‘Kung Fury’ Has Big First Day On YouTube With Three Million Views

A project that went viral back when it was still in its nascent stages is going viral again now that it has been completed. Kung Fury, which raised more than $600,000 on Kickstarter after its absurd trailer struck a chord with 80s aficionados, has now been released for free on YouTube, where it has scored more than three million views in its first day online.

Kung Fury is a loving send-up of cheesy action movies from 80s. David Sandberg, the film’s writer and director, also stars as its badass hero, who lends his name to the title. Across 30 minutes, Kung Fury travels back in time in order to complete his mission: Kill Hitler. The German “Kung Fuhrer” is played by, of all people, Lonely Island’s Jorma Taccone.

Before it was ever a rollicking, time-travelling adventure to Nazi Germany, Kung Fury was a delightful two-minute trailer on the YouTube channel of production company Laser Unicorns. The trailer made a huge splash; to date, it has received more than 10.6 million views.

The trailer fueled Kung Fury’s Kickstarter campaign, which, after raising $630,019, now sits among the crowdfunding site’s most funded film and video projects. As soon as the full-length version of Kung Fury hit YouTube, its fans once again supported it en masse. Its hard to find many other 30-minute videos with millions of views, but Kung Fury gets it done.

At this point, there’s only one more thing left to say: We need a sequel. Please, Laser Unicorns. Kung Fury must fight again.