Matthew Vaughn's Kingsman movie prequel is officially titled The King's Man. Based on Dave Gibbons and Mark Millar's The Secret Service comic books, the Kingsman films launched with 2015's Kingsman: The Secret Service, with Vaughn directing a cast that included Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, and Samuel L. Jackson. The movie served as an origin story for Egerton's character, Gary "Eggsy" Unwin, and followed him as he transformed from an ex-Royal Marines trainee to an agent who works for Britain's top-secret spy organization, aka. The Kingsman.
The Secret Service was mostly received well-received by critics and earned enough at the box office ($414 million worldwide on an $81 million budget) to get a sequel green-lit. The second film, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, didn't go over so well with critics, but still made a bundle ($411 million on an $104 million budget), and led to Vaughn getting the go-ahead on a Kingsman movie prequel. However, the film will not be titled Kingsman: The Great Game, as the director himself recently confirmed.
Instead, Fox has announced the the film is simply called The King's Man. You can check out the official logo above, then read on for the prequel's newly-released synopsis:
As a collection of history's worst tyrants and criminal masterminds gather to plot a war to wipe out millions, one man must race against time to stop them. Discover the origins of the very first independent intelligence agency in THE KING'S MAN, directed by Matthew Vaughn, coming to theaters February 2020.
Written by Vaughn, his writing partner Jane Goldman, and Karl Gajdusek (Oblivion), The King's Man will take place in the early 20th century and - as suggested by its title and synopsis - reveal how the Kingsmen came to be in the first place. Among those starring in the film are Ralph Fiennes, Daniel Brühl, Djimon Hounsou, Gemma Arterton, and Matthew Goode, in addition to Charles Dance and Harris Dickinson. The latter previously made a name for himself playing J. Paul Getty III in Simon Beaufoy's Trust miniseries, and may continue to break-out as an actor over the forthcoming months, thanks to his roles in August's The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance prequel series and October's Disney live-action sequel, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil. Fittingly, he's also playing the young protagonist in The King's Man, with Fiennes' character serving as his mentor (a la Eggsy and Harry Hart from the previous Kingsman movies).
Speaking of Eggsy and Harry (Firth) - Vaughn has said that he intends to eventually complete both the pair's story and his original Kingsman trilogy with Kingsman 3 (official title TBD). The filmmaker hasn't changed his plans since Disney bought Fox either, and recently indicated that production on Kingsman 3 could begin around the same time that The King's Man hits theaters in early 2020, if not sooner. Hopefully, the director's Kingsman prequel will go over well enough with fans that they're left wanting to see even more of this particularly idiosyncratic comic book-based universe. Otherwise, that could mean trouble for the next movie and whatever other Kingsman world-building that Vaughn's got planned.
Source: Fox