The 'Twilight' saga isn't the only movie franchise cashing in on moviegoers' desire to see vampires fight werewolves. The undead 'Underworld' franchise lives on, with news today that there'll be a fourth installment.According to the Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision blog, the task of writing the fourth film falls upon John Hlavin, best known as a writer and story editor on FX's 'The Shield.' (He's also written for short-lived TV dramas 'Day Break' and 'E-Ring,' so he has some genre-tale credentials.)
No word yet on who'll don the black leather catsuit to play the heroine. According to Heat Vision, there's currently no deal for Kate Beckinsale (who starred in the first two movies) or British-brunette-babe-who-is-not-Kate-Beckinsale Rhona Mitra (pictured, left, the star of the third) to return to the franchise. Nor is there a director yet. But Beckinsale's husband Len Wiseman (pictured, above, with Beckinsale) ,who directed the first two 'Underworlds,' remains on board as a producer, along with Gary Lucchesi, Tom Rosenberg and Richard Wright of Lakeshore Entertainment, the production house behind the first three movies. The plot also remains a secret, Hlavin told Heat Vision, "but I can tell you it's not a prequel. It will satisfy old fans and excite new audiences, meaning that we don't want to redo the first three movies, so steps are being taken to honor what fans have loved but at the same time introduce fresh elements."
Of course, this is what filmmakers behind the fourth film in a franchise always say. Even if there isn't enough creative lifeblood left in 'Underworld' to make a movie that pleases both longtime fans and newbies, it's no skin of Hlavin's neck. He already has some other projects in the works, including 'The Gunslinger,' a Western in development at Warner Bros., and 'Boston P.D.,' a detective drama that Don Cheadle is producing for NBC.
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