To say we’re in the year of the film sequel isn’t quite accurate - it would be fairer to say we are in the decade of the sequel.
Casting has begun on the long-awaited follow-up to Top Gun, while we’ll also be revisiting Black Panther, Call Me By Your Name and, of course, Chicken Run.
One rumour which will never go away is the prospect of a fourth Austin Powers film, more than a decade and a half since the third instalment in the Mike Myers franchise, and now the star has given his biggest hint yet that the wait could soon be over.
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Myers, who plays the title character in the original series, had previously hinted that film number four would focus on Austin Powers’ nemesis Dr Evil (also played by Myers).
He has previously admitted writing the script for the new film had taken a back seat to raising his three children, but that progress was now being made.
And now, speaking on the red carpet at the premiere of Bohemian Rhapsody (in which he has a notable cameo), the Canadian actor revealed “You’re gonna see Dr. Evil soon”.
“[The scripts] take a long time to write, they always have. [Director Jay Roach] has been super-crazy, he’s doing a fantastic movie right now…but…it’s looking good.”
Roach’s current project, listed on IMDb as an ‘Untitled Roger Ailes Project’, is his first feature since 2015’s Trumbo.
Myers, meanwhile, has returned to the big screen with Terminal and Bohemian Rhapsody in 2018 after a quiet few years raising his young kids.
If and when the film goes ahead, it will be the first without Verne Troyer. The American actor, who played Mini-Me in the original films, died in April.
The three Austin Powers films - International Man of Mystery (1997), The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) and Goldmember (2002) were phenomenally successful at the box office, grossing $876m from a total budget of just $112m. Despite the two sequels not faring as well with the critics, they made the biggest bucks - as is often the way - so Hollywood bosses will be eagerly awaiting a fourth instalment.
Quite how Austin Powers would fare in a post #MeToo era, however, we may well soon discover.
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