Summary

  • Kung Fury's tale is filled with legal hurdles that have stalled the release, disappointing fans eager for a wacky, star-studded sequel.
  • Lawsuits over promised funding have shut down post-production, leaving the ambitious Kung Fury 2 in limbo for the past four years.
  • The co-writer of the film has a new theatrical release, Boy Kills World, which provides a taste of the humor and action you might see in Kung Fury 2.

The tale of Kung Fury is a fascinating and winding one, with few victories for any party involved. It all stems from the short film, or featurette, Kung Fury, which was created by director, writer, and star David Sandberg and received 39 million views on YouTube. The short film featured David Hasselhoff, and a music video from the film with him garnered more than 52 million views. The original short was obviously a huge success, and it led to a 'sequel' of sorts, titled Kung Fury 2, which has Sandberg reprising his role as the titular Miami Detective with superpowers from a cobra bite and lightning strike. And then there's Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Fassbender, Alexandra Shipp, Jorma Taccone, and David Hasselhoff. The movie was completed roughly five years ago. So what happened?

Well, obscure legal matters happened. That's been annoying for fans of the first short film, or anyone who wants to see Schwarzenegger as the President of the U.S.A., Fassbender as Kung Fury's partner, Shipp as the determined reporter who falls for Kung Fury, Lonely Island's Jorma Taccone as Adolf Hitler, and Hasselhoff as Hoff 9000, the Knight Rider-esque talking car. Fans want to see Kung Fury beat Kung Führer for good, killing Adolf Hitler and saving the world. Alex Lebovici, the head of Hammerstone Studios (one of the film's production companies), told MovieWeb:

"I can say that the film is complete. We've shot it. There is a matter that we're cautiously optimistic that we're gonna be able to work through. Because it's, you know, it's fantastic. And so yeah, at the moment, I can't share more than that, but we're hopeful that there will be a resolution shortly."

Like the original Kung Fury featurette, the film was set to be a send-up of low-budget martial arts and exploitation movies, mimicking the dated aesthetics of those films with tongue firmly planted in cheek. Sandberg excels as "the best damn cop" in the world, and the time-travel element leads to utterly absurd and wacky comedic moments.

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kung fury 2
Kung Fury 2
Action
Comedy
Crime
Fantasy
Sci-Fi
Director
David Sandberg
Writers
David Sandberg , Tyler Burton Smith

Most of these issues likely stem from a lawsuit filed four years ago. The Hollywood Reporter detailed this in September 2020, stating that the producers, "have filed a lawsuit against Creasun Entertainment USA, the L.A.-based financing and production arm of Minglu Ma’s Chinese banner Creasun Media." They elaborated:

"At the heart of the lawsuit, which is a complaint for breach of contract and fraud, is the accusation that Creasun hasn’t provided promised funding of $10 million, a move that has effectively shut down production on the project, currently in post-production [...] Ater Creasun allegedly “torpedoed” efforts to bring in a replacement financier, one of the producers questioned the company’s ability to fund its remaining obligations, resulting in an HSBC letter being produced by Ma in August purporting to show available funds of $4 billion."

The attorney representing Creasun Entertainment USA released a statement saying:

“The lawsuit which was filed against my clients is completely meritless and is legally deficient, obviously drafted to serve as a press release in an attempt to harm my clients’ reputation, and the defendants intend to file a demurrer to have it dismissed. If the dispute cannot be resolved, then Creasun intends to file a countersuit. The lawsuit was filed because Creasun exercised its contractual rights to takeover the film and complete it in accordance with the agreements between the parties.”

Hopefully Kung Fury 2 will see the light of day soon. In the meantime, the co-writer of Kung Fury 2 has actually just had one of their scripts released in theaters. That would be the bombastic and surprising action comedy, Boy Kills World. "I don't know if you're aware of this, but the writer of Boy Kills World co-wrote Kung Fury 2, Tyler Burton Smith," explained Alex Lebovici, producer of both films. If you want to get a taste of the humor and action present in Smith's writing, check out Boy Kills World, which was released in theaters April 26. You can watch a trailer below: