Just a few days sooner than the 2025 Cannes Film Competitors kicked off, a leaked sizzle reel of a film often called “Kung Fury 2″ caused one factor of a stir on-line.
The ten-minute promo — uploaded to an anonymous YouTube account (and eradicated decrease than a day later) — showcased an insane medley of movement comedy and martial arts in a wildly over-the-top and principally bonkers homage to the 80s, with Michael Fassbender as a renegade cop with a strong mullet hairdo and Arnold Schwarzenegger as a Nazi-fighting U.S. president.
Whereas for lots of the response was largely of the “WTF was that” choice, for others it was a extremely welcome reminder of a long-delayed movie that had all-but vanished from sight.
“Kung Fury 2” was actually first launched in Cannes in 2015, the place the distinctive “Kung Fury” — a 30-minute, inexperienced screen-shot fast film about “kung fu cop” who goes once more in time from Nineteen Eighties Miami to defeat the Kung Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler — grew to grow to be certainly one of many unlikeliest breakout hits.
“I’ve such fond recollections of that time, not solely Cannes, nevertheless your complete course of major as a lot because it,” says creator/director David Sandberg, who moreover performs Kung Fury and whose hugely-successful Kickstarter advertising and marketing marketing campaign observed consumers truly journey from across the globe to his residence in rural Sweden to assist on the fast. “The eagerness of it was throughout the DNA of the mission. All people who labored on it shared the keenness.”
In Cannes, “Kung Fury” premiered throughout the Directors’ Fortnight opponents, usually a platform for auteur directors and by no means high-octane tales about time-travelling martial arts cops, machine gun-carrying viking warriors utilizing dinosaurs (and much, far more). Understandably, Sandberg was a little bit of undecided the way it would possibly go down.
“I was so fucking nervous, nevertheless when it started collaborating in people have been laughing so loud that I couldn’t hear what was taking place,” he says. “So that was truly reassuring.”
The following months and years as a result of the observe up attribute, finally entitled “Kung Fury 2,” received right here collectively, have been “fully insane,” Sandberg admits.
In two of the wildest objects of casting, every Schwarzenegger and Fassbender joined the mission in 2018, with Fassbender even coming aboard as producer. On the Berlin Film Competitors that yr, explicit “Kung Fury” bomber jackets received out to distributors who bought the film.
BTS shot from Kung Fury 2. Credit score rating: Pablo Frisk
“Kung Fury 2” started principal photoraphy in mid 2019, taking photos predominantly at Nu Boyana studios in Bulgaria and later Germany. It then went into post-production which, given the amount of VFX and inexperienced show know-how involved, would take up a considerably bulk of the time (and the film’s common $33 million funds). Nonetheless then, quiet.
Sadly, it wasn’t the on account of pandemic, nevertheless trouble with certainly one of many film’s main consumers.
Earlier in 2019, Creasun Leisure USA, the LA-based financing and manufacturing arm of Chinese language language VFX agency Creasun Media based mostly by Minglu Ma, took a majority stake in “Kung Fury 2” and received right here aboard as producers. As part of the settlement, the company agreed to fund two-thirds of the final funds, totalling spherical $22.3 million, of which $10 million was to pay VFX powerhouse Double Hostile. Nonetheless Sandberg says this VFX money certainly not arrived.
“As quickly as we started attending to VFX, points started to basically decelerate — and points grew to grow to be a bit weird,” he says. “After which it turned out that our Chinese language language financier had principally stopped all funds.”
BTS shot from Kung Fury 2. Credit score rating: Pablo Frisk
In September of 2020, a lawsuit was filed in opposition to Creasun. After what Sandberg says was a “yr and half of licensed battles,” a settlement was finally reached whereby Creasun agreed to fulfil it financial obligations. Nonetheless Sandberg claims they nonetheless didn’t pay the money. So the manufacturing sued them as soon as extra and the lawsuit rumbles on. Alongside one of the simplest ways, Creasun reportedly fought once more with counter claims that producers had stolen money from the manufacturing, nevertheless repeated auditor checks couldn’t uncover one thing throughout the figures to counsel that was true.
Sandberg assures that, even sooner than the first lawsuit, efforts had been made to forestall it reaching that stage. Choice understands producers even equipped to buy Creasun out, presents which were refused.
“They solely type of stonewalled every single attempt to resolve the problem,” he says. “And it was merely truly heartbreaking for me as an artist who’s labored on this for years. And there are so many people who’ve poured their hearts into this, and I actually really feel large horrible for them.”
Exterior of the licensed hurdles, Sandberg says that every one photographs on “Kung Fury 2” is full, as is an edit of the movie. All that’s left is publish and VFX, which he estimates would worth throughout the space of $5-$10 million.
BTS shot from Kung Fury 2. Credit score rating: Pablo Frisk
Throughout the years that handed after his passion mission flooring to a half, Sandberg says he “fell proper right into a deep despair… I merely gave up.” Nonetheless he rapidly realized that, “as a creative particular person, what makes me happy is to create.”
So he obtained once more into it, and began engaged on new secret new attribute with equally bonkers tones as “Kung Fury,” nevertheless not one of many licensed drama. He’s conserving a lid on the film for now, nevertheless says he’s working with Finnish entrepreneur Mikko Kodisoja, co-founded Supercell, the gaming agency behind cell hits “Battle of Clans” and “Brawl Stars.” Kodisoja is totally funding the mission. No completely different consumers are wished.
Nonetheless Sandberg may also be determined that his movie about his famed Hitler-fighting kung fu cop, alongside Fassbender and Schwarzenegger, will lastly see the sunshine. The response to the leaked sizzle — which he acknowledged was an “inside promo video that was certainly not presupposed to be seen by most of the people” and contained “temp VFX” — reveals that there’s nonetheless an viewers decided to see it.
“It’s a implausible movie and I’m so bummed that I can’t current it,” he says. “Nonetheless I haven’t given up on it. Sooner or later, for sure, it might probably get launched. Nonetheless we merely should vitality by way of it. However it’s unimaginable. Fassbender is unimaginable. Arnold is unimaginable. We had such an beautiful experience on set and all people felt the love behind it. So it’s solely a shame that it would end up this vogue. However it’s not over. It’s going to get in the marketplace finally.”
