Kick-Ass (film)

Kick-Ass
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Matthew Vaughn
Screenplay by	Matthew Vaughn Jane Goldman
Produced by	Matthew Vaughn Brad Pitt Kris Thykier Adam Bohling Tarquin Pack David Reid
Starring	Aaron Johnson Christopher Mintz-Plasse Chloë Grace Moretz Nicolas Cage Mark Strong
Narrated by	Aaron Johnson
Cinematography	Ben Davis
Edited by	Pietro Scalia Jon Harris Eddie Hamilton
Music by	John Murphy Henry Pryce Jackman Marius de Vries Ilan Eshkeri
Production companies	Marv Films Plan B Entertainment
Distributed by	Universal Pictures Lionsgate
Release dates	26 March 2010 (2010-03-26) (United Kingdom) 16 April 2010 (2010-04-16) (United States)
Running time	117 minutes
Countries	Template:FilmUK Template:FilmUS
Language	English
Budget	$28 million
Box office	$96,130,462

Kick-Ass is a 2010 superhero/action-comedy film based on the comic book of the same name by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr. The film was directed by Matthew Vaughn, who co-produced the film with actor Brad Pitt, and co-wrote the screenplay with Jane Goldman. The film's general release was on 26 March 2010 in the United Kingdom and on 16 April 2010 in the United States.

The film tells the story of an ordinary teenager, Dave, who sets out to become a real-life superhero, calling himself "Kick-Ass". Dave gets caught up in a bigger fight when he meets Big Daddy, a former cop who, in his quest to bring down the drug lord Frank D'Amico, has trained his 11-year-old daughter to be the ruthless vigilante Hit-Girl.

Despite having generated some controversy for its profanity and violence performed by a child actor, Kick-Ass has received mostly positive reviews.

Plot

Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), an ordinary teenager, wonders why nobody has ever decided to become a superhero like the ones in the comic books, so he decides to become a real-life superhero, despite having no superpowers. During his first attempt to fight crime, Dave is beaten, stabbed, and hit by a car. Some of Dave's nerve endings are damaged as a result, giving him an enhanced capacity to endure pain, and metal plates are placed in his skeleton to support his bones. After a painful recovery, concealing the truth behind his mugging, Dave returns to school only to find out that his longtime crush, Katie Deauxma (Lyndsy Fonseca), is interested in him, but only because she thinks he is gay due to rumors caused by his mugging excuse. Dave goes along with this in an effort to spend time with her. Undeterred by his setback, Dave continues to patrol the streets. One night, he comes upon a gang fight and defends a victim from his attackers. A bystander records the event, as well as Dave calling himself "Kick-Ass." The video becomes a YouTube phenomenon, and Dave sets up a MySpace account so people can contact Kick-Ass for help.

Katie tells Dave that she is being harassed by a drug dealer named Rasul, so he convinces her to ask Kick-Ass for help. Kick-Ass tracks down the drug dealer, threatens and tasers him, but is subdued by the dealer's henchmen, who appear intent on killing him. He is rescued by child costumed vigilante Hit-Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz), who kills his attackers, then leaves with her father, Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage). They easily track down Kick-Ass at his home later and inform him that they can work together, and that they will keep in contact. Big Daddy is revealed to be Damon Macready, a former cop who was framed as a drug dealer by local crime syndicate leader Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong) because D'Amico saw him as a threat to his organization. While Damon was in prison, his wife died while giving birth. On his release, Damon trained Mindy to fight crime as Hit-Girl, and he became Big Daddy.

Believing Kick-Ass to be responsible for damage done to his organization, D'Amico orders his men to find and eliminate him. After D'Amico kills an imposter dressed as Kick-Ass, his son, Chris (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), suggests a different approach: assuming the identity of a superhero named Red Mist to trick Kick-Ass into trusting him, and leading him into a trap. Red Mist meets Kick-Ass, bringing him to D'Amico's warehouse to "ambush" his men. Instead, they find the building on fire with everyone inside dead. Red Mist retrieves surveillance footage which shows that Big Daddy is responsible, and tells his father to leave Kick-Ass alone. Realizing the seriousness of his situation, Dave wants to quit being Kick-Ass. He tells Katie the truth, and she forgives him and becomes his girlfriend. Some time later, Dave finds urgent messages from Red Mist, requesting they meet, and to find Hit-Girl and Big Daddy. Kick-Ass leads Red Mist to one of the Macready's safe houses, with D'Amico's men following. Red Mist shoots Hit-Girl, knocking her out of a window. Big Daddy and Kick-Ass are captured and taken to a warehouse to be tortured in a live Internet broadcast. Kick-Ass and Big Daddy are severely beaten as Katie, Dave's friends (Todd and Marty), Katie's friend Erica Cho, and others watch the broadcast of the beating. Hit-Girl, who survived by wearing a bulletproof vest, arrives and kills the gangsters; during the struggle one thug sets Big Daddy on fire. Hit Girl, after killing the last thug and putting out the fire consuming Big Daddy, destroys the camera trying to film the unmasking of Kick-Ass and Big Daddy. Big Daddy, badly burned, dies from his injuries after saying goodbye to Hit Girl. After Hit Girl and Kick-Ass leave the warehouse, Kick-Ass tries to convince Hit-Girl to quit, but she plans to finish what her father started, and Kick-Ass reluctantly agrees to help.

Posing as a schoolgirl, Mindy enters D'Amico's headquarters and kills most of the henchmen in the penthouse, but runs out of ammunition. Just as one of D'Amico's thugs is about to shoot her with a rocket launcher stolen from Macready's safe house, Kick-Ass, armed with a jet pack fitted with gatling guns that Big Daddy had purchased prior to his death, kills the remaining men. With all the henchmen dead, Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl take on D'Amico and his son. Kick-Ass fights Red Mist, and the two knock each other out. Hit-Girl fights D'Amico, but she is eventually overpowered. As D'Amico is about to finish off Hit-Girl, Kick-Ass comes to the rescue armed with the rocket launcher, blasting D'Amico out of the window where he explodes in mid-air. Red Mist wakes up, only to see Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl leaving on the jet pack. Hit-Girl and Kick-Ass retire from crime fighting to live a more normal life. Mindy, now in the custody of Damon's ex-partner Sergeant Marcus Williams, enrolls at Dave's school. Dave explains a new wave of superheroes have been inspired by his endeavor. Red Mist is shown donning a new mask as he quotes Jack Nicholson as the Joker, "As a great man once said, 'Wait till they get a load of me'."

Cast

Main

• Aaron Johnson as Dave Lizewski, a comic book enthusiast who becomes a hero named Kick-Ass
• Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Chris D'Amico, a fellow comic book lover who becomes Red Mist, a villain masquerading as a hero
• Mark Strong as Frank D'Amico, Chris' mob boss father
• Chloë Grace Moretz as Mindy Macready, a child trained by her father to be a ruthless killer, becoming Hit-Girl.
• Nicholas Cage as Damon Macready, Mindy's ex-cop father who was framed by D'Amico. After he is released from prison, he raises his daughter to become a ruthless killer and they don superhero aliases, his being Big Daddy.
• Omari Hardwick as Sergeant Marcus Williams, Damon's former partner on the force and Mindy's guardian after Damon went to prison.
• Xander Berkeley as Detective Gigante, a corrupt cop on D'Amico's payroll
• Michael Rispoli as Big Joe, D'Amico's right-hand man
• Clark Duke as Marty, one of Dave's friends
• Lyndsy Fonseca as Katie Deauxma, Dave's love interest who believes he is gay
• Evan Peters as Todd, one of Dave's friends
• Garrett M. Brown as Mr. Lizewski, Dave's widowed father
• Corey Johnson as Sporty Goon, one of D'Amico's men
• Dexter Fletcher as Cody, one of D'Amico's men
• Jason Flemyng as Lobby Goon, one of D'Amico's men
• Randall Batinkoff as Tre Fernandez, one of D'Amico's men

Minor

• Deborah Twiss as Mrs. Zane, Dave's English teacher
• Sophie Wu as Erika Cho, Katie's friend
• Elizabeth McGovern as Alice Lizewski, Dave's mother who died of a brain aneurism. Credited as 'Mrs. Lizewski'
• Stu Riley as Stu, Chris and his father's bodyguard. Credited as 'Huge Goon'
• Kenneth Simmons as Scary Goon, one of D'Amico's men
• Anthony Desio as Baby Goon, one of D'Amico's men
• Carlos Besse Peres as Buttons, one of D'Amico's men
• Tamer Hassan as Matthew, one of D'Amico's men
• Yancy Butler as Angie D'Amico, D'Amico's wife and Chris' mother
• Adrian Martinez as Ginger Goon, one of Frank's men
• Tim Plester as Danil
• Joe Bacino as Posh Goon
• Hubert Boorder as Oscar Juarez
• Chris McGuire as Diner Fight Guy 1
• Max White as Diner Fight Guy 2
• Dean Copkov as Diner Fight Guy 3
• Jacob Cartwright as Running Teenager
• Omar Soriano as Leroy
• Katrena Rochell as Female Junkie
• Kofi Natei as Rasul
• Walle Jobara as Nervous Goon
• Quinn Smith as Big Mean Boy

Cameos

• Maurice DuBois as News Anchor
• Dana Tyler as News Anchor
• Craig Ferguson as Himself
• Dan Duran as Reporter
• Louis Young as Breaking News Reporter
• John Romita, Jr. (uncredited) as an Atomic Comics barista

Development

The rights to a film version of the comic book were sold before the first issue was published.

Vaughn notes that, "We wrote the script and the comic at the same time so it was a very sort of collaborative, organic process. I met [Millar] at the premiere of Stardust. We got on really well. I knew who he was and what he had done but I didn't know him. He pitched me the idea. I said, 'That's great!' He then wrote a synopsis. I went, 'That's great, let's go do it now! You write the comic, I'll write the script.'"

With Kick-Ass, the book's just out and now the movie's out six weeks later. And I think that's the way things are going to go now, because to go to Marvel's B and C-list characters and try to get movies out them – what's the point of that?

— Mark Millar

Millar commented that screenwriters Jane Goldman and Vaughn had made a "chick flick", having placed more emphasis on the character emotions, and particularly in having softened the character of Katie Deauxma. Other changes included having Red Mist be known to be a secret antagonist from the start, as well as making him less outright villainous, and D'Amico's mob initially thinking Kick-Ass is the one slaughtering their men.

In the original comic-book, Big Daddy was revealed to be not an ex-cop, but a former accountant who had been motivated to fight crime by a desire to escape from his life and by his love of comic books. In the film, his purported origin and motivations are genuine: writer Mark Millar considers that the revelation about Big Daddy's background would not have worked in the film adaptation, and would have "messed up the structure of the movie" The comic's artist John Romita, Jr stated that Big Daddy's story in the film "works better stopping short (...) You love him better in the film".

The climax to the film differs significantly from the comics as well, with the use of the jetpack and rocket launcher: Millar called this "necessary" as "we're building up so much stuff that we needed some Luke Skywalker blowing up the Death Star moment". Comic writer Stephen Grant noted that the film "cheated" on its premise of a 'real life' superhero by having these increasingly fantastic events and that this was "why it works. That's where much of the humor comes from... when the film finally makes the notion [the fantasy] explicit we're already so deep into the magician's act that our instinct is to play along".

Both the comic and the film reference popular contemporary web sites. Kick-Ass buys his costume on auction site eBay; the video of his fight is posted on YouTube; and he keeps in contact with his fans through social networking website MySpace. D'Amico even threatens to expose Detective Gigante by posting incriminating photos of him on Facebook.

The film was independently financed. Vaughn initially went to Sony, which distributed Layer Cake, but he rejected calls to tone down the violence. Other studios expressed interest but wanted to make the characters older. Vaughn believed enough in the project to raise the money himself.

Ratings

In an interview with Total Film, Aaron Johnson confirmed that the film stays true to the adult nature of the comic series by featuring a large amount of profanity and graphic violence. The film received an R rating by the MPAA for strong brutal violence throughout, pervasive language, sexual content, nudity and some drug use—some involving children, and it received a 15 rating from the BBFC. Director Matthew Vaughn felt the 15 certificate was about right and expressed some surprise at the film having received a PG rating in France.

Filming

Filming locations include Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, at Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and various locations in the UK, including Elstree Studios. The opening sequence with Nicolas Cage was filmed in a sewage plant in East London. The Atomic Comics store in the film is based on a real store owned by a friend of Vaughn.

Music

Soundtrack

Untitled

The film's soundtrack album was released in the United Kingdom on 29 March 2010, and in the United States on iTunes on 30 March 2010. The title song is by pop singer-songwriter Mika, co-written by Jodi Marr and produced by RedOne. The song "Kick Ass" was confirmed as Mika's 10th official single in the United Kingdom and was officially released on 2 May 2010.

The video for the single shows Mika as a helpless individual left in an alleyway after being mugged. He begins to sing and as he does, the words of empowerment in the lyrics and his finding of an issue of the Kick-Ass comic inspire him to run for the rooftops and wail the chorus to the sky. As is the norm with most soundtrack singles, the video features intercut scenes from the film.

The soundtrack song "Kick Ass" has received positive views by many websites such as Popjustice.com and Digitalspy.co.uk

The song "Stand Up" by The Prodigy features in both the Teaser Trailer and Red Band Trailer.

A song featured in the film, but not on the soundtrack is "Crazy", by Gnarls Barkley. This song is played in the Mistmobile while Kick-Ass and Red Mist cruise around town together. Also, the version of "Bad Reputation" used in the film was by Joan Jett but the version on the soundtrack was by a band called "The Hit Girls".

The song "Hey Little World" by The Hives, which played in the theatrical trailers was also not included.

Track listing

No.	Title	Performed by	Length
1.	"Stand Up"	The Prodigy	5:08
2.	"Kick Ass (Radio Edit)"	Mika vs. RedOne	3:11
3.	"Can't Go Back"	Primal Scream	3:46
4.	"There's a Pot a Brewin'"	The Little Ones	3:13
5.	"Omen"	The Prodigy	3:54
6.	"Make Me Wanna Die"	The Pretty Reckless	3:55
7.	"Banana Splits (Kick-Ass Film Version)"	The Dickies	2:04
8.	"Starry Eyed"	Ellie Goulding	2:57
9.	"This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us"	Sparks	3:03
10.	"We're All In Love"	The New York Dolls	4:50
11.	"Bongo Song"	Zongamin	5:00
12.	"Per Qualche Dollaro in Più (For a Few Dollars More)"	Ennio Morricone	2:53
13.	"Bad Reputation"	The Hit Girls	2:56
14.	"An American Trilogy"	Elvis Presley	4:31

Score

Untitled

The film's score was released on 17 May 2010 in the UK. Two of the instrumentals in the film are altered versions of songs from other John Murphy composed soundtracks. These are "In The House – In A Heartbeat" from 28 Days Later: The Soundtrack Album and "Adagio in D-minor" track from the Sunshine soundtrack. The former was used in the scene where Big Daddy guns down D'Amico's men in the warehouse and the latter was used when Hit-Girl is trying to rescue Kick-Ass and Big Daddy. They are called "Big Daddy Kills" and "Strobe (Adagio in D Minor)" respectively on the Kick-Ass score. One track, "Walk To Rasul's" was composed by Danny Elfman, who was referenced in the original comic.

Track listing

No.	Title	Composer	Length
1.	"The Armenian Superhero"	Henry Jackman, Marius De Vries	1:59
2.	"Stand Up"	The Prodigy	3:32
3.	"Forcefield"	Marius De Vries	1:05
4.	"Watching"	Henry Jackman	1:01
5.	"Man in the Mirror"	Henry Jackman	1:08
6.	"A Punch in the Chest"	Marius De Vries	0:45
7.	"Roof Jump"	Marius De Vries, Ilan Eshkeri	1:31
8.	"Time to Engage"	Henry Jackman	0:26
9.	"Stabbing-Morphine"	Marius De Vries, The Prodigy	1:56
10.	"I'm Kick-Ass"	Henry Jackman	1:16
11.	"Famous"	Henry Jackman, John Murphy, Marius De Vries, Ilan Eshkeri	2:22
12.	"A Friend Like You"	Marius De Vries	0:43
13.	"Walk to Rasul's"	Danny Elfman	0:58
14.	"Trick or Treat?"	Marius De Vries, Ilan Eshkeri	2:43
15.	"Leaving Rasul's"	John Murphy	1:18
16.	"Hit-Girl & Big Daddy"	John Murphy	2:39
17.	"Damon & Marcus Comic Book"	Henry Jackman, John Murphy	3:24
18.	"I Miss You Both"	John Murphy, Ilan Eshkeri	1:40
19.	"Hunting Kick-Ass"	Henry Jackman	1:04
20.	"MistMobile"	Henry Jackman	1:40
21.	"Big Daddy Kills"	John Murphy	2:50
22.	"One Last Time"	Marius De Vries	0:57
23.	"Sleepover"	Marius De Vries	1:57
24.	"To Brooklyn Bridge"	Marius De Vries	1:42
25.	"Safehouse / Ambush"	John Murphy	2:34
26.	"Showtime Pt. 2 (It's Only the End of the World)"	John Murphy	2:25
27.	"Nightvision"	John Murphy	1:57
28.	"Strobe (Adagio in D Minor)"	John Murphy	2:02
29.	"Big Daddy Dies"	Henry Jackman, John Murphy	1:33
30.	"Hit-Girl Drives Home"	John Murphy	1:42
31.	"Marshmallows"	John Murphy	1:12
32.	"Choose Your Weapon"	Ilan Eshkeri	1:26
33.	"You Got Five Minutes"	Marius De Vries	0:35
34.	"No Power, No Responsibility"	Henry Jackman	1:16
35.	"The Corridor"	John Murphy	1:16
36.	"Kitchen Stand Off"	John Murphy, Ilan Eshkeri	1:19
37.	"The Fight"	Henry Jackman, John Murphy, Marius De Vries, Ilan Eshkeri	3:12
38.	"Flying Home"	Henry Jackman, John Murphy	1:49
39.	"True Identity"	Henry Jackman	1:39

Release

Kick-Ass was released in the United Kingdom on 26 March 2010. The film opened in Australia on 8 April. The North American release was on 16 April by Lionsgate. France's opening was scheduled for 21 April.

A screening of the unfinished film was shown at the 11th Butt-Numb-A-Thon film festival on 13 December 2009, where it was received with wild enthusiasm by the event's attendees.

Controversy

In January 2010, an uncensored preview clip of the film was attacked by family advocacy groups for its display of violence and use of the line "Okay you cunts, let's see what you can do now," delivered by Chloë Moretz, who was 11 at the time of filming. Australian Family Association spokesman John Morrissey claimed that "the language [was] offensive and the values inappropriate – without the saving grace of the bloodless victory of traditional superheroes". Several critics like Roger Ebert and the Daily Mail's Christopher Tookey accused the film of glorifying violence, particularly violence by young children, while Tookey also claimed Hit Girl was "made to look as seductive as possible". Tookey's view on Hit Girl was strongly criticised, with many commentators—including the film editor of Radio Times—wondering why he'd found the character sexualised, causing him to claim he was a victim of cyber-bullying.

In response to the controversy, Moretz stated in an interview, "If I ever uttered one word that I said in Kick-Ass, I would be grounded for years! I'd be stuck in my room until I was 20! I would never in a million years say that. I'm an average, everyday girl." Moretz has said that while filming, she could not bring herself to say the film's title out loud in interviews, instead calling it "the film" in public and "Kick-Butt" at home. Christopher Mintz-Plasse expressed surprise that people were angry about the language, but did not seem to be offended that Hit-Girl kills many people.

When asked what the typically conservative Daily Mail readers would think Millar noted he himself is a Daily Mail reader and joked he was very comfortable with the film. Millar said he thought "it's the most naïve and idealistic movie I've seen in years because it's about a wee guy who every night could get killed... It's so hard when I was watching it last night when he was fighting those three characters. There was something so nice about the fact that he was just waiting until the cops arrived. I see it as quite a sweet movie".

Reception

Critical response

The film was met with generally positive reviews. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a rating of 76% based on 229 reviews, with an average score of 7.0/10. Rotten Tomatoes' selected top critics gave the film a rating of 85% based on 13 reviews. Metacritic assigned the film a score of 66%, based on a weighted average of 38 reviews from mainstream critics.

Critics who enjoyed the film generally singled out its audacity, humor, and performance from Chloë Moretz. Peter Howell of the Toronto Star gave Kick-Ass a top rating, noting that the production "succeeds as a violent fantasy about our perilous and fretful times, where regular citizens feel compelled to take action against a social order rotting from within." USA Today critic Claudia Puig praised Moretz as "terrific...Even as she wields outlandish weaponry, she comes off as adorable." Manohla Dargis from The New York Times wrote, "Fast, periodically spit-funny and often grotesquely violent, the film at once embraces and satirizes contemporary action-film clichés with Tarantino-esque self-regard." Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B+, but noted that "personally, I just wish that the film had ended up a bit less of an over-the-top action ride." In Film Journal International, former Marvel Comics writer Frank Lovece said the "delightfully dynamic" movie "actually improves on the comic by not metaphorically kicking in our hero's teeth ... and making him a sad-sack schmuck who was wrong about nearly everything." He found that, "Comedy-of-manners dry humor ... plays seamlessly amid scenes of stylized, off-camera mayhem."

Some critics were repulsed by its violence, inconsistent tone, and the unoriginality of its observations. Roger Ebert was especially disdainful of the film, awarding it only one star. He began his review with a question, "Shall I have feelings, or should I pretend to be cool? Will I seem hopelessly square if I find Kick-Ass morally reprehensible and will I appear to have missed the point?"

In the United Kingdom The Guardian gave the film extensive coverage by several of its critics and journalists. Peter Bradshaw called the film an "explosion in a bad taste factory" and a "thoroughly outrageous, jaw-droppingly violent and very funny riff on the quasi-porn world of comic books – except that there is absolutely no 'quasi-' about it." Philip French, writing for The Guardian's Sunday associate paper The Observer, called the film "relentlessly violent" with "the foulest mouthed child ever to appear on screen, [who makes] Louis Malle's Zazie sound like Colette" and one "extremely knowing in its appeal to connoisseurs of comic strips and video games." David Cox noted that the film "kicks the c-word into the mainstream...inadvertently dispatch[ing] our last big expletive." Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph did not like the film and stated, "Matthew Vaughn's Kick Ass is hollow, glazed, and not quite there". Christopher Tookey of The Daily Mail warned, "Don't be fooled by the hype: This crime against cinema is twisted, cynical, and revels in the abuse of childhood". Chris Hewitt of Empire magazine declared it, "A ridiculously entertaining, perfectly paced, ultra-violent cinematic rush that kicks the places other movies struggle to reach. ... [T]he film's violence is clearly fantastical and cartoonish and not to be taken seriously."

Both A.O. Scott and Michael Philips gave the film their signature "Skip It" rating in their review on At the Movies. CinemaBlend accused the film of simply rehashing ideas from older superhero films, saying, "It's a subject which has already been covered endlessly by other movies, but Matthew Vaughn's film seems completely unaware of this fact, and bulls its way onward as if it's discovered something new." Karina Longworth was also not impressed with the film's intended satire and themes: "Never as shocking as it thinks it is, as funny as it should be, or as engaged in cultural critique as it could be, Kick-Ass is half-assed."

Box office

The film earned over $12 million internationally in advance of opening in the United States. On its debut weekend in the United States, it took in $19.8 million in 3,065 theaters, averaging $6,469 per theater. Kick-Ass was reported #1, ahead of How to Train Your Dragon by $200,000, which was in its third week of release. These numbers for Kick-Ass's debut weekend gross included non-weekend earnings, as the film was previewed during the Thursday night prior to its release. This has led to the speculation that How to Train Your Dragon would have been #1 for the weekend of April 16 had these earnings not been counted. The opening week numbers were considered by some analysts and the media to be a disappointment, though by others to be "fairly solid."

The film's final gross in the U.S. was $48,071,303 and $47,960,570 outside of the U.S.

Home media

In an interview Matthew Vaughn said, "There is about 18 minutes of [deleted] footage, which is really good stuff. If the film is a hit, I'll do an extended cut." The film was released on DVD and Blu-Ray on 3 August 2010 in North America. This version does not contain the aforementioned deleted content. Selling 1.4 million units within its first week, one-third of these in Blu-Ray format, Kick-Ass debuted at number one on the DVD sales chart. The discs were released in the United Kingdom on 6 September 2010.

Video games

The video game based on the movie was produced by WHA Entertainment and Frozen Codebase. It was released through the App Store on 15 April 2010 for iPhone and iPod Touch. The initial Apple platform releases were reportedly unfinished beta versions and were withdrawn from circulation pending a relaunch of a finished version. The game was released on PlayStation Network on 29 April 2010. Kick-Ass, Hit-Girl and Big Daddy are playable characters. The game features Facebook missions and integration. Both versions of the game received poor reviews.

Sequels

Director Matthew Vaughn has expressed interest in a sequel. Vaughn also said, "No, we're not [planning a sequel]. If it continues doing well, then we might but I just don't like counting my chickens before the eggs hatched." Moretz is enthusiastic about the idea of a sequel and said she would love to reprise the role of Hit-Girl. On 16 March 2010, Mark Millar said he would begin writing a sequel comic book in April.

On 9 April 2010, Millar revealed details for the second series, which he said would involve criminals taking on supervillain personae to counter the superheroes, and Hit-Girl trying to lead a normal life.

In a 31 August 2010 interview with Richard Bacon on BBC Radio 5 Live, Millar suggested that a sequel might have been given a go-ahead, speculating, "The estimate is [Kick-Ass] will do 100 to 150 million on DVD based on the American sales, you know, so it'll end up making a quarter of a billion on a 28 million investment. So it should be okay. So the sequel's green-lit, we can go ahead and do the follow up now, you know. The first made so much compared to what it cost it would be crazy not to."

External links

{{{inline}}}

• Official website
• Kick-Ass at YouTube
• Kick-Ass at IMDb
• Kick-Ass at AllMovie
• Kick-Ass at Box Office Mojo
• Kick-Ass at Rotten Tomatoes
• Kick-Ass at Metacritic
• Template:Top250 movie