“Argylle” may be 2024’s first box-office dud, but that’s not stopping Matthew Vaughn from prepping the next film in his new “Kick-Ass” movies. Variety reports that the second movie in the upcoming trilogy, which culminates in a “Kick-Ass” reboot, is already in production in England, with stunt man-turned-director Damien Walters helming the project. And the name of the movie? “The Stuntman“; an appropriate title, given Walters’ working history with Vaughn.
So, lots of details to unpack in this story. Yes, there’s new “Kick-Ass” movies on the way, with the first in the trilogy already in the can. Walters directed that one a couple of years ago, with him and Vaughn debuting footage from it at the 2022 London Action Film Festival. But “School Fight,” about a teenager who fights with a classmate over a mutual romantic interest, still hasn’t reached audiences, making one wonder if Vaughn and Walters plan to release all the trilogy installments at once.
Now onto “The Stuntman.” The second movie in the trilogy deals with two brothers who become stuntmen, and no, it isn’t a remake of the 1980 cult classic starring Peter O’Toole. Instead, it sounds like a period piece of sorts, with a local UK newspaper reporting last October that a “1970s-style fun fair” had gone up in a local village park for the movie’s production. Vaughn and Walters eye a TIFF world premiere for the feature, either in 2025 or later this year. Stay tuned on more info there.
But is “The Stuntman” “Vram,” the project Vaughn talked to Collider about last month in an interview about “Argylle”? It sounds like it, as the director described the movie as the second in a connected trilogy. “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,” Vaughn said. In the same interview, Vaughn added that he’s halfway through the script for the “Kick-Ass” reboot. It’s likely Walters will direct that one, too, as Vaughn confirmed to The Playlist that he won’t helm it. It figures, since Vaughn will be busy with “Project X,” his “Argylle”-verse movie with Chris Hemsworth and Sam Rockwell anyway.
It sounds like Walters and Vaughn are building quite the partnership. After working together on the “Kick-Ass” and “Kingsman” series together, as well as “Argylle,” the pair bough an 80,000 sq. foot site in Derbyshire, England to build a studio and stunt training facility. Could that be the new home base for Marv Films, the company Vaughn launched in 2018? Quite possibly. Walters’ other stunt work before getting behind the camera also includes “Jurassic World Dominion” and “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness.” “School Fight” will be his feature directorial debut.
So it sounds like Matthew Vaughn has a lot on his plate, even if “Argylle” didn’t do as well as he, Universal, and Apple hoped at the box office. Let’s see if “The Stuntman” hits its goal of a 2024 TIFF world premiere.