Crowdfunded Iron Sky sequel hits target and moves to pre-production
The sequel, Iron Sky The Coming Race, moves the location from the moon to the centre of the earth.
Using the crowdfunding platform IndieGoGo, Iron Sky The Coming Race successfully finished its second crowdfunding round on January 5th, raising over $560,000.
Together the two crowdfunding rounds have brought in over $750,000 dollars. Both campaigns exceeded the target by over 10 percent, with 75 percent of the contributors pre-ordering the film via the campaign, almost two years before its release.
The film is now in pre-production and will be shot with estimated $15 million budget this year, to be released in 2016.
Trailer videos for Iron Sky The Coming Race, which feature Adolf Hitler riding a T-Rex in the 'Hollow Earth', have been watched over 10 million times on the Internet since their respective releases in November and December 2014.
The filmmakers are currently finalising the casting of the main roles. Onboard are Julia Dietze, Stephanie Paul and Udo Kier from the first film, and Tom Green as a new addition to the cast.
The script is by American writer Dalan Musson, visual effects are to be created by German studio Pixomondo, while Slovenian band Laibach will create the music.
The budget of Iron Sky The Coming Race is $15 million, out of which the filmmakers have so far raised 50 percent, including crowdfunding and soft money from Europe. For the remaining amount the filmmakers are in discussions with several sponsors, financiers, investors, distributors and looking at a further crowdfunding / bridge loan, but aim to close everything by June 2015.
Iron Sky Universe is a new production company focusing solely on expanding the Iron Sky franchise and developing online platforms for audience engagement. The company is owned by Tero Kaukomaa and Timo Vuorensola from Finland, plus over 500 shareholders from over 30 countries. As well as producing the sequel, it is currently working on a multi-season TV series Iron Sky - Houston, we have a problem!
Tero Kaukomaa, the producer of both Iron Sky The Coming Race and Iron Sky, has previously produced or co-produced over 15 feature films, including Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark. He has a lot of faith in working with crowdfunding now and in the future.
"For many years the fans have been contributing their ideas, their designs, their talent, their help, their contacts, and their promotional power - but also their funding, as the latest IndieGoGo campaign shows," said Kaukomaa. "As an exchange we aim to provide them a kick-ass entertainment, first by doing the film with them, and finally by getting the film to them."
"We also would love to give the audience a fair say on how to consume audio-visual content,"added Kaukomaa. "[As with anybody] who's making a living out of this industry, we don't love piracy, but too often we see that as the only way to get the content you want - and that is the biggest issue [facing] the industry nowadays. If we succeed in getting the film available globally [on the same date], we have a much better chance in that competition. As a non-Hollywood studio, the only way to do that is active crowd collaboration."