Producer Updates on 'Ghost Rider 2'

Nearly a year ago it was confirmed that Columbia pictures was planning a sequel to the terribly disappointing "Ghost Rider" and that Nicolas Cage was set to return as Johnny Blaze. Months later, Cage shared his idea for "Ghost Rider 2," revealing that it should be reboot of sorts. Well, not really a reboot but a different direction for the franchise.

As reported previously, Sony executives will base the sequel on a screenplay David Goyer ("Blade," "Batman Begins") wrote nine years ago.

According to producer Mike De Luca, The planned sequel to the 2007 comic book adaptation will film this year for a 2011 release and will have a new director.

De Luca told Collider they were in the early script development stage for the follow-up, which he said might be called "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance."

He revealed that Eva Mendes' character Roxanne is not part of the story and that Mark Steven Johnson will not return to direct. That's two big problems with the original that we don't have to worry about.

But who will helm the film then? De Luca said: "It'll be a new director but David would be kind of a new director to the mix in terms of not having done anything with 'Ghost Rider' before. I've talked about it with him. We want to keep it open for the right person and that could be David or it might be someone else."

The story will incorporate Cage's suggestion for the film's new approach by taking place in Europe. It appears that Cage got his wish of making the next film more international and less of a western.

De Luca explained: "Because 'Ghost Rider' is a unique blend of theology and action, and the character deals with the battle of good vs. evil in a theological sense, the idea is that in Europe you could avail yourself of a lot of religious sites and a history of theology that isn't available in the US.

"We wanted to signal that we're as different from the first movie just because we want to be as fresh as you can get in terms of getting away from the pseudo-western thing."

On the film's content and rating, he said: "We're looking at a hard PG-13. You know, like the kind of PG-13 that 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Dark Knight' was. Like where you're really right up against it."

De Luca admitted the film was "hitting reset" on the "Ghost Rider" universe by taking it along a new path and "putting the character in kind of an appropriate darker context."

And will it be in 3D? He responded: "As an audience member, I'd almost like to see any special effects movie in 3D right now.

"Seeing 'Avatar,' I mean it just excited me so much that I think that if you're not telling a story where 3D would get in the way or distract you from emotion or plot, I think it's worth bringing up for discussion for every genre movie I'm dealing with."

I’m not supportive of the idea of this being done in 3D just for those higher ticket prices. They need to make a better movie first and foremost.

It’s hard for me to get excited about this when I really disliked the first Ghost Rider and especially compared to all of the other Marvel Comics-based films coming out.

What do you think of these "Ghost Rider 2" updates?
More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Sources: Screen Rant, First Showing, MTV News, The Geek Files