Sales:
Box Office Figures
Other Windows:
Kick-Ass 2
Total Lifetime Grosses
Domestic: $48,071,303 50.0%
+ Foreign: $48,117,600 50.0%
= Worldwide: $96,188,903
Domestic Summary
Opening Weekend: $19,828,687
(#1 rank, 3,065 theaters, $6,469 average)
% of Total Gross: 41.2%
Widest Release: 3,065 theaters
Close Date: July 1, 2010
In Release: 77 days / 11 weeks
Fans of the original Kick-Ass may have been a little bummed when director Matthew Vaughn decided to pass on 'Kick-Ass 2: Balls To The Wall', but comic creator Mark Millar is looking to assure any non-believers that new director Jeff Wadlow has the sequel under control. Taking to his forums on Millarworld.tv, Mark assured fans the action will be just as gripping come Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl’s new adventure, bringing the same gratuitous violence that made Vaughn’s film so memorable. The task of competing with Hit-Girl’s epic hallway shootout or vicious drug den smack down is certainly a daunting one, something the filmmakers seem aware of as well. While full production is set to start September 10th, the stunt team has been working feverishly for weeks to prepare the most ass-kicking action possible for Wadlow’s film. Millar also confirms Hit-Girl will yet again shine in the violent spotlight, commenting on her massive brawl with new villain Mother Russia. Audiences can’t wait to see Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl interact with even more heroes and bigger baddies this time around, especially if there’s only more rough and tumble brutality. Look for Aaron Johnson, Chloe Moretz, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse to kick ass once again next summer, joined by newcomers Donald Faison, Morris Chestnut, John Leguizamo, Robert Emms, Lindy Booth, and Jim Carrey. This sequel will definitely be another window for the first Kick-Ass film, and may even begin to re-boot sales as a result of the release of Kick-Ass 2, promoting it maybe even more successfully than first time round.
Kick-Ass: The Soundtrack
(Other Windows)
Track Listing:
Stand Up - The Prodigy
Kick Ass (We Are Young) - Mika Vs. RedOne
Can't Go Back - Primal Scream
There's a Pot a Brewin - The Little Ones
Omen - The Prodigy
Make Me Wanna Die - The Pretty Reckless
Banana Splits (Kick-Ass Film Version) - The Dickies
Starry Eyed - Ellie Goulding
This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us - Sparks
We're All in Love - The New York Dolls
Bongo Song - Zongamin
Per Qualche Dollaro in Più (For a Few Dollars More) - Ennio Morricone
Bad Reputation - The Hit Girls
An American Trilogy - Elvis Presley
The title song is sung by Mika, co-written by Jodi Marr and produced by RedOne.
Label - Polydor Ltd. (UK) and Interscope. (U.S.)
The Idea
Kick-Ass
Jonathon Ross brought Mark Miller (The creator of Kick-Ass) to the Stardust premiere, and Matthew Vaughn, during a conversation between himself and Mark, mentioned that if Mark had any ideas that he hadn’t thought about yet, to let him know and keep him in the loop because he “loved the idea of tackling a comic book that no-one knew about” and would want to get in early. Mark pitched an idea, which he was about to start writing; to Matthew literally an hour after they’d watched Stardust. After Matthew had heard the plot, he’d fallen in love with the idea and after he’d read the first comic ‘script’ he’d already
developed a whole movie in his head. The idea finally began to “Grow together”. Matthew thought the concept of Kick-Ass was so strong (by this time he was
annoyed by Thor) and sitting down with Jane and writing the script as soon as possible was a way to deal with this frustration.
Research
The Details
Storyline: Dave Lizewski is an unnoticed high school student and comic book fan with a few friends and who lives alone with his father. His life is not very difficult and his personal trials not that overwhelming. However, one day he makes the simple decision to become a super-hero even though he has no powers or training.
Genres: Action & Comedy.
Motion Picture Rating (MPAA): Rated R for strong brutal violence throughout, pervasive language, sexual content, nudity and some drug use - some involving children.
Official Sites: Lionsgate & Official Facebook.
Country: UK & USA.
Language: English.
Release Date: (UK) 22nd March 2010.
Budget: $30,000,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend: £3,881,704 (UK) (4 April 2010) (402 Screens)
Gross: $48,043,505 (USA) (27 June 2010)
Production Co: Marv Films, Plan B Entertainment
Runtime: 117 minutes
Sound Mix: DTS, Dolby Digital, SDDS
Awards: 8 Wins & 29 Nominations
Financing
Studios interested in Kick-Ass se a Vaughn pickup, even at a price in the solid sven figure and with a significant P&A commitment, as a way to plug a franchise-level property into their slate with comparatively little financial risk or production headaches. Vaughn and his Marv Films had a deal with Sony Pictures, but the studio filmmaker couldn't see eye-too-eye on Kick-Ass on issues like the age of the protagonists; Sony, for instance, wanted Vaughn to turn the girl into an older teenager. Vaughn then decided to go the self, and indie, financing route.
The production backstory of Kick-Ass is part of a trend of bigger-budgeted commercial movie opting to go outside the system as studios become more selective about that they make. "There has never been a better time for independent financiers to access commercial material in the $25 million - $30 million range, because the studios just aren't financing as many of these kinds of projects" said one agent involved in the film-financing world.
Chloe Grace Moretz on Kick-Ass, stunts and training
Chloe, along with some of her co-actors, trained at Toronto Circus School in Downsview and she did martial arts, ballet, tumbling and circus training. The majority of the stunts included in Kick-Ass were done by herself, however the more dangerous stunts such as running up the wall and slamming on the table were done by her stunt double. Chloe's acting coach is her brother Trevor, and in order to get into the character of Mindy, her and her brother work on it together line by line in the script. The young actress realizes the controversy surrounding the film, and her role especially, however focuses on the touching father-daughter story side of her role rather than the vicious young 'killing machine' that she is described as. Nicolas Cage was described by her as "A really sweet guy and an awesome, awesome actor" which suggests why it was so easy for them both to portray their unconditional love for each other on screen, as he is like a 2nd dad to her off the camera. The hardest thing for Hit-Girl was, surprisingly, the action that was involved - Although she also claimed that it was the most fun in filming.
Script Development
Jane Goldman
Marketing
In an interview with, Goldman (39) a talented writer who penned the widely-acclaimed 2007 film fantasy Stardust, is clearly nervous about how Kick-Ass will be received. "You've no idea how the audience is going to react, you just hold your breath," she says, aware that Kick-Ass could cause something of a stir. Matthew Vaughn also co-wrote the film with Jane Goldman, which is based on the eponymous superhero adventure penned by the Scottish comic book writer Mark Millar. Does she think of Hit-Girl, who is played by the 13-year-old actress Chloe Moretz, as a sort of hardcore mini-feminist, a challenge to the usual assumption that most movie violence is carried out by adult men? "Yeah... she's a feminist hero by token of the fact that she pays no attention to gender stereotypes. I think she also doesn't want special treatment because she's a girl." Still, the Daily Mail is in a predictable tizz about it all. A few days before we meet, the newspaper runs an article headlined "Jonathan Ross's wife causes outrage", as though she had been caught mugging Andrew Sachs on the street for his bus pass. Does she care about this kind of press coverage?
"People's intolerance, I find puzzling," she says, a vertical crinkle appearing between her eyes. "The fact that I was singled out, I found bizarre but it didn't upset me, I just thought it was peculiar. It's funny – it's very rare that a movie is described as a writer's movie. It was kind of ironic that it was only when people had decided there was something negative about it that it was the writer's movie. Goldman grew up in north London, the only child of liberal, wealthy parents. Like Hit-Girl, she was terrifyingly precocious – leaving school at 16 with eight O-Levels before being hired as a showbusiness reporter on a casual basis by theDaily Star.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1250777/synopsis
Packaging
Sales on Blue-Ray
and DVD
Posters: The first batch of teasers placed each of the main characters – Red Mist, Kick-Ass, Hit Girl and Big Daddy – in that most cliched of super-hero poses, that of standing atop a building and looking over the city. When you put the four posters together in an order, the title of the movie is spelled out in the sky, which is certainly an incentive for collectors. A second batch of teasers again featured each individual character, but in different poses and with more color-coded backgrounds. Each one also got it’s own little saying that deflated the idea they were actually had any powers. A theatrical poster took the same visual style as the last of the teaser series, with the bold, block letter title treatment in the background and the four characters standing in the front and above the little bit of non-credit block copy on the poster.
Trailers: There were 3 trailers in total, the 3rd one being a compliation of the first 2. There was a red band trailer released considering it's R Rated factors, including swearing, gore, and all the action that wouldn't be allowed in the everyday trailer.
There are also online websites, including each character's own Facebook profile, and the official Kick-Ass website and MySpace.
Media Coverage for Kick-Ass was centered around the foul-mouthed trailers released. However, regardless of what traditional mainstream or trade press coverage the movie had got, the real thing going for Kick-Ass is the word of mouth that had been building up for well on a year before the release. Fans had been absolutely salivating for this movie and had eaten up every new clip, every new trailer, every new preview at a festival or convention. and that campaign had fed that hunger with a steady release of material that kept the movie never far from top-of-mind.
Lionsgate recently announced that Kick Ass “proved dominant across all revenue channels this past week.” The film debuted in the number one position in DVD and Blu-ray sales – as well as the top movie download on iTunes since its release August 3rd. Last April, there was much ado about nothing with regard to the film’s “failure at the box office.” In fact, the film was only a “failure” when measured against the inflated projections for opening weekend numbers – numbers that were based on perceived “audience awareness.” What these projections failed to consider was that the perceived awareness was isolated to a powerful, but segmented, fraction of the population at large – meaning an improper sampling. The blogosphere often becomes a self-cannibalizing entity and the response to Kick Ass illustrates that trend beautifully. Kick Ass felt like a film that was destined to be misunderstood in its initial release and then appreciated by a large cult audience as time progressed. The kids who could not get their parents to take them to the movie can now buy the DVD. Those who balk at $10 in the theater seem okay with $15 spent on the more permanent DVD or $25 for a Blu-ray. “Word of mouth” has had a real chance to spread to the general population. Many “non-traditional” films have followed this same trajectory to cult film success.
Kick-Ass was directed by Matthew Vaughn, with no executives on set to advise him. Therefore he was in full control of the film. Jane Goldman then collaborated with Matthew to write the screenplay for the film. Finally, Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. both worked together to write and create the Kick-Ass comics.
The cast included Aaron Johnson (Dave Lizewski/Kick-Ass), Lyndsy Fonseca (Katie Deauxma), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Chris D'Amico/Red Mist), Mark Strong (Frank D'Amico), Chloe Grace Moretz (Mindy Macready/Hit-Girl), and Nicolas Cage (Damon Macready/Big Daddy).
Kick-Ass had a production budget of $30 million, and to raise finance for the film, Matthew Vaughn invested into it himself in order for the production to continue.
What the projections failed to account for:
Here is what those projections failed to account for:
As mentioned, the “audience awareness” sampling came from a community predisposed to be aware of, and interested in, a film like Kick Ass – as well as its source material. Without a recognizable name attached, or broader brand appeal, that awareness wasn’t representative of the general movie-going audience.
Much of the target audience for Kick Ass was not old enough to take themselves to an R (hard R) rated movie, and this film is not an easy sell to parents. “Oh yes mom, can I please go see this film that features an adorable mass murdering twelve year old who makes liberal use of the ‘C’ word? Yep, it’s the very one Roger Ebert called ‘morally reprehensible’!”
How hopelessly square Americans really can be (this feeds off of number two on the list). Now, don’t misunderstand, I like Roger Ebert. I don’t always agree with him, but I like him. However he asked in his review if his response to Kick Ass made him “hopelessly square.” My response is – yes, yes it does.
Misinterpretation or rejection of the film’s central characters and story lines. Again this is a follow-up to number three on the list. I will use Mr. Ebert as the singular representative to a broad stick in the mud reaction to the film.