I was totally shocked! Tony Jaa is going to take his new big step and get back his status as the best next generation martial artist with Tom Yum Goong 2. And this is a month only after he said about his new Hong Kong based project with well-known fight choreographer Sammo Hung. Sahamongkol Film has announced that Jaa will reunite with director Prachya Pinkaew and fight choreographer Panna Rittikrai for Tom Yum Goong 2 or better known in US as The Protector.

Martial arts movie The Protector became a true hit in North America, but straight after Tony Jaa declared he does not need any assistance of Pinkaew and can direct Ong Bak series by himself. As we all know he absolutely failed with Ong Bak 2, lost control of the badly over budget and over schedule project, movie looked like Jaa’s demo reel and with Ong Bak 3 the movie release Tony totally dissapointed his fans and ruined Ong Bak popularity. Probably that is why he decided to hide in a temple and think about his career.

Meantime Prachya Pinkaew switched to a female fighter Jija Yanin and released the Chocolate martial arts movie. Fights were good but not a script. Tony made a great decision to come back to his roots and reunite with a team which made him a star. Who knows what made Prachya Pinkaew accept this offer, but probably Tony is the best what Thailand has to offer for now. Give Tony another opportunity for come back and to shared the stage with another rising star is a very nice move.

Anyway Chocolate 2 is scheduled to go in to production this May, so don’t expect Tom Yum Goong 2 any time soon. But fans (and myself) should be happy to know it’s coming and Tony is back!

Let me remind you why Tom Yum Goong was so popular.

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