Some of you may recall how impressed you were by the awesomeness presented in the trailer for franchise writer and director Syamsul Yusof‘s explosive, martial arts action-packed Fall gangster thriller, KL Gangster 2. Fanfare around the internet buzzed heavily around the film in the two years before the film’s theatrical release as moviegoers around the world who learned of the film’s existence hoped to learn more about further distribution of the film beyond its Malaysian borders.
For those concerned, the film took the top spot on its opening weekend, ultimately beating Gravity and Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2. But its success came with a lot of worry, particularly Yusof who avoided the press and was reportedly devastated to the point of nearly quitting filmmaking as local police began an investigation looking into several cases of the film’s online leak a month before its October 3 release. This evidently left the film’s cast and crew wondering about the fate of the franchise, including one of the leads, actor Aaron Aziz who moreso expressed his optimism for a third chapter to the story in an interview posted earlier this month at the Strait Times. “If you ask me, Malek’s story can be developed further.” he says. “I think that he is an interesting character and there is a lot more to him than what is told through these two films,”.
The first film, KL Gangster, released in 2011, ultimately becoming a blockbuster success upon earning nearly $4 million from a $500K budget. And with the reported success of this year’s prequelized follow-up thusfar despite its budget being four times bigger than its predecessor, and the looming threat of piracy worldwide, a big question mark surrounds the prospects of a third film, and whether or not Yusof decides to helm it.
For now, theater-going patrons across Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei got their money’s worth. And although piracy is seems to be a common thing nowadays, it doesn’t necessarily mean that nothing can be done about it. Someone has a job to do, and it simply needs to be done. Hell, after what happened with Undisputed 3, I consider us quite lucky. That’s just my opinion.
Let’s hope for some further release news across the pond.
KL Gangster 2 stars Aaron Aziz, Adi Putra, along with Zizan Raja Lawak, Ridzuan Hashim, Soffi Jikan and Rosyam Nor.
SYNOPSIS:
Despite the best efforts of Malek (Aaron Aziz), his younger brother, petty drug dealer Jai (Adi Putra), sinks deeper and deeper into the world of gangland activity and organised crime. When a series of tragedies befall their family, Malek has no choice but to join one of the gangs and plays a pivotal part in an all-out turf war instigated by violent rival gang leader Tailong (Rosyam Nor).
