Gareth Evans Set for 'The Raid' Sequel 'Berendal'

In a long-rumored move among the action movie set, director Gareth Evans is officially making a sequel to his upcoming film The Raid. Following successful runs at the 2011 Toronto Film Festival and the 2012 Sundance Festival, XYZ Films and Evans’ PT Merantu company brokered a deal to create a follow-up that will reunite the filmmaker with his Raid leading man Iko Uwais.

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Sony Pictures Worldwide has already pre-bought the distribution rights for U.S., Latin America and Spain distribution rights put the sequel on a development fast track.

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Since winning the Midnight Madness Award after its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, The Raid became a must-see movie among festivalgoers, even as Sony Pictures Classics picked up North American distribution for the film in advance of Sundance. Evans, meanwhile, found representation in WME and Management 360 in the weeks and months after. 

Following its warm reception at the Park City, Utah festival, Evans discussed his intention to make a trilogy of films.

Although Sony didn’t divulge plot details for the sequel, it follows the events of the first film, in which an Indonesian SWAT team gets trapped in a Jakarta slum and its members are forced to fight their way out. Tentatively titled Berandal, the sequel will have a “significantly larger” budget than its predecessor, and its shooting schedule is to include approximately 100 days of physical production.

In other territory sales, Alliance/Momentum has pre-bought Raid for the UK and Canada, Koch Media has it for German speaking territories, Korea Screen has Korea, and HGC has pre-bought China. Deals for other major territories are currently in negotiations.

Sony Pictures Classics is releasing the film March 23 while Screen Gems is in early development on an English-language remake.