Last week, action fans were given an unexpected glimpse of a movie that sees Michael Fassbender playing a Nazi alongsideArnold Schwarzeneggeras a gun-totting U.S. president. However, the 10-minute sizzle reel could be the only footage ever seen fromKung Fury 2thanks to an incredibly messy legal battle that has prevented the movie’s decade-long journey to screens from reaching a conclusion. Now director and creatorDavid Sandberghas opened up about the “heartbreaking” controversy that has kept the movie under lock and key.
Rights issues are usually the big problem that plagues Hollywood movie releases, with some IPs languishing in limbo as two or three people argue over who should make the most money from a famous character or plot.Kung Fury 2’s problems lie in one of the movie’s investors, Creasun Entertainment USA, who pledged two-thirds of the movie’s budget, including $10 million to be paid to VFX company Double Negative. However, the money was never paid, and that is where the problems with the movie lie.
Full Kung Fury Short Is Online and It’s Insane!
Filmmaker/star David Sandberg has debuted his full 30-minute short film Kung Fury online, just after it aired on the El Rey network.
As perVariety, Sandberg explained how it began to fall apart in post-production due to their financier:
“Once we started getting to VFX, things started to really slow down — and things became a bit weird, and then it turned out that our Chinese financier had basically stopped all payments.”
After a lawsuit was launched against the financier to attempt to get the owed money paid, things became messy. Creasun counter-claimed that the production had been stealing money from them (even though no proof was found after several audits of the project’s finances) and, despite eventually agreeing to pay what they owed, no money was forthcoming and the legalities continued. Sandberg added:
“They just kind of stonewalled every single attempt to solve the issue, and it was just really heartbreaking for me as an artist who’s worked on this for years. And there are so many people who have poured their hearts into this, and I feel super terrible for them.”
‘Kung Fury 2’ Will Be Released…Eventually
One thing that is clear is thatKung Fury 2is a movie that has to be seen to be believed. It is a massive passion project of Sandberg, and afterthe leaked sizzle reel caused a new wave of interestin the project, the film could finally manage to move ahead if it can secure what it needs to complete it. According to the director, the only thing needed is VFX work and some editing, which would cost somewhere in the region of $5-$10 million.
Having already crowdfunded his original short via Kickstarter, the question of getting the money together seems like it should be a simple task – legal issues aside, of course. In the main, Sandberg doesn’t believe this is the end forKung Fury 2, and knows that some day, fans will get to see the movie that would go down as the craziest action blockbuster the world has ever seen. He said:
“It’s a fantastic movie and I’m so bummed that I can’t show it. but I haven’t given up on it. One day, for sure, it will get released. But we just have to power through it. But it’s incredible. Fassbender is incredible. Arnold is incredible. We had such a wonderful experience on set and everyone felt the love behind it. So it’s just a shame that it would end up this way. But it’s not over. It will get out there eventually.”
Source:Variety
Kung Fury 2
