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PRODUCTION Belgium

Let the merrymaking begin for FC De Kampioenen 2: Jubilee General!

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- Over the last few days, the shoot has been under way in Thailand for the second instalment of the successful Flemish franchise FC De Kampioenen, this time entrusted to Jan Verheyen

Let the merrymaking begin for FC De Kampioenen 2: Jubilee General!
An image from the first instalment of FC De Kampioenen

On Monday this week, the shoot kicked off for the second film in the FC de Kampioenen [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
franchise. The films are adaptations of a Flemish sitcom that aired between 1990 and 2011 on Een, the main Flemish-language channel in Belgium. It was a series that achieved cult status among Flemish audiences: everyone knows the characters, just like with those soap operas where the viewers grow up together with the show’s characters. Last year, the first big-screen adventure for this amateur football team drew in over 720,000 viewers, making it one of the biggest hits of Flemish cinema of the past few years. Needless to say, the producer, Skyline Entertainment, hopes to strike while the iron is hot. The new instalment is therefore already well on its way, and focuses on the team’s 25th anniversary – hence the title, Jubilee General [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
. In the movie, audiences will of course meet up again with the heroes from the team, but the film also marks the big comeback of their legendary nemesis, DDT, again played by Jacques Vermeire, who has been released from prison after serving a long stretch for tax evasion.

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The first few days of the shoot are taking place in Thailand, in order to follow three of the characters as they get away from it all. The shoot will then come home to Belgium, where it will wrap in July. The role of director for this second instalment in the franchise has been entrusted to Jan Verheyen, who knows exactly what he’s doing when it comes to blockbusters (we have him to thank for the recent title The Treatment [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
). 

Initially slated for next December, the film’s release has actually been brought forward in order to avoid the end-of-year logjam caused by the big American blockbusters. The aim is clear: to surpass the 720,000 viewers racked up by the first movie, and in order to stack all the odds in its favour, the producer and distributor have chosen to avoid a head-on clash with the upcoming James Bond, Star Wars and Hunger Games films, which have been announced for Christmas, but also with the traditional family film produced by Studio 100. The Belgian release date has therefore been set as 28 October.

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(Translated from French)

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