Six months after raising more than double what they asked for via their IndieGoGo campaign, the Broken Lizard troupe have started shooting their comedy Highway Patrollers sequel **Super Troopers 2.
All five original Troopers - Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske - are returning. There's no sign of Brian Cox yet, but we were promised that meeting the target would allow for "proper actors" so there's still hope... Cox himself says he'll come back if the budget gets to $5m and he gets a scene with "a bullwhip and a rocket launcher".
They asked for $2m and, having raised that for the "barebones" version of the film in a single day, are currently at $4.5m: more than quadruple the budget of the original 2001 Super Troopers. It's still going, and the current target is $4.75m, which will allow for a "kick-ass chase scene". It's the second most successful movie crowdfunding campaign after Veronica Mars. Perks included a producer credit or speaking role for $10k, and for one lucky contributor, getting to keep the car for $35k.
The original film follows the knockabout adventures of five Vermont state troopers, avid pranksters with a knack for screwing up, who try to save their jobs and outdo the local police department by solving a crime. Not much is yet known about the new film, but it's believed to take place fairly immediately after the first one (so they won't be addressing the 14-year hiatus).
Chandresekhar is directing again, and Fox Searchlight agreed to distribute Super Troopers 2 once the initial $2m was met, but there are no release dates so far. Next year sometime seems likely.