Jashandeep Singh
The filming of ‘Kickboxer: Armageddon,’ the third and final film in Dimitri Logothetis’ rebooted ‘Kickboxer’ franchise, is scheduled to begin in Mississippi and Malta in January 2024. The martial arts film follows Alain Moussi, “whose world turned upside down once again when an explosion meant for him kills his wife and baby. With nothing left to lose, Kurt runs ferociously through the underground fight scene of Malaysia, training to track down and assassinate the man responsible, Master Durand’s twin brother Cesare,” as per the official logline.
While the first two films of the trilogy were primarily shot in Thailand and various regions in the USA, ‘Kickboxer: Armageddon’ is set to commence filming in Mississippi and Malta. The makers are trying to acquire an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA amid the strike to begin production early next year. Mississippi has earlier facilitated the production of ‘True Blood,’ ‘The Ritual Killer,’ ‘A Time to Kill,’ ‘Borat,’ and ‘The Insider.’ On the other hand, Malta, an island country in Southern Europe, has previously served as a filming location for ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Jurassic World Dominion,’ ‘Murder on the Orient Express,’ ‘World War Z,’ ‘The Da Vinci Code,’ and ‘Assassin’s Creed.’
The film is helmed by Dimitri Logothetis, who also penned the script along with Jim McGrath, before the initiation of the SAG-AFTRA strike. The duo had worked together on the scripts of ‘Kickboxer: Vengeance’ and ‘Kickboxer: Retaliation’ as well. Logothetis co-produced both films and also took up direction duties on the latter. In an earlier interview, the filmmaker had teased that he is going to take the fight sequences in ‘Kickboxer: Armageddon’ to a “totally different level” that will “blow the audiences’ minds.”
Alain Moussi is all set to reprise his role as Kurt Sloane in the film. The actor began his career as a stuntman before rising to fame with ‘Kickboxer: Vengeance’. His other acting credits include Dimitri Logothetis’ sci-fi martial arts film ‘Jiu Jitsu,’ Netflix’s horror anthology series ‘V Wars’ and Joey Ansah’s web series ‘Street Fighter: Resurrection.’ As for the rest of the cast, Logothetis had earlier revealed that Mike Tyson, Christopher Lambert, and Ronaldinho will be reprising their roles as Briggs, Thomas Moore, and Ronaldo respectively and rapper Snoop Dogg will be joining the team. However, it is not confirmed if they are still attached to the project. Jean-Claude Van Damme’s return as Master Durand is also not confirmed as of now.
The film is produced by Logothetis along with Joel Shapiro and Rob Hickman. The first ‘Kickboxer’ film, directed by Mark DiSalle and David Worth, came out in 1989 with Jean-Claude Van Damme starring as Kurt Sloane. The film was a huge box office success, which paved the way for four sequels, with the last one, ‘Redemption: Kickboxer 5,’ premiering in 1995. The franchise was eventually rebooted by Radar Pictures over two decades later with the release of ‘Kickboxer: Vengeance’ in 2016.
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