ACF 861: U.S.theatrical opening of Ip Man 2 in 12 cities this weekend

The uncut, undubbed, English-subtitled version of Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster will be opening in the U.S. in selected cities this coming Friday, January 28th, 2011. Donnie Yen reprises his role as the titular character, the Wing Chun master who taught Bruce Lee and others. The film also stars the venerable Sammo Hung.

The original Ip Man, which was shown at the 2009 New York Asian Film Festival, was a terrific movie. (Click here to read my review of it.) Both it and Ip Man 2 (which I unfortunately was not able to catch) screened at last year's NYAFF. But I can't imagine the sequel not be highly entertaining, especially having watched some of the clips on Facebook and YouTube.

I've been advised that the distributor will be looking at the opening week-end take, hoping it'll be at least $100,000. Meeting this figure may prove important as to whether or not future films of this nature will get theatrical distribution in the United States.

So it's more important than usual to get out and see this film on the opening weekend. I'm doing my part and I hope you will do yours, because seeing Hong Kong martial arts films -- as well as Asian films in general -- in theaters, and not just on DVDs, is important to all us fans.

For info about screening times of Ip Man 2 in the twelve home cities, click here.