After years of speculation, it is finally official: Sin City: A Dame To Kill For will go before the cameras this summer with a 2013 release date, with original co-directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller once again at the helm. Dimension Films, which released the first film, is set to release the second movie as well. One difference is that this time, scripting duties will be split between Frank Miller and The Departed’s Oscar winning screenwriter William Monahan.

Here are some excerpts from the official press release via Deadline.

“The first question I am always asked is “When will you make another Sin City? ,” said Rodriquez. “I have wanted to re-team with Frank Miller and return to the world he created since the day we wrapped the original, but have felt a duty to the fans to wait until we had something truly exceptional that would meet and exceed what have become epic expectations. A Dame To Kill For will certainly be worth the wait.”

Sin City creator, screenwriter and co-director Frank Miller said, “The first Sin City knocked out audiences who had never seen anything like it before. Robert Rodriguez and I are going to shake things up and deliver a ferocious film experience that is going to go even further than the first.”

The original comic series of A Dame To Kill For featured characters from the original Sin City like Marv and Dwight McCarthy. No mention was made in the press release whether Clive Owen and Mickey Rourke would return to their roles, but I’d say it’s a good bet they will.

Look everyone! A new reason to hate Michael Bay! Yeah, and you thought that whole Ninja Turtles business was bad. But according to Bloodydisgusting.com, Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes studios, the studio behind semi-recent horror remakes like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Amityville Horror, Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street is looking to handle the next installment of the Halloween franchise for Dimension Films.

But wait! Didn’t Rob Zombie remake Halloween already you might say? pffffttt. That is SO five years ago. True, Dimension Films had a Halloween 3D scheduled for this October, which was set to be directed by the team behind  My Bloody Valentine and Drive Angry, Todd Farmer and Patrick Lussier.  But that quietly dissolved recently, and Halloween 3D was pulled off the 2012 schedule. Now Dimension is said to be looking at Bay’s company to relaunch Michael Myers the way they relaunched Freddy and Jason and Leatherface.

The real question is whether or not this is going to be a continuation of the Rob Zombie Halloween series, as Halloween 3D was going to be, or be yet another reboot. I’d put money on the latter, as I’m sure Bay will want to put his own spin on this franchise and not just do a part three to someone else’s series. And before you even say “but five years is too soon to reboot!” I remind you that The Amazing Spider-Man is coming out only five years after the last Tobey Maguire installment; never underestimate the short attention spans of  the American public.

Honestly, I can’t even get riled up about this too much. Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake was already the polar opposite to John Carpenter’s classic film in almost every respect, whatever Bay ends up doing can only be as bad, but probably not worse. It’ll just serve as a reminder to everyone how brilliant the original was. Again.