MovieChat Forums > Boyka: Undisputed IV (2017) Discussion > Do they want this to succeed?

Do they want this to succeed?

posted 8 years ago by slamnation
15 replies | jump to latest

Huge fan of the series, but I keep hearing the studio say, 'if you want the film to succeed, do not pirate the movie.'

While I agree that pirating can hurt the movie's success, the studio cannot 100% control that. However, there are multiple things the studio can control to help the movies success that I feel they are failing to do.

1.) Release date. When is it? I keep hearing September but nothing official. This should be made crystal clear to the consumer.

2.) Purchase. How do you purchase this? Movie potentially could be released next month and I cannot find pre-order for this anywhere.

3.) Art work. Where is the official poster to get people excited?

4.) Media tour. Key members of the cast and production should be doing media everywhere to help promote this movie. I am seeing very few interviews, no message board interaction with the fans, no podcast call ins, etc.

5.) Social media. Why does this movie not have an official Twitter, instagram, facebook, etc. to keep the fans engaged? Photos from the set, the editing stages and final release would have kept fans engaged until its release. There are some helpful fan sites and Scott will gives updates when he can, but it is clear there is no master plan.

The studio might say there is no room in the budget for such things, but if you want to make your movie a success, you find the time.

I have a bad feeling this will be the last time we see Bokya on screen and I don't get the sense the studio and production team is doing everything in their power not to see this happen.

[–] wilson2012 8 years ago

If it wasn't for me pirating undisputed 2, I would've never known about Michael Jai White and Scott Adkins and not gone on to purchase their other movies.

I ended up buying Undisputed 2 on DVD but had real bother finding U3 when if was released, the only legit source was on Bluray from Amazon buy I didn't have a player at the time. I had to torrent the movie to watch it here in the UK. I now own the movie on DVD but it's a Dutch import!

I feel your frustration mate!

[–] JimmiesRustler 8 years ago

Completely agree man. The production and marketing crew for the Undisputed movies has got to be the worse in the business. These are movies everyone should know about and yet very few people do, especially this particular movie. You could get a couple of middle schools to promote this movie better than the production team have.

[–] shervincy 7 years ago

The reason there wasn't much marketing for the undisputed series, is cause they were direct to television films, ie. they did not have a theatrical release and were aired straight on television.

[–] slamnation 7 years ago

Direct to video would not fully justify the complete lack of marketing. Every project should have a marketing budget of some kind.

And platforms like Instagram and twitter are free.

[–] newguy33-601-385009 8 years ago

Couldn't agree more, Scott is a great actor but it seems like his management isn't worth anything. Also can't understand why he still makes those direct-to-DVD movies.

[–] slamnation 8 years ago

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels the studio is failing us.

Martial arts movies are a dime a dozen, but Boyka is one of those one in a million characters that connected with fans. Instead of realizing this rare opportunity and taking advantage of this moment, they are showing no effort to ensure this movie is a success.

The teaser trailer was only :15 seconds and should have taken a day or two to edit, yet took months to be released.

Then they said the full trailer would be released in January...which turned out to be true, with about 15 hours to spare, as the trailer came out in the afternoon on January 31.

The new 'Kickboxer: Vengeance' movie has had its struggles as well, but at least I see some effort. Alain Moussi has been great on his social media, actors have gone on media tours to help promote the film, the Facebook page is constantly updated with articles and artwork, and best of all...you can pre-order the movie!

IF we get a part 5 from the Undisputed series, I volunteer to take over marketing for this franchise.

[–] creatorof2002 8 years ago

YES Martial arts movies are a dime a dozen but whenever you have any genre that is a "dime a dozen" there are a few special gems that are FABULOUS and deserve to be treated as special.

Romance Novels are a dime a dozen but NICHOLAS SPARKS books are so good they get made into movies and not tv movies either they show in major theatres.

Space Opera is a dime a dozen but Star Trek and Star Wars are special.

Uri Boyka is among the most interesting and cool martial arts movie characters ever, on a par with Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris and treating him and his character like another "dime a dozen" martial arts movies is like treating Nicholas Sparks as just another generic dime a dozen romance novelist.

[–] slamnation 8 years ago

To keep the theme going, Scott just confirmed that 'Boyka: Undisputed 4' has been delayed until first quarter of 2017.

In typical form, this news came during an interview for 'Hard Target 2' and is not mentioned anywhere on anything official to the movie. Why wouldn't 'Hard Target 2' be the source for the release date for 'Boyka: Undisputed 4'??????

http://theactionelite.com/2016/08/scott-adkins-exclusive-interview/

This also tells me that the studio (Millennium Films) has little faith in the movie if they are once again pushing the release date.

[–] andrewgoro 8 years ago

Also the trailer looks nothing like Undisputed 2 or 3. It looks just like another Scott Adkins VOD movie. Also the fact that there aren't any characters from previous movies, especially Gaga, or at least some guys from prison makes this movie not so interesting even for me who loves 2 and 3.

[–] Crematory 8 years ago

I also afraid that the movie will be crap. They could make it so much better. For example, incorporating again Michael J. White. Could you imagine that!??

[–] slamnation 8 years ago

From what I can tell, they went ultra conservative with the story.

A.) Boyka goes to MMA
B.) Boyka kills someone in the ring
C.) Boyka somehow ends up once again fighting in no rules underground matches in a ring. (same setting as UD2 & 3)
D.) Villain is a giant muscle guy.

There could be more to this story but it appears this premise is something that could have been written in a single day.

Would loved to have introduced a complex new antagonist. I know exactly what I would have done.

[–] creatorof2002 8 years ago

I have a theory that Boyka did NOT kill anyone.

I posted on another thread that I suspect the twist is this:

The evil Russian crime boss guy has a crush on that beautiful lady whose husband Boyka defeats almost effortlessly. He wants the guy out of the way so he can try to force her to marry him. The guy WAS hurt pretty bad and needed hospitalization but would have made a full recovery and been released from the hospital in a week or ten days but being clever and an opportunist he has the guy killed while he is in the hospital, maybe has someone hold a pillow over his face or poison him or something figuring it is the perfect alibi since the authorities would write the death off as caused by his traumatic injuries facing Boyka.

Its a GREAT idea for a twist.

It would be even better if Boyka finds out and is freed from his moral obligation to protect the woman since he is not responsible for her husband's death but being a hero he continues to be her protector. That would make Boyka seem like an EVEN better person since even IF he had killed the guy he technically would not have owed the guy's wife anything.

He was a borderline psychopath in the first film and though honorable (like refusing to cheat or let others cheat on his behalf, he had a warrior's honor code) but he was still pretty damned evil and ruthless and watching him become a better person is a neat story arc that most martial arts movies do not really have.

I wish other not totally unredeemable martial arts movie villains like Drago in Rocky 4 and Johnny Laurence in Karate Kid and "pretty boy" Price from Blood and Bone had had their own spinoffs as heroes.

Paco from Bloodsport having his own personal spinoff movie would be pretty cool too. He was either the 3rd or 4th best fighter in the Kumite.

[–] creatorof2002 8 years ago

andrewgoro to be fair man how can it look like the other Undisputed movies when he is NOT in prison? The others took place in prison but he ESCAPED. Do you want him recaptured?

My theory is that Gaga is DEAD in this story. That evil Russian guy probably offed him and took over as the new head of the Russian mafia. Gaga was not totally evil. He was reasonable and ONLY killed anyone who tried to betray him or steal from him or blackmail him but unlike this new even more evil guy he never killed just for the hell of it and this guy might be a rapist (he threw her against the table looks like a rape about to happen). Gaga would never rape a woman.

[–] slamnation 7 years ago

We are now a month away from the movie's release and I don't even know how to pre-order it. Some websites have begun to review the film but no mention of when or how the public can watch.

I am still in shock with how disorganized this movie's release plan is turning out to be.

[–] destroyerwod 7 years ago

I agree with you guys that the marketing for this movie has been terrible. We heard of september at first, then january and now its almost end of january and still nothing.

I will surely buy this movie on blu ray, im gonna encourage it for sure, but i have a feeling one day i will wake up and just see it randomly pop on the xbox live market place like what happen with Kickboxer. I don't like buying digital, you can't do anything with what you paid for outside its platform. I own kickboxer but its not on my shelve, and i can't bring the movie to a friend's place that don't own an Xbox. So im not purchasing digital again. Physical ONLY.

I wish i could pre-order it or something as well.