Brit filmmaker Matthew Vaughn who directed Stardust and X-Men: First Class is planning to expand on two of his other popular films. Kick-Ass will be getting a reboot involving several films and Kingsman is getting a full on expanded universe.
Talking to Empire Vaughn revealed he’s planning a fresh start for Kick-Ass focusing on a new character – Empire speculates this could be African American single mother Patience Lee who takes on the Kick-Ass alterego though nothing is confirmed. We’ll be getting a new Hit-Girl movie too.
“We’re going to reboot Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl,” Vaughn told them, “Look what Mark Millar is doing with the comic for clues.” What aspect of the Hit-Girl story this will focus on isn’t clear either.
Then there’s Kingsman – we’ve aready had two Kingman movies – The Secret Service and The Golden Circle, and a third is on the cards – “the conclusion of the Harry Hart-Eggsy relationship,” according to Vaughn, but he’s also got bigger plans for the franchise.
An additional spin-off movie Kingsman: The Great Game will focus on the spy organisation in the early 1900s, while a Statesman film featuring the American branch where Channing Tatum, Halle Berry and Jeff Bridges worked is also planned.
There’s more!
Vaughn says he’s also planning an eight hour TV show set in the Kingsman world. All these ventures will be made by his company Marv productions.
Franchises and expanded universes are the norm now in movies – Marvel has obviously done a grand job of fitting together an enormous jigsaw puzzle of movies – it currently stands at 19 – while DC is snapping at Marvel’s heels trying to create its own universe.
It’s not just comic book films though – James Wan has successfully established The Conjuring universe – the next instalment The Nun is on the way this year, while Cloverfield has taking a slightly different approach to universe building with a ‘surprise attack!’ approach backed up by an ARG.
Not every one is a success though – The Dark Universe of Universal monsters has had a couple of false starts and looks like its stalled and Sony has recently pulled Silver and Black from its expanded Spider-verse.
Can Vaughn really turn his British studio into one to rival the Hollywood big guys? Watch this space.