There's more legal fallout from the doomed Korean-produced sequel to Beverly Hills Ninja, which was set to star David Hasselhoff.
The follow-up to 1997′s Chris Farley-starring action comedy was supposed to shoot entirely on location in South Korea, becoming the first mainstream Hollywood film to do so. The story this time centered on an orphaned boy who wants to be a ninja but becomes involved in a crime in Hollywood while looking for his real parents.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, last year, Mitchell Klebanoff, who co-wrote the original and was tapped to direct the follow-up, won a lawsuit against Korean investors who bought rights to the franchise from Sony. An arbitrator in the dispute determined that the investors hadn't properly terminated him as a director and awarded him nearly $262,000.
Now comes a new lawsuit from Jay So, who says he was contracted by Klebanoff and the Koreans to act as a producer on the film but was stiffed on his own compensation during the development of Ninja 2.Meanwhile, around the time that So was karate-chopped out of the picture, the film experienced some money issues, according to details that were revealed in the earlier Klebanoff lawsuit. The film stopped production in LA, before resuming in Vancouver. Some of the film was shot, but it was never completed because Klebanoff and Han argued over things like whether the film's lead actress should appear nude in the film.Eventually, Klebanoff was fired, leading to his claims for compensation. Now, So is following up with his own breach of contract and misrepresentation allegations. Represented by Jessica Trotter, So is demanding both compensatory and punitive damages.
Safe to say the film will never be completed and we will just be left with these few scenes with David Hasselhoff.