After three years in the making, 18,000 backers and $650,000 raised via Kickstarter, a music video with David Hasselhoff and a selection at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight, the 30 minute film by Swedish whiz kid David Sandberg finally reached the web on May 28 via SVT Play and YouTube.
More than three million fans had already watched the film 22 hours after its viral distribution free of charge and viewing numbers continue to reach record highs as the film is now available as well on Steam, Vimeo and on linear TV in Sweden (SVT), and North America (El Rey). According to a press statement, YouTube head office is putting Kung Fury in a league of its own as no other 30 minute film has amassed that many views in such a short time and Twitter had #Kung Fury trending most of the first 48 hours of release
For Helen Ahlsson, SFI Film Commissioner in charge of Moving Sweden, Kung Fury is ‘an inspiration for all filmmakers as well as industry people as it went totally against conventional wisdom. “Not only did the film prove that a 30 minute film can become a smash hit on YouTube, it also showed that festivals do take on board action comedies, as long as they are cleverly written and artistically challenging; finally it demonstrated that the old fashion distribution windows don’t always make sense. Today many cinema owners have asked to screen the film to please the millions of online fans of Kung Fury,” stressed Ahlsson.
Produced by Laser Unicorns Productions in co-production with Lampray & Stories By Universal, the film received a maximum grant of SEK 1.8 million from Moving Sweden. The three year scheme scheme set up in 2013 by the SFI, together with SVT and Stockholm Mälardalen, to stimulate innovative filmmaking in all its forms, has an annual budget of SEK 21 million. So far 19 projects have been supported.