FUNimation Acquires THE LEGEND IS BORN - IP MAN For North America

It was only a matter of time before FUNimation jumped into the Ip Man arena, and they've done so now with their acquisition of Herman Yau's The Legend is Born - Ip Man, the unofficial prequel to Wilson Yip's Ip Man films.  While this film hasn't quite garnered the same effusive praise as the Yip films, it still sounds somewhat solid, if noticeably lower budget.  In any case, if any company can do it justice, it will be FUNimation, who have a very solid track record with live action films these days both theatrically at festivals and conventions, and on home video, where I've seen some really solid high definition transfers.  Hell, I'm a Herman Yau fan, and even his schlockiest stuff is still pretty entertaining.

Here are the details from FUNimation:

Flower Mound, Texas (May 11,  2011) - FUNimation® Entertainment today announced it will be distributing the 2010 prequel to the successful IP MAN franchise, THE LEGEND IS BORN - IP MAN, in the U.S.

 The studio has acquired the theatrical, home entertainment, broadcast, digital and merchandising rights to the live action martial arts drama from Atrium Productions.

A semi-biographical film based on the early life events of Wing Chun master Yip Man, famous for mentoring Bruce Lee, is helmed by director Herman Yau and stars Dennis To in the title role.

THE LEGEND IS BORN - IP MAN also features a fight between martial arts legends Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao and an appearance by 86-year-old Ip Chun, Ip Man's real life son, as one of the wing chun master's mentors and who acted as an advisor to the film.

FUNimation Entertainment will offer the film on DVD and Blu-ray late this year following a theatrical release.

I can't wait to see what they do with this one.