Jean-Claude Van Damme has joined the reboot of “Kickboxer,” replacing Tony Jaa in the Master Chow role.
Producers are Ted Field of Radar Films, Dimitri Logothetis and Nick Celozzi. Mike Weber and Peter Meyer will executive produce.
Production is beginning this week with shoots planned for New Orleans and Thailand.
Cast includes “Guardians of the Galaxy” actor Dave Bautista, former UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre and Alain Moussi (“X-Men: Days of Future Past”).
Moussi plays a martial artist, Kurt Sloan, who travels to Thailand to avenge his brother’s death at the hands of Bautista’s Tong Po character.
Van Damme played the Sloan character in the original 1989 “Kickboxer,” which grossed $14 million on a $1.5 million budget. He did not appear in the four sequels.
The Exchange began selling “Kickboxer” at Cannes.
News about Van Damme was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
