Universal Studios Chairman Adam Fogelson praised the profane spirit of the original “Kick-Ass” Tuesday at CinemaCon while showing off foul-mouthed footage from this summer's sequel.
Fogelson told theater owners that Universal revived the property based on strong home entertainment sales, which convinced the studio there was a "great and growing audience" for a follow-up to the controversial 2010 original.
The comic book adaptation didn’t do spectacularly at the box office – generating $48 million domestically for Lionsgate on a $30 million budget – and rebukes for its gore and portrayal of a foul-mouthed pre-pubescent assassin. The late Chicago Sun-Times reviewer Roger Ebert branded the film "morally reprehensible."
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But Fogelson said he found the first film and its "fuck-off attitude" compelling. He kept in touch with the director Matthew Vaughn hoping that the stars might align on a future project.
Indeed they have: Kick-Ass 2" will slice its way into theaters on August 16, 2013 with its original cast of Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloë Grace Moretz and Christopher Mintz-Plasse intact. They are joined by new addition Jim Carrey who plays a psychotic vigilante named Colonel Stars and Stripes. Vaughn is producing with Jeff Wadlow ("Never Back Down") directing.
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Based on an extended look at the film shown at CinemaCon, the attitude that Fogelson found so compelling hasn't been neutered.
Moretz is just as expletive loving as ever. Slicing off a robber's hand with a samurai sword and telling a girl who hints that she might be a lesbian that she will "jam my foot up your snatch."
For good measure, there's a German Shepherd who chomps down on a man's nether regions, oodles of blood-letting and Mintz-Plasse re-christening his Red Mist villain as "The Mother Fucker."
Fogelson predicted that Mintz-Plasse's new alter ego may even eclipse that of his "Superbad" character McLovin.