Kick-Ass was released in 2010 to positive reviews and a fair bit of controversy (primarily because it featured then-child actor Chloë Grace Moretz engaging in extreme violence and calling somebody a c***). The sequel, however, followed three years later and, despite the addition of Jim Carrey, was largely panned.
While Mark Millar has kept the franchise going on the page, it's now been over a decade since we last saw the likes of Kick-Ass, Hit-Girl, and Big Daddy on our screens.
We've been hearing rumblings about a reboot for a good few years now and one is indeed on the way. It just won't take the form we expected. Talking to Collider, Matthew Vaughn started by sharing an update on the movie's script.
"We’re halfway through it. There’s a very, very dare I say it...and it’s gonna be a cliche coming out of this head of mine," he teased. "It is a very, very meta universe. It is what, you know, 'Kick Ass' was reinventing and creating a R-rated superhero and no one was really doing it."
"This is taking that whole concept to a worthy…not even a sequel, because I think it’s just a whole new way of doing 'Kick Ass,' which couldn’t be more 'Kick Ass.'"
What does that mean? Well, according to the Argylle director, the new Kick-Ass movie will be the third part of a trilogy which begins with upcoming action movie School Fight. Vaughn produced that, while stunt coordinator Damien Walters directs.
"The trilogy will be School Fight, this movie, let's call it Vram for the time being, and then Kick-Ass, and they're all connected," he said, confirming School Fight has already been shot and Vram is currently shooting. So, yeah, two-thirds of this new Kick-Ass trilogy is basically already in the can.
However, heading in this direction wasn't always the plan and it sounds like they'll only be very loosely connected. "So, when this (VRAM) is finished, I think this will launch, I'll be conservative on this, if we're lucky, Toronto, if we're not lucky, Sundance. Well, this year, next year, if you know what I mean."
We don't, but we're intrigued!
Kick-Ass was directed by Vaughn from a screenplay by him and Jane Goldman. It's based on the comic book of the same name by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.
It tells the story of an ordinary teenager, Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), who sets out to become a real-life superhero, calling himself "Kick-Ass". Dave gets caught up in a bigger fight when he meets Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage), a former cop who, in his quest to bring down the crime boss Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong) and his son Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), has trained his eleven-year-old daughter (Chloë Grace Moretz) to be the ruthless vigilante Hit-Girl.
Are you excited for this bold new take on Kick-Ass?