It’s official: The rebooted Kickboxer franchise wants your heart and wants to eat your children. In a fun way, though.
Variety reports that the dusted off Jean-Claude Van Damme film series has added another superstar prize fighter to its ranks. Mike Tyson (who may have been scouted using time travel) has joined the cast of Kickboxer: Retaliation, the sequel to the upcoming Kickboxer: Vengeance. No, this isn’t a nostalgia-fuelled stroke you’re having, we’ve returned to an age where Kickboxer movies are churned out at a steady pace.
Tyson, who’s popped by a variety of pop culture destinations ranging from Ip Man 3 to The Hangover to Mike Tyson Mysteries, will be playing a convict forced to fight while behind bars. Can we get a quick image of how that would presumably play out?
Looks about right. Anyway, filming is currently underway for this next instalment in the franchise, and nabbing Tyson is being hailed by the Kickboxer camp as a big get.
“This is a monumental moment for us,: said producer Robert Hickman of Our House Films. “We have already signed on 14 champions from the sporting world, mostly decorated fighters from the UFC, being able to add Mike Tyson as a cast member adds a whole new element and excitement to the film.”
Hickman isn’t wrong about the reboot’s emphasis on fighters of varying stripes (including pro wrestlers) with Gina Carano, George St-Pierre, Cain Velasquez and Dave Bautista set to appear in Kickboxer: Vengeance, and Retaliation will include Tyson and MMA fighter/newly minted Dancing With the Stars runner-up Paige VanZant in the next film.
If you’re wondering why Vengeance would be followed up with Retaliation on the revenge depth chart, the Kickboxer franchise may not be for you.
Kickboxer: Vengeance, which is helmed by Turistas director John Stockwell, features JCVD in the mentor position as Master Durand. It’s his training that’ll turn Kurt Sloane (played by Alain Moussi) into an unstoppable badass that’ll allow him to gain revenge against the Muay Thai champion who killed his brother. Faces will be decimated, blood will be spilled and you’ll have to count on your fingers to remember how many Kickboxer movies have tumbled out into this world.
A September release on VOD and in theaters is the current plan for Kickboxer: Vengeance, and here’s hoping that Ice Cube lets Van Damme have the premiere at his old place.
(via Variety)
