WWE’s Batista And UFC’s Georges St. Pierre Sign On To Remake ‘Kickboxer’


It seems that rumors of WWE’s Batista have been true, as he is set to take on another big movie project despite being under WWE contract. Real name Dave Bautisa, he is set to be in Marvel’s “Guardians Of The Galaxy” this summer. Batista has really built up an audience, and he is set to star in a very memorable remake of the classic martial arts film, “Kickboxer.”

The movie also stars the UFC’s Georges St. Pierre, who also has some Marvel credit to his name as he fought with Captain America himself in “Captain America 2: Winter Soldier.” “Kickboxer” could really be an interesting project for both men who have MMA and wrestling training. GSP is obviously a massively popular UFC star who has held the UFC Welterweight Championship in the past and has been in some of the most memorable fights in history.

Georges St.Pierre

Alain Mousii, a stuntman and martial artist, will also be in the film. He worked on films such as “The Immorals” and “White House Down”…so, he is far from a spring chicken when it comes to Hollywood work and could be a huge part of this film.

Meanwhile, we have a 300 pound Animal by the name of Batista who ruled over the WWE as a main event WWE Superstar for years, and even made a recent comeback when he won the Royal Rumble and main evented WrestleMania 30. Due to this,all three men are far from unable to do similar stunts to the first movie, which took place in 1989.

The first movie by the same name starred Jean-Claude Van Damm playing a main role and kickboxing champion Dennis Alexio.

The original “Kickboxer” was about David and Kurt Sloan, the descendants of a well-known Venice, Calif., fighting dynasty. When David wins the Karate World Championship, a promoter lures him to Hong Kong, despite his brother’s protestations that the man is a crook. When Kurt travels to Thailand to meet his brother, he discovers he has died and seeks his revenge.

The movie became a cult classic among martial arts fans and quickly put Van Damm on the map. The movie became a franchise, spinning off three movies.

Producer Ted Field of Radar Pictures has been planning to do a remake for some time now. He even went out and signed Hong Kong filmmaker Stephen Fung to direct the film. Stephen Fung’s film credits include the popular Chinese martial arts movies “Tai Chai Zero” and “Tai Chi Hero,” so the movie is set to be an amazing success if a proper script is put into play.

Most will wonder if it can be better or worse than the original. We’ve seen how some remakes actually do wonders for the franchise and others kill it all together. Sometimes, a name alone can be revived because of that. Movies such as “Man of Steel,” a remake of the Superman movies made us forget about the previous terrible remake. “Man of Steel” put Superman back on the same level as Batman.

Batista and GSP alone will bring some star power, and we know that fighting wise, plus with the director and co-star Mousii, the movie will be tremendous. The story is what might hurt it, because at the end of the day, if a movie is all fight and no story, it will be lost in the annals of time. However, a movie that can bring us in with a story and kill with fight scenes, can go down as more than a cult classic, but as a top film for many. That is what they want to reach, and it has the potential.

Brian O’Shea, who is shopping the film to foreign buyers this week, said the following:

“We have a visionary director, a strong Hollywood producer, great cast and an action-packed script based on a well-known property. What more can you ask for?”

Truly, what more could you ask for? WWE’s Batista will bring in his audience. GSP will bring in UFC’s MMA base, so there is a lot of room for greatness. Will it be? Time will tell. One thing we do know is that Batista is having issues with the WWE as of late, so him signing on to do this film is very interesting. There is no word on when the filming will begin, but it should be within a year and the WWE will have use of him. Marvel will, as well, in future projects if “The Guardians” movie takes off. So Batista is quite the busy man, and we will have to see how he works his WWE schedule in, if at all.

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