Fans and critics loved the Donnie Yen / Mike Tyson movie, but the Chinese distributors have had to admit to serious fraud, with Ip Man 3’s box-office taking a hit…
As regular Impact readers will know, we were eagerly-awaiting the release of Ip Man 3 and gave it a strong review when it made its international debut. We also noted the huge box-office the movie – which stars Donnie Yen and Mike Tyson – received when it first arrived in Chinese cinemas. But despite our appreciation of the finished film, it’s only fair we follow up on the subsequent allegations that the Chinese distributors of Ip Man 3, Beijing Max Screen (also known as Dayinmu Film) falsified the final tally of that debut. The company has now admitted to a massive fraud when it came to manipulating those box-office receipts.
Suspicions were raised not by the film’s success but by the degree of it. The region has seen quite a few examples of local distributors playing hard and fast with (or completely breaking) rules and began to scrutinise this case to see if the surge was quite as genuine as claimed. As the investigations continue, industry site Deadline now notes that the Chinese company has now admitted that they bought 56m Yuan (which equates to about $7.7m) worth of cinema tickets and conjured up over 7600 imaginary screenings to help bolster an already decent opening across the region. Observers calculate it could have raised the legitimate totals by around 32m Yuan ($4.4m). That being said, the film had a $75m opening-weekend and remains popular with an estimated $120m in the region to date.
As part of their punishment Dayinmu Film have been suspended from distributing anything for the next month, though this may prove to be a symbolic warning to other distributors in the region – that have also come under suspicion in the past – rather than a huge financial hit to them Dayinmu Film.
It should be noted that this has no impact on – or connection to – the UK distributor of the film.
Ip Man 3 will be available for home viewing in the UK from next month. The digital download arrives on Monday 18th April with a Special Collector’s Steelbook, DVD & Blu-ray AND an Ip Man Trilogy Box Set on DVD & Blu-ray arrivign a week later on 25th April.
