Thailand’s Sahamongkolfilm has announced that the team behind Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong – including action star Tony Jaa – are reteaming for a sequel to Tom Yum Goong to be filmed in digital 3D.  

Tentatively scheduled to start shooting in July, the film will be directed by Prachya Pinkaew with Panna Rittikrai on board as action choreographer. Jaa will again play the lead role and will be joined for the first time by Jija Yanin, the female star of Chocolate and Raging Phoenix.

Although the story is still being worked on, the film is likely to mostly shoot in Thailand, unlike the first Tom Yum Goong, which was partly shot in Australia. Delivery is expected in the first quarter of 2012.

Ong Bak, which was released in 2003 and spawned two successful sequels, and Tom Yum Goong (aka The Protector), released in 2005, were huge hits in Thailand and widely distributed around the world.

Magnolia Pictures took US rights to Ong Bak while its genre arm Magnet picked up both of the two sequels. The Weinstein Company acquired US and a slew of other rights on Tom Yum Goong.

Sahamongkolfilm is fully financing Tom Yum Goong 2 and will be handling international sales at the upcoming Cannes market.

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