Production is reportedly underway in Bulgaria for Kung Fury 2 according to Amanda N’Duka’s scoop at Deadline. Cameras are also expected to roll in Germany while word also brings that Alexandra Shipp is joining the cast of the feature-length sequel to the crowdfunded hit 2015 short from star/writer/director/producer David Sandberg.
Production on Kung Fury 2: The Movie will go forward on July 29 in Germany and Bulgaria according to The Hollywood Reporter. Creasun Media’s L.A.-based financing and production arm, Creasun Entertainment USA will provide major investment on the film in time for production four years after the explosively successful crowdfunded production of Swedish filmmaker David Sanberg’s superbly-received OTT half-hour fantasy short.
David Sandberg’s own treatment of DC property, Shazam!, may unofficially share space with the previous DCEU films. However, clearly this one is standing on its own two jolly feet with Zachary Levi and Asher Angel playing the respective alteregos of our title superhero in the new action adventure, as the official trailer proudly shows this weekend.
What I love most about sci-fi in the new millenium is that today’s crop of filmmakers still tend to express their creativity with an affinity for 80s lore. Make no mistake though – not all creatives can get away with it as many have tried and aren’t quite able to touch onto such a throwback and authentic vision.
Kung Fury 2: The Movie is set in 1985, the best year ever. Miami is kept safe under the watchful eye of Kung Fury, the greatest damn cop of all time. His Thundercops are the ultimate police force assembled from across history to defeat the villainous Kung Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler. After the tragic death of one of their members causes the group to disband, a mysterious villain emerges from the shadows to aid in the Fuhrer’s quest to attain the ultimate weapon. Kung Fury must travel through space and time to save his friends, defend the prestigious Miami Kung Fu Academy, and defeat evil once and for all.
Alex Ritman’s report at The Hollywood Reporter cites key deals already nabbed for the feature-length follow-up to Sandberg’s OTT cult kung fu fantasy cyberpunk adventure, namely the following: Paradise (CIS), Tobis Film (Germany/Switzerland), Notorious (Italy), Sun (Latin America), Pioneer (Philippines), Prorom (Romania), Activers (South Korea), Sun (Spain), Movie Cloud (Taiwan) and Filmart (Turkey). Endeavor Content and CAA are handling North American sales while Bloom sells internationally.
The mega success of David Sandberg’s crowdfunded, stylish martial arts love letter to the 80’s Kung Fury, has opened the floodgates in fine form. The very shortfilm in question is the subject of the bustling news out of Berlin this week as Sandberg readies production on Kung Fury 2: The Movie with several big names attached, including that of actor Arnold Schwarzenegger as The Hollywood Reporter notes.
The Maggie and Aftermath star is set to be joined by the newly added Michael Fassbender and David Hasselhoff with Sandberg directing as well as reprising in the title role. Sandberg is producing via his Laser Unicorns label with Fassbender next to It producers David Katzenberg, Seth Grahame-Smith at KatzSmith Productions with Aaron Schmidt. Also producing are Philip Westgren of B-Reel Films and Conor McCaughan with Pelle Strandberg executive producing on behalf of Laser Unicorns.
Taking its myriad cues from ultra-lit 1980s fantasy fervor, Sandberg leads the intial short as Kung Fury, a hard-edged Miami cop imbued with the powers of kung fu and forced to fight his way from the Viking Age and back to the future to kill Adolf Hitler once and for all. The sequel, Kung Fury 2: The Movie, sets in 1985 and sees our hero traveling time and space to reunite Miami’s ultimate police force, The Thundercops, and working through tragedy to save his friends and defend the prestigious Miami Kung Fu Academy from Adolf Hitler and the mystery villain aiding him.
Schwarzenegger is best known for contributing to some of the biggest and best action titles of the 80s and 90s. The actor and former California governor is also in tow with Oleg Stepchenko’s Journey To China, as well as forthcoming roles in Amazon shows The Legend Of Conan and Outrider, and Deadpool helmer Tim Miller’s forthcoming revival of the Terminator.
Production on Kung Fury 2: The Movie will set forth in the U.S. and Europe. Bloom is selling the film internationally at EFM.
It was on Sunday that actor, producer and filmmaker David Sandberg teased forthcoming announcements for the long-awaited sequel, Kung Fury 2: The Movie. His social media posts on Twitter and Instagram featured conceptual artwork by Ivan Reiss, Marcelo Maiolo, Josan Gonzales, and Alexis Ziritt along with mentions of certain producers now tied to official trade news confirmed as of Monday about the upcoming summer shoot.
Word has it that Michael Fassbender is joining the film in an undisclosed role along with actor David Hasselhoff who sang the theme to the 2015 shortfilm that successfully blew past its Kickstarter goals a few years earlier, now with more than 40 million views in its wake before confirming a feature film effort in summer of 2016. Bloom is handling international sales at EFM this week with Endeavor Content and CAA repping North America.
Taking its myriad cues from ultra-lit 1980s cult fantasy fervor, Sandberg leads the intial short as Kung Fury, a hard-edged Miami cop imbued with the powers of kung fu and forced to fight his way from the Viking Age and back to the future to kill Adolf Hitler once and for all. The sequel, Kung Fury 2: The Movie, sets in 1985 and sees our hero traveling time and space to reunite Miami’s ultimate police force, The Thundercops, and working through tragedy to save his friends and defend the prestigious Miami Kung Fu Academy from Hitler and the mystery villain aiding him.
Sandberg is producing via his Laser Unicorns label with Fassbender next to It producers David Katzenberg, Seth Grahame-Smith at KatzSmith Productions with Aaron Schmidt. Also producing are Philip Westgren of B-Reel Films and Conor McCaughan with Pelle Strandberg executive producing on behalf of Laser Unicorns.
It’s been a fantastic journey for independent filmmaker, David Sandberg and his team at Laser Unicorns in the past few years, and I don’t use the word “fantastic” too loosely. His mission to conceive his latest neon-lit labor of love, Kung Fury, in its grandiose adherence to the lasting cult fandom of all things 1980’s-oriented and whimsical, hasn’t been an easy one to accomplish, and were it not for the explosively successful crowdfunding campaign that earned him and his skeleton film crew three times over their original goal, it’s safe to say that the project likely wouldn’t have picked up as much steam as it has, especially in this climate.
Save for its experimental nature, Sandberg‘s got credentials and he applied them quite well in a such a workable proof-of-concept, now accompanied with even more prominence by way of singer and actor David Hasselhoff as of earlier this month performing a high-energy kick-ass theme song for the film. Yes, to this day as Kung Fury took to the Directors’ Fortnight slot at Cannes, this project has been nothing short of a big deal with the promise of a 30-minute shortfilm release looming, as well as the prospects of a feature film production. And with regard to the shortfilm, the word from Screendaily is that Under The Milky Way has officially picked it up for VOD distribution on May 28, 2015 in to release English-language territories, along with Scandinavia, Germany, Russia, Spain and Latin America.
Sandberg, who wrote and directed the shortfilm, stars as its lead – a rogue martial arts detective forced to find his way back to present day 1980’s Miami when an attempt to time travel back to Nazi Germany and avenge his friend’s death at the hands of Adolf Hitler: Kung Führer, accidentally sends him to the Viking Age. It’s all downhill from there as our hero races against time crosses and paths with dinosaurs, Norse gods, machine gun-wielding Viking hotties, killer robots and much more – all in a visionary display of over-the-top action, martial arts and spectacle that shamelessly defies gravity and physics.
If this is your first time hearing of Kung Fury, you’re more than welcome to revisit the latest music video, and keep your eyes peeled for more info!
H/T: Screendaily
It’s been nearly a year since we’ve heard from independent filmmaker David Sandberg who debuted the pitch trailer for his latest project, Kung Fury, back in December. However, hopefully you have been following the project via social media where they’ve been sharing some really cool production gems, incl uding some neat Instagram nuggets you will find just under the last paragraph line.
Inspired by all the tropes of 1980’s cyberpunk action and cheesy, over-the-top storytelling, Kung Fury sees its lead character, a martial arts Rambo-stylized kung fu cop who must find a way back to the 1980’s after accidentally landing in the Viking age during a failed time-travel mission to kill Adolf Hitler. Signaling Sandberg‘s new foray into another shortfilm endeavor at the time, the trailer was accompanied by a major crowdfunding effort via Kickstarter which would soon follow with a huge overnight response from donors, making Kung Fury a huge success upon earning three-times their original goal.
Hopefully what this means is a feature film is on the way. Until that time comes, feel free to check out what’s on Instagram in the embeds below and subscribe as well, and check out the official website while you’re at it!
The blood tubes didn’t work for this take. Also I hit Steven way too hard. #kungfury #outtake
Видео опубликовано David Sandberg (@laserunicorns) авг 8, 2014 at 9:46 PDT
Roundhouse fury kick #kungfuryshooting #kungfury
A video posted by David Sandberg (@laserunicorns) on Aug 8, 2014 at 3:42pm PDT
The poster is gonna be RAD! Here’s a sneak peak. Artwork by Andreas Bennwik. #kungfury #80s #movieposter #airbrush
Ett foto publicerat av David Sandberg (@laserunicorns) Nov 11, 2014 at 9:29 PST
Another day at the office. #kungfury
Een video die is geplaatst door David Sandberg (@laserunicorns) op Dec 12, 2014 at 2:42 PST
Extra cheese please!
If you are into mullets, DeLoreans, headbands, powergloves, skateboards, synthesizer music, viking babes with machine guns and towering giants, shoulderpads, visually cheesy and epic, over-the-top violence, then you are in for the wildest dinosaur ride of your life! As of today, there are only 29 days left for actor, writer and director David Sandberg‘s kickstarter for his brand new 30-minute comedic action thriller, Kung Fury, starring Sandberg as a rogue cop who goes on a desperate mission to put an end to Adolf Hitler’s reign of kung fu terror, only to be thrown too far back in time and no choice but to find a way to complete his mission…with a little extra help.
Laser Unicorn, the geniuses behind this radical 1980’s exploitation martial arts cyberpunk action cinema spoof on fantasy karate cop movies, have already completed most of the film, and are asking to the tune of $200,000 to satisfy the intended means of its post-production so that it can fulfill donors’ perks, as well as release the film online next year…for FREE! And to accompany your interest here, Sandberg has a trailer for you to enjoy.
Visit the official Kickstarter page for Kung Fury for more info on the project and to learn how you can benefit from this retrocheesy load of kickass awesomeness.
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