Ong Bak 2 releases in Thailand with plans for immediate sequel

Grady Hendrix at Variety just reported, via some Thai fan blogs, that Thai martial arts wunderkind Tony Jaa’s Ong Bak 2, the troubled action film he has been working on, has opened in Thailand this week.

The news is that Ong Bak 2 is the second film in a trilogy, and the ending went the way of The Lord of the Rings and the second Matrix film – a very abrupt ending. News reports say that Dan Chupong and Tony Jaa will star together in Ong Bak part three, and Tony Jaa promises to triple the action in the upcoming film. That is if the actor director doesn’t go into hiding again in a jungle temple and practice black magic. At least, that’s what Thai media reported he did, after Ong Bak 2 went drastically over budget.

Blogs quote that…

“…in Ong Bak 3 Tien’s (Jaa) legs and arms will be torturely damaged. Consequently, Tien has to fight with some sort of boneless action. This is homework for Panna and Tony to create the action for us to see what it will look like to fight in the state of boneless condition.”

Ong Bak 2 has been pre-sold to most major world territories except for the US, France and Japan. According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Weinstein Company, which distributed Jaa’s film The Protector, in the U.S., bought exclusive non-Asia rights to Ong Bak 2 in 2006, but nullified the deal a year later, after production delays and concern about the film not being a chronological sequel.

At least two major U.S. studios made statements this week, that they are working to secure rights to Ong Bak 2 in the U.S. right now, so I’m sure we’ll be seeing Ong Bak 2 on U.S. TV screens at some point soon, if not in theaters.