News

Matt Edwards Sep 30, 2016

As the new Kickboxer film arrives in UK cinemas, we look back at the first five (count 'em!) films...

Did you guys know there are now six Kickboxer movies? The 'remake', Kickboxer: Vengeance is released in the UK today. But here's our look back at the first five films...

Kickboxer is my favourite Jean-Claude Van Damme film. It may not be his best film, but it is my favourite. It’s a film I used to watch a lot as a kid and one that’s a great deal of fun to revisit.

Kickboxing champion Eric Sloane (Dennis Alexio) is tired of thrashing the competition in the Us. The best fighters, he’s told, are competing in Thailand. Eric packs up his championship belt, his gloves, his gentleman’s moustache and corner-man/brother Kurt (Jean-Claude Van Damme) and heads over to Bangkok in hope of a decent bout of fisticuffs.

Just hours after we reported that Jean-Claude Van Damme's 1988 breakout hit Bloodsport is getting remade by Relativity Media, Radar Pictures is developing a reboot of the action star's 1989 thriller Kickboxer.

Hong Kong filmmaker Stephen Fung (Tai Chi Hero) has signed on to direct, working from a screenplay by Jim McGrath and Dimitri Logothetis. The original Kickboxer centered on Kurt Sloane (Jean-Claude Van Damme), who trains in the art of Muay Thai kickboxing to take on a brutal champion who severely injured his brother.

Dimitri Logothetis is also producing alongside Radar's Ted Field and Nick Celozzi, with Mike Weber and Peter Meyer executive producing. Casting is currently under way, with the filmmakers hoping to get production started either this fall or in early 2014.

Kickboxer spawned four straight-to-video sequels, none of which starred Jean-Claude Van Damme. Sasha Mitchell starred in Kickboxer 2: The Road Back (1991), Kickboxer 3: The Art of War...

Are you bored of the same old TV shows? Tired of the mainstream? Then check out this round-up of alternative movies and series showing on UK television tonight…

8.00pm Warehouse 13 (Virgin 1)

This family friendly scifi drama captures the spirit of The X-Files and Friday the 13th the series. After saving the life of an international diplomat in Washington D.C., a pair of U.S Secret Service agents are whisked away to a covert location in South Dakota that houses supernatural objects that the U.S. Government has collected over the centuries. Their new assignment: retrieve some of the missing objects and investigate reports of new ones. Season One, episode 1.

9.00pm Malibu Shark Attack (Movies24)

An underwater earthquake causes a tsunami that unleashes a pack of goblin sharks on an unsuspecting Malibu beach. Quick thinking from the local lifeguards ensures the area is cleared before the monsters strike, but...