The announcement that the Puppet Master franchise is being rebooted as part of a new cinematic universe, raised some questions about the fate of Puppet Master: Axis Termination, most notably, whether or not the project is still moving forward. Charles Band took to the picture’s IndieGoGo Campaign Page to clear up any concerns fans (and supporters of the project) may have! In his announcement, Band promises that the project is still happening and has even provided a start date for principal photography! See his statement below.
“Puppet Master: Axis Termination is an extremely difficult movie to put together, and we’re doing our best to try to give it all the bells and whistles it deserves,” explains Band. “Unlike our other films, it requires the availability of very hard to get and book special effects people, puppeteers, etc. Every time we have tried to set a date, one of our SFX superstars’ schedule changes.”
“We raised supplemental production funds for 3 movies late last year (Evil Bong High-Five, Killjoy’s Psycho Circus, and Puppet Master: Axis Termination) and have completed and released Evil Bong High-5 on Full Moon Streaming. The EB High-5 DVD release will be in a few weeks. We are in the final stages of post-production on Killjoy’s Psycho Circus and must start photography on our 11th Puppetmaster film as soon as possible. That’s why I’m announcing today the date for principal photography to begin on Puppet Master: Axis Termination will be: September 12th! All the perks which can be fulfilled now will go out in the next couple weeks. Some perks, such as posters and DVDs, will be shipped after the film is finished.”
The distributor also recently revealed that the new film will mark Torch’s first appearance since the fifth picture in the Puppet Master series.
As we’ve said before, Puppet Master is the longest running and most successful independent direct-to-video franchise ever. The David Schmoeller helmed original has seen a combined total of nine sequels plus a spinoff effort that Full Moon was not directly involved with.
Charles Band (head of Full Moon Features) is set to helm this time around. This will be the conclusion to the Axis trilogy. The two previous installments being Axis of Evil and Axis Rising. It will be set in Berlin, during World War II.
