St-Pierre, Valtellini and Schilling join Van Damme in Kickboxer movie remake

The original Kickboxer movie was released in 1989 and became an instant classic action movie. Showcasing the skills of Jean-Claude Van Damme in the lead role, Kickboxer also sparked a worldwide boom in the sport.

Now it has been decided that the movie is due a remake. Filming gets underway this month and the movie is pegged for release late in 2015.

Van Damme is in final negotiations to take a central role in the movie, except this time as the teacher who passes on the skills to the needy student, rather than being said needy student who goes on to kick ass and get the girl.

Fight sports are a lot bigger these days than they were in 1989 and the film crew have had their pick of credible international fighters queuing up to take roles and cameo appearances: the Kickboxer movie is one of the most-cited items when fighters are asked about their early influences in the martial arts.

Georges St-Pierre, the former UFC welterweight champion, is confirmed for a role in the remake and so to is fellow Canadian welterweight champion ‘Bazooka' Joe Valtellini; the Toronto man holds the GLORY World Championship title.

Another GLORY veteran scheduled to appear is Joe ‘Stitch ‘Em Up' Schilling, winner of the GLORY 10 LOS ANGELES Middleweight Championship Tournament. Schilling, coming off a KO win over Melvin Manhoef, is the world's top-ranked contender in middleweight kickboxing.

He is expected to face Artem Levin for the GLORY Middleweight Championship in 2015. In a neat bit of synchronicity, Levin's entrance music for fights is "Feeling So Good Today". The track accompanies the infamous ‘dance scene' in the original Kickboxer movie, which Levin cites as one of the things which drew him into Muay Thai and kickboxing.