2013 Martial Arts Movies

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Chinese classic literature will make a major appearance in martial arts cinema this year, with movies entitled The Monkey King and Journey to the West. Both movies will likely featuring the staff-wielding monkey who made mischief in heaven and on earth. You may be familiar with the tale from Jet Li’s portrayal of the Monkey King in the 2008 film The Forbidden Kingdom. Readers can get the jist of the tale by reading the book.

Japanese classic literature will also be addressed, sort of. In the tradition of The Last Samurai, Keanu Reeves will star in movie that has no business having an American lead. It will be some sort of take off on the famous tale, 47 Ronin.

There will also be another iteration of the life story of Ip Man. Ip Man was a Wing Chun grandmaster who, as one can tell from the pile of films about his life, lived a fascinating life. While his fame is eclipsed by that of his most famous student, Bruce Lee, Man was a police officer who had to flee China to Hong Kong because of his support for the Kuomintang.

The sequel to the Tony Jaa film Tom Yum Goong (Ummm, Tom Yum) is due out this year. It will be entitled The Protector 2 in the west. The Thai star is continuing to give Chinese Kung fu cinema a run for its money.

The Grandmaster

Journey to the West

The Monkey King

Tom Yum Goong 2 (aka The Protector 2)
TYG2

47 Ronin

25 thoughts on “2013 Martial Arts Movies”

    • If you mean where did i determine what movies to include. I went through IMDBb’s list of upcoming movies for 2013 augmented by web searches. If you mean, where did I come up with idea to create a post on upcoming martial arts movies, that’s just brainstorming.

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  4. Fascinating post Very interesting article.Thank you for liking my post.Warm regards.jalal

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    • Yeah, I read “Journey to the West” (A Chinese novel that features the Monkey King) and I really enjoyed it.

      There was a movie a while back in which Jet Li played the Monkey King. I think that was “Forbidden Kingdom.” I don’t know how this one will compare.

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      • Yes, I just had to Google it, but it turns out that it’s the same work. According to Wikipedia, “Monkey” is what it’s commonly known as, and “Journey to the West” is the [translation of] the original title.

        I’ve got “Water Margin” and a bunch of other Chinese Classics on my Kindle, but haven’t gotten around to reading them yet.

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      • I was wondering if there was a connection….are you an Ang Lee fan? He’s fantastic in my estimation. Nothing beats the beauty of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

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  6. l am delighted you liked my post (the Armenian Genocide..) best regards.jalal

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  7. 🙂 Great movies! My favorite Monkey King actor gotta be Liuxiaolingtong though – do check it out – he’s a classical Chinese opera performer trained in martial arts – his acting in 80’s drama Journey to the West basically sets the benchmark for how Monkeys kings should be :)…I think …

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  8. Grandmaster looks like a great flick ,unfortunately up here in Minnesota Asian movies or foreign movies of any kind rarely get screen time. The exception is if a movie gets strong Hollywood buzz like Hero or House of Flying Daggers and of course Academy awards winners like Crouching Tiger hidden Dragon and The Last Emperor. If it it shows at all it will screen at an indie theater. I would love to see Grandmaster on the big screen, but if I can’t I will surely put it on my wish list for Movies unlimited.

    Question: Where do I get permission to post trailers on my blog?

    Thanks for viewing my blog

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    • Thanks.

      You don’t need it, as long as you don’t modify the trailer which in itself generally gives credit to those responsible for the film (i.e. production company, etc.) (i.e. there is no intellectual property theft.) The film makers put trailers on YouTube for a reason (so that it will go viral.) If they don’t want images from their film in the public eye, they a.) won’t put them in the trailer b.) won’t release a trailer.

      That’s why the embed codes are all on YouTube pages. It now occurs to me that what you may have been trying to ask was how do you post a trailer. On YouTube, see the “Share” tab, and then the “Embed” option. Copy and Paste into the html window of your WordPress blog (not the “Visual” window that shows it as it will appear.)

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  13. Thanks for the visit and like on my most recent article. This topic, and many your other topics are fascinating to me and so I will be following your past, present, and future content. I love martial arts films in general and really enjoy the classic movies along with the many of the Anime and Manga equivalents. Great efforts on some original content.

    chefdiavolo, aka Glen.

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