Cliffhanger 2, the sequel to the 1993 Sylvester Stallone action film, has been awarded €2m in funding from German production fund FFF Bayern ahead of a planned summer 2024 shoot in Europe with director Jean-François Richet now on board.
The screenplay by Mark Bianculli (The Good Neighbor, White Smoke) sees Stallone reprising his role as the ranger Gabriel “Gabe” Walker who is now living in the Dolomites where he runs an exclusive mountain lodge.
When Gabe and a high-profile client are taken hostage during an adventurous weekend trip, his daughter has to use all her climbing skills to outwit the kidnappers, triggering a battle of life and death.
Bavarian-based fund FFF Bayern says the project is being directed Jean-François Richet, whose credits include Assault on Precinct 13, Mesrine: Killer Instinct and action thriller Plane. Ric Roman Waugh was previously listed as director.
According to FFF Bayern, Cliffhanger 2 is being structured as a German-British co-production between London-based Black Magic Films and Munich-based Supernix in collaboration with the US’s Original Films. Supernix is the joint venture between Maze Pictures and Occupant Entertainment. International sales are handled by London-based Rocket Science
The producers are Rocket Science’s Lars Sylvest and Thorsten Schumacher as well as Original Films’ Neal H. Moritz and Toby Jaffe, Maze’s Philipp Kreuzer and Occupant’s Joe Neurauter.
Principal photography is set to begin in summer 2024 with more than half of the shoot being located in Bavaria - at the Penzing Studios and in Munich’s city centre.
In addition, the sequel will benefit from FFF Bayern’s recently launched intern incentive aimed at attracting new blood into the industry by being granted the maximum amount of €10,000.
The production fund also allocated €150,000 to the German VFX company Rise FX South in Munich to work on the visual effects for Amazon’s latest spin-off series Varsity (working title) from The Boys universe.
Other projects backed by this fund in the past have included Justin Kurzel’s sci-fi thriller Morning, Christophe Gans’ video game sequel Return To Silent Hill, Rupert Sanders’ The Crow remake, Constantin Television’s six-part high-end series Hagen, and Studio 100 Media’s international animated feature Heidi - Saving The Lynxes.
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