The film series that made Donnie Yen's name much bigger internationally.
And a long-awaited one for Louis Fan, whose career since the infamous Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky had wallowed in B-movie mediocrity. His performance as Jin Shanzhao raised his profile considerably in Hong Kong.
You Look Familiar: Dennis To played Jin Shanzhao's henchman in the first film, then he played the gang leader and student of Hung Chun-nam in the second film. Then he portrayed Ip Man himself in the loose prequel, The Legend is Born: Ip Man
Dueling Works: Ip Man 2 was released the same year as The Legend Is Born: Ip Man, another Martial Arts Movie based on the same historical character, but not produced by the same company. Both share some actors in their cast, including Sammo Hung.
Dawson Casting: Bruce Lee, 19 years old by the time Ip Man 3 takes place, was played by the 40 year old Danny Chan Kwok-Kwan. It was still very much a case of Older Than They Look.
Sequel Gap: Comes out 5 years after the second film.
Troubled Production: A particular instance. When Mike Tyson was announced to star in the third film along with Donnie Yen, there were many people, including Yen's own wife, who worried that Yen could get injured or wounded from working with Tyson, who is famous for both his brilliant boxing resume and nasty attitude problems. It turned out that it was Yen who accidentally injured Tyson during the shootings, breaking one of his fingers when he instinctively blocked a punch with his elbow.
Irony as She Is Cast: Chris Collins plays Colin Frater, a karateka antagonistic to Wing Chun, when Collins actually has a background in Wing Chun but not karate (he had to receive a crash course for the movie). He even served in the USMC and tried to integrate Wing Chun into its training, exactly what his character opposes there. However, and much more egregiously, Collins plays a character who is racist towards the Chinese, despite Collins being half-Chinese in real life, only that he can pass as white from afar (in fact, he revealed he used to be the target of racism from the Chinese population of Hong Kong because he taught Wing Chun as a non-full-blooded Chinese).
Money, Dear Boy: Producer Raymond Wong said he paid Donnie Yen a "hefty amount of money" to return for the film.
Chris Collins, a Donnie Yen fan since his childhood, showed Ip Man 3 to his kung fu students and joked that he might be in the next installment. Ask and you shall receive. Moreover, the film used a lot of his life experience as plot points, if ironically putting him at the other side of them.
Reality Subtext: Frater's actor served as a US Marine and has real experience in challenge matches against Chinese kung fu practitioners, only that in this case he was the target of racism from them and not vice versa. He also tried to get the army to train in Wing Chun, just like Wu does in the movie.
Release Date Change: Was initially due to come out in July 2019. It's been pushed back to December.
Underage Casting: Donnie Yen is in mid-fifties (and very young-looking at it) playing a seventy-one-year-old Ip Man.
but not karate (he had to receive a crash course for the movie). He even served in the USMC and tried to integrate Wing Chun into its training, exactly what his character opposes there. However, and much more egregiously, Collins plays a character who is racist towards the Chinese, despite Collins being half-Chinese in real life, only that he can pass as white from afar (in fact, he revealed he used to be the target of racism from the Chinese population of Hong Kong because he taught Wing Chun as a non-full-blooded Chinese).