In 1999, Panna formed a partnership with Prachya Pinkaew and Prachya's production house, Baa-Ram-Ewe, to collaborate on a big-budget studio film, "Ong-Bak", through Sahamongkol Film International. Prachya was to direct while Panna served as martial arts choreographer and stunt coordinator. Sharing the same passion for action films, they both intended to revive this genre in Thailand through "Ong Bak" with raw and daring physical stunts as shown in Panna's earlier films. Before production, Panna assembled a new stunt team again and he handpicked one of his protégés, Tony Jaa, to take the lead role. After four years of production, "Ong-Bak" was released and it became an international box-office success.