The closing moments of 2006's Crank may not have seemed like the most perfect setup for a sequel, but where there's a will, there's a way -- and according to Empire, Brian Taylor, Mark Neveldine, and Jason Statham will be reuniting for Crank 2.

Promising that "Crank 2 will pick up exactly where Crank ends," the filmmakers talked up the sequel to Empire, going on to say their studio and leading man are just as excited as they are:

"We're finding that a lot of people were thinking, 'Oh, Crank 2 can't be done'," adds Neveldine. "But we came up with an idea, we wrote the script, and after the studio read it they couldn't believe that we pulled it off. And of course, the best test was giving it to Jason and Jason turned down every other project so he could do this, start this in the spring of next year. He was so excited, he couldn't believe it.

"It's going to be more sexual, more violent -- more of everything," laughs Taylor. "We realise with a movie like Crank, you can't do a sequel and do 60% or 70% of what the original was. You have to go twice as hard. So that's what we're going to do. If we're going to live up to the first one with the sequel -- we're taking it WAY past the point of the first one."

Empire says the sequel is scheduled to start shooting next April, so you can probably safely add it to the list of pictures you'll see in the next year or so, strike or no strike.

Source: Empire