John Waters Writing Hairspray Sequel

Are musical movies the new It thing to franchise? Hairspray might kick off the trend (along with High School Musical) now that John Waters has signed on to write a treatment for a sequel to the 2007 movie version of the Broadway hit.

"I never thought of musicals as franchises, but it certainly worked with High School Musical, and the idea of working with that cast again, and creating new material and music, is a dream come true," director-choreographer Adam Shankman told Daily Variety. "John (Waters) has such an original and extraordinary voice; we all can’t wait to see what he has come up with."

A cast hasn't been chosen yet but Tony-winning songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman will definitely be writing new songs for the movie. The studio is hoping to get the original cast to agree to come back (John Travolta in a fat suit and all). Christopher Walken, Nikki Blonsky, Zac Efron, Queen Latifah, Michelle Pfeiffer, James Marsden, Amanda Bynes, Elijah Kelley and Allison Janney would also have to be wooed back.