Malay audiences can expect the film to arrive on October 30 with a cast led by Bront Palarae, Nora Danish, Farid Kamil, Dato’ Rahim Razali and Pablo Amirul. The film has since been granted an explosive new short teaser, as well as a batch of character posters which you can now watch below.
Mixed martial arts as a sport has played a pivotal role in the evolution of the martial arts action genre over the last decade or so. One of the more mainstream attempts at this was director Jeff Wadlow’s 2008 coming-of-age action drama, Never Back Down, which did pretty well at the box office.
The film evidently led to its direct-to-DVD smaller-scale follow-up in 2011, Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown, with martial arts action superstar Michael Jai White co-starring, as well as debuting his first feature as director. Despite a miniscule budget of only $3 million with barely half the time it took to rehearse and film than its predecessor, the film ultimately earned the appeal of fans and left the potential for a third.
A lot more time has passed since then, and with fans still clamoring for more of what they saw in White’s continuance, it wasn’t until last week when the actor himself posted a photo announcing further updates on a possible third installment. On Tuesday, White kept his word with a new photo post on his page stating a potential title for the hopeful third film in the form of Never Back Down: Generations.
The photo White included in his post was that of himself with Guardians Of The Galaxy co-star, actor Djimon Hounsou. Hounsou first appeared in the 2008 film in the role of Jean Roqua opposite actor Sean Faris in the role of trouble-prone high school teen Jake Tyler; Roqua, an MMA pugilist and trainer, agreed to mentor Tyler in his desperation to learn how to fight after getting humiliated by MMA-obsessed glory hound Ryan McCarthy, played by Cam Cigandet. Supporting actor Evan Peters played Jake’s newfound friend, MMA fanboy, Max Cooperman, who also appeared in the 2011 sequel where White, in turn, stepped into the mentor role of Case Walker opposite then-lead, Dean Geyer.
It’s all very early at the moment, but White seems to be making it clear that this film is definitely going to happen, and with the likelihood that he and Hounsou may both appear in the film together at that! It’s an excellent move that could tie the first two films together in a way that could solidify the franchise once and for all. Of course, that all depends on who gets cast and what will be said of its production and forthcoming release.
I’ll leave it at that for now. In the meantime, White is slated to star in next month’s limited theatrical release of Falcon Rising, as well as Skin Trade next year with a date to be announced soon. Hounsou will make his next appearance in Fast And Furious 7 on April 3, 2015.
Subscribe to Michael Jai White’s Facebook page and stay tuned for more info!
Currently in progress is a new crowdsourcer for the latest contribution to the martial arts action genre from UK-based filmmaker, A.J. Singh. The longtime film purveyor is spearheading a funding effort for the new film, Falling Ash, in which he will also star as the lead.
Among a few other essentials, the project has secured a cast, namely actor and martial arts performers Silvio Simac and Mark Sears, and actress Marysia S. Peres. Singh‘s new film is the latest in what he suggests will be a promises will be a “unique of blend character-driven plot, with a grounded sense of reality; combined with the quality of action, prevalent in Hong Kong Cinema of the 1980’s”.
Here’s the setup:
Ashwin ‘Ash’ Singh (AJ Singh) is a man who’s never had luck on his side. His ‘simple’ life on the streets soon changes when he saves the life of Alvaro ‘Al’ Ciancio (Mark Sears). He soon becomes embroiled in Al’s business affairs, gets the attention of Al’s younger sister, Maria (Marysia S. Peres); as well as Al’s enemies – namely is ‘cousin’ Pasquale Salvitti (Silvio Simac).
Ash’s intervention on that fateful night, sets in motion a chain of events that will make Ash question loyalties, face dilemmas, matters of the heart, and his own demons…
Simac, whose credits notably include D.O.A.: Dead Or Alive and Transporter 3, is also poised to appear in writer and director Guy Bleyaert’s forrhcoming action thriller Transit 17 – also starring actress and martial artist Zara Phythian (Personally, I hope Simac plays M. Bison in this awesome webseries. *knocks on wood*).
In the meantime, for more info on Singh‘s new venture into 1980’s Hong Kong action fanfare, head over to the official Falling Ash indiegogo page and watch their new campaign video. And by all means, donate and/or share the page to your heart’s desire!
Five years after leaving New Jersey, JoJo (Franklin Correa) returns home to surprise his mother for her birthday and thanksgiving. Thinking all is well he is noticed by local hustlers Tito (Jay Magicus) and Marlon (Dan Mceaddy) and quick knows everything is not up to par. Now, he must do whatever it takes to find out the truth on what really happened five years ago with the help of his ex girlfriend Vanessa (Crystal T. Williams) and try to evade DeVaughn (Herve Fontaine) who wants him dead before the boss LaShawn (Lester Greene) finds out JoJo is back in town since they we’re once best friends and partners. trying to cover his own tracks DeVaughn hired two sadistic guns for hire Curtis (Dominick Wright) and his partner Moses (Pete Sell) to get rid of JoJo before LaShawn finds out what is going on leaving you the edge of your seat for a climatic showdown and unforgettable ending.
Love is never an easy matter, especially for Yasmine. The boy of her dreams, Adi is back in town but hooks up with Dewi, her lifetime rival. Tired of her school and tied up in an underdog Silat club, she decided to take matters into her own hands and start leading the team.
If you happen to be a fan of cinematic military-style action, combat, suspense and drama, then unless you’ve heard of independent filmmaker and series creator Frank T. Ziede‘s new webseries, Black, you may want to pay attention. Last year’s successful crowdfunding and delivery of the first season for Ziede‘s new action series about a covert-ops team created in response to domestic terrorism, has earned fanwide approval of a second season with new and returning cast members led by actor and former Navy Seal veteran Mikal Vega. And as a result, the bar is now being raised for more action, longer episodes and all the necessary trimmings to further expand the scope of the Black universe.
About a month after the first season began airing last year, Film Combat Syndicate spoke to Ziede during an e-mail interview in which the director offered a little bit of insight on what fans could expect if the first season took off. “Our next chapter for the BLACK team focuses on the idea of cyber terrorism mixed with some hardcore mercenaries as Carnahan’s (Mikal Vega) next enemies.”, he says. “We’d like to kick things up a few notches, of course and have some larger set pieces and more advanced shots. We hope our audience wants to see what we can do next.”.
And with this, the director has a new Kickstarter campaign already up and running that promises big perks, and even more bigger bang for every buck you donate. To get an idea of what the series entails, watch the teaser for the first season in the following embed, and visit the official Kickstarter campaign where you can learn all you need to know on how to support this spectacular new series.
Following the unveiling of an action packed shortfilm promo last November with new concept art earlier this year (seen above), the new Kickstarter has officially begun to fund independent filmmaker Brandon Kahn‘s ambitious online martial arts webseries, Streets Of Myth. Featuring a prominent cast of talented actors and performers led by UK martial arts stalwart, actress Zara Phythian, the set up takes place in England, where society shaped itself into warring factions co-existing in social toxicity where any and all matters are settled in a hail of hand-to-hand combat and martial arts weaponry.
Kahn is looking toward raising £30,000 to fund the production costs prior to the hopeful pre-production and filming of the first episode titled “The King’s Arms” this summer for a September airing, off-setting a ten-to-twelve episode season with each episode lasting thirty minutes. That’s right! Not six or ten or fifteen, but whole half-hour episodes replete with dramatic storytelling with high impact martial arts choreography by series co-star Beau Fowler.
If you missed the earlier shortfilm promo, Enter The Streets Of Myth used to pitch the project late last year, you can watch it by clicking HERE. Otherwise, THE OFFICIAL KICKSTARTER PAGE for Streets Of Myth is up and running with more details on the first episode, the campaign itself, and information on what you can donate and the perks offered for your generosity.