‘Kung Fury’ Director on Heartbreaking Authorized Drama That Halted Function

Just some days earlier than the 2025 Cannes Movie Competition kicked off, a leaked sizzle reel of a movie known as “Kung Fury 2″ brought about one thing of a stir on-line.

The ten-minute promo — uploaded to an nameless YouTube account (and eliminated lower than a day later) — showcased an insane medley of motion 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 powerful mullet hairdo and Arnold Schwarzenegger as a Nazi-fighting U.S. president.

Whereas for a lot of the response was largely of the “WTF was that” selection, for others it was a really welcome reminder of a long-delayed film that had all-but vanished from sight.

“Kung Fury 2” was truly first introduced in Cannes in 2015, the place the unique “Kung Fury” — a 30-minute, inexperienced screen-shot quick movie about “kung fu cop” who goes again in time from Nineteen Eighties Miami to defeat the Kung Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler — grew to become one of many unlikeliest breakout hits.

“I’ve such fond recollections of that point, not solely Cannes, however the entire course of main as much as it,” says author/director David Sandberg, who additionally performs Kung Fury and whose hugely-successful Kickstarter marketing campaign noticed buyers actually journey from around the globe to his home in rural Sweden to help on the quick. “The eagerness of it was within the DNA of the mission. Everybody who labored on it shared the fervour.”

In Cannes, “Kung Fury” premiered within the Administrators’ Fortnight competitors, normally a platform for auteur administrators and never high-octane tales about time-travelling martial arts cops, machine gun-carrying viking warriors using dinosaurs (and far, way more). Understandably, Sandberg was a bit of not sure how it might go down.

“I used to be so fucking nervous, however when it began taking part in folks have been laughing so loud that I couldn’t hear what was happening,” he says. “In order that was actually reassuring.”

The next months and years because the observe up characteristic, ultimately entitled “Kung Fury 2,” got here collectively, have been “completely insane,” Sandberg admits.

In two of the wildest items of casting, each Schwarzenegger and Fassbender joined the mission in 2018, with Fassbender even coming aboard as producer. On the Berlin Movie Competition that yr, particular “Kung Fury” bomber jackets got out to distributors who purchased the movie.

“Kung Fury 2” began principal photoraphy in mid 2019, taking pictures predominantly at Nu Boyana studios in Bulgaria and later Germany. It then went into post-production which, given the quantity of VFX and inexperienced display know-how concerned, would take up a significantly bulk of the time (and the movie’s general $33 million funds). However then, quiet.

Sadly, it wasn’t the as a result of pandemic, however hassle with one of many movie’s major buyers.

Earlier in 2019, Creasun Leisure USA, the LA-based financing and manufacturing arm of Chinese language VFX firm Creasun Media based by Minglu Ma, took a majority stake in “Kung Fury 2” and got here aboard as producers. As a part of the settlement, the corporate agreed to fund two-thirds of the general funds, totalling round $22.3 million, of which $10 million was to pay VFX powerhouse Double Adverse. However Sandberg says this VFX cash by no means arrived.

“As soon as we began attending to VFX, issues began to essentially decelerate — and issues grew to become a bit bizarre,” he says. “After which it turned out that our Chinese language financier had principally stopped all funds.”

In September of 2020, a lawsuit was filed in opposition to Creasun. After what Sandberg says was a “yr and half of authorized battles,” a settlement was ultimately reached wherein Creasun agreed to fulfil it monetary obligations. However Sandberg claims they nonetheless didn’t pay the cash. So the manufacturing sued them once more and the lawsuit rumbles on. Alongside the best way, Creasun reportedly fought again with counter claims that producers had stolen cash from the manufacturing, however repeated auditor checks couldn’t discover something within the figures to counsel that was true.

Sandberg assures that, even earlier than the primary lawsuit, efforts had been made to forestall it reaching that stage. Selection understands producers even supplied to purchase Creasun out, presents that have been refused.

“They only sort of stonewalled each single try to resolve the difficulty,” he says. “And it was simply actually heartbreaking for me as an artist who’s labored on this for years. And there are such a lot of individuals who have poured their hearts into this, and I really feel tremendous horrible for them.”

Exterior of the authorized hurdles, Sandberg says that each one images on “Kung Fury 2” is full, as is an edit of the film. All that’s left is publish and VFX, which he estimates would price within the area of $5-$10 million.

Within the years that handed after his ardour mission floor to a half, Sandberg says he “fell right into a deep despair… I simply gave up.” However he quickly realized that, “as a artistic individual, what makes me pleased is to create.”

So he obtained again into it, and started engaged on new secret new characteristic with equally bonkers tones as “Kung Fury,” however not one of the authorized drama. He’s conserving a lid on the movie for now, however says he’s working with Finnish entrepreneur Mikko Kodisoja, co-founded Supercell, the gaming firm behind cell hits “Conflict of Clans” and “Brawl Stars.” Kodisoja is absolutely funding the mission. No different buyers are wanted.

However Sandberg can also be decided that his film 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 by no means purported to be seen by the general public” and contained “temp VFX” — reveals that there’s nonetheless an viewers determined to see it.

“It’s a implausible film and I’m so bummed that I can’t present it,” he says. “However I haven’t given up on it. At some point, for certain, it can get launched. However we simply must energy by means of it. Nevertheless it’s unimaginable. Fassbender is unimaginable. Arnold is unimaginable. We had such an exquisite expertise on set and everybody felt the love behind it. So it’s only a disgrace that it might find yourself this fashion. Nevertheless it’s not over. It’s going to get on the market ultimately.”