To avoid any possible legal issues, no leaked content from David Sandberg’s Kung Fury 2 will be visually available here. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t do our best to describe it to you!
On December 26, 2013, a new Kickstarter campaign launched to fund a short film project from Laser Unicorns. Within two days, the project had exceeded its goal and an outlandish little short film known as Kung Fury was about to take the internet by storm.
Set in the early 1980s, Kung Fury follows Detective Kung Fury of the Miami-Dade police department. Kung Fury gained extraordinary kung fu abilities, wielding them alongside his partner Triceracop, a humanoid triceratops police officer. Together with Hackerman, Barbariana, a Tyrannosaurus-Rex named Dinomyte, and David Hasselhoff, they’d team up to defeat Adolf Hitler, aka Kung Führer.
‘Kung Fury’: A Brief History
The short film became an instant hit and an internet classic. The project has amassed over 40M views on YouTube and close to 1M likes. A sequel was announced to be in the works from Sandberg via the Laser Unicorns Facebook page. Seth Grahame-Smith and David Katzenberg would join as producers and help put the feature-length sequel together. In 2018, Michael Fassbender and Arnold Schwarzenegger joined the film, with Alexandra Shipp joining the cast later on. The sequel began production in July 2019 and concluded by the end of September, set for a 2022 release date.
Here we are now in 2025, and our minds remain devoid of the Kung Fury sequel. In late 2020, a legal battle began between the film’s producers and its investors, Creasun Entertainment USA. The producers sued Creasun for a breach of contract. The producers their failure to deliver on $10M of an agreed-upon $22.3M payment. The investment makes up a significant amount of the film’s $33.4M budget. Post-production came to an immediate halt and has remained stalled ever since.
Back From The Dead
Out of nowhere, a 10-minute-long sizzle reel for Kung Fury 2 suddenly appeared on YouTube this morning. The video was quickly hit with a copyright strike by the film’s production company, Hammerstone Studios. The reel essentially details the plot of the sequel. Jumping from major to major plot points in the film, and unfortunately, spoiling multiple crucial moments of the film. The reel also details what the characters have been up to since the first film, forming the Thunder Cops. Additionally, introducing Michael Fassbender’s ex-FBI agent Colt Magnum, Alexandra Shipp’s reporter, appropriately named “Ray Porter.” As well as Arnold Schwarzenegger as the President of the United States.
It isn’t Kung Fury without a wide range of exotic and eccentric characters. A result of the return of the Kung Führer – a whole toy chest of foes has arrived to aid his conquest. Strange adversaries such as Taekwon Doom, Ninjaguar, Finito, Cyber Death, Samurage, Mayahem, and a flaming skeleton named Boner. Together, the Kung Führer and his crew of foes seek to take over America.
What Happens Next?
The rest of the vibrant and action-packed sizzle reel shows off an array of glimpses into its action sequences.
In a statement to Variety, writer and director David Sandberg expressed his disappointment in the leak, saying it “was never supposed to be seen by the public” and that he hopes people can see all the hard work that he put into bringing the film to life. Sandberg goes on to add movie has essentially been held hostage for the past 5 years and that he won’t stop fighting for its release.
“This was an internal promo video that was never supposed to be seen by the public. I feel bad because it contains a bunch of plot points and temp VFX. I hope at least people can see the passion that we poured into the movie, the world deserves to see it as it was meant to be seen. This movie has been held hostage for the past 5 years but I promise to keep fighting for it and make sure this film gets the chance it truly deserves.”
‘Kung Fury’ Writer and Director David Sandberg in a statement to Variety
Situations like this are not entirely unheard of. Most famously, Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool would not exist without a similar situation. The film’s notoriously leaked test footage ultimately gave the film the boost it needed to get the green light from 20th Century Fox. Reynolds has even admitted that he was possibly involved, aiding the leakers in releasing the footage. We all know that worked out, with 2024’s third instalment in the franchise and smash hit, Deadpool & Wolverine.
It’s unknown what will happen next and if the legal battle has any end in sight. For now, it seems the project has to rely on good ol’ fan outcry. So get out there and let the internet know how bad you want to see Kung Fury 2. It’s happened before, and it will surely happen again.
