pm onwards and opens islandwide on 20 Dec 2019.

Donnie Yen Ip Man 4

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Donnie Yen loves Mao Shan Wang!