The year was 1989, and Jean-Claude Van Damme was still – at best – “That guy from Bloodsport.” It would take a few years for films like Kickboxer (and later Lionheart and Double Impact) to make JCVD a name brand superstar. Hollywood now appears to trying to recapture that early magic with the long-gestating remake of Bloodsport and the newly-announced remake of Kickboxer, which will star newcomer Alan Moussi and popular competitive fighters-turned-Marvel comic book characters Georges St. Pierre (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) and Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy).
The remake is being shopped around at this year’s Cannes Film Festival (and you thought Cannes was only for classy movies…), and will be directed by Tai Chi Zero filmmaker Stephen Fung, according to the press release (via Coming Soon).
The original Kickboxer starred Jean-Claude Van Damme as a vengeance-driven Muay Thai student. That’s about it, really. It’s not a complicated movie.
We expect a remake of No Retreat, No Surrender to be announced shortly.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and the host of The B-Movies Podcast and The Blue Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
