Nine years after Ah Boys to Men 4 was released, Jack Neo is expanding on the film franchise with a new movie expected to be released in 2027.
The 66-year-old local director is currently working on and will be directing Ah Boys To Firemen, which will be produced by J Team Productions, Little Green White and mm2 Entertainment.
The film is set against the backdrop of the Singapore Civil Defence Force and follows a reluctant young recruit who stumbles through training before discovering his courage during a catastrophic skyscraper blaze. As personal conflicts collide with duty and loyalty, he must confront fear and responsibility to save lives and protect those he loves.
With a production cost of around $3 million, the film will include large-scale disaster set pieces and incorporate cutting-edge virtual production to film fire and rescue scenes. The cast members have not been revealed.
Filming is scheduled to begin in mid-2026 in Singapore with a targeted release during Chinese New Year in 2027.
In a press release sent by mm2 Entertainment, Jack said: “Firefighters — this is a story I’ve always wanted to tell. Life taught me what I thought I knew about sacrifice. But the moment I stepped into a fire station and looked into the eyes of these young men and women, I realised — there is a courage I had never truly come close to before… Every detail I uncovered moved me deeper. These stories deserved to be seen.”
When contacted by AsiaOne, a mm2 spokesperson said more information will be released later.
Jack also told AsiaOne: “Thank you for your interest in this project. Please give us some time, we will be providing everyone with updates.”
Ah Boys to Men, which was released in Singapore in 2012, centres on the lives of army recruits Ken Chow (Joshua Tan), Lobang (Wang Weiliang), Aloysius Jin (Maxi Lim) and I.P. Man (Noah Yap) as well as their platoon sergeant Alex Ong (Tosh Zhang) as they navigate National Service.
The movie became the highest-grossing Singapore film in 2012, achieving a total box office record of $6.3 million, surpassing Jack’s Money No Enough (1998).
The second movie was released in early 2013 and became the highest-grossing Chinese-language film of all time in Singapore, achieving a box office record of $7.9 million. Jack then expanded the franchise into Ah Boys to Men 3: Frogmen (2015) and Ah Boys to Men 4 (2017), both with similar box office success in Singapore.
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