Last week Screen Rant reported that there would be another Hard Boiled movie and that it would be a sequel to the original. Well now it turns out that this new film won't be a sequel but actually a prequel or a reinvention of some kind.

It was a assumed that since Chow Yun-Fat's production company Lions Rock Entertainment was developing a feature film version of the video game Stranglehold (which is itself a sequel to Hard Boiled ), that the film would also be a sequel. But TwitchFilm.com recently had the chance to interview John Woo's production partner Terrence Chang, who confirmed that this new film won't be a sequel but rather a reinvention. Check out what he had to say below:

"We are now developing a movie of STRANGLEHOLD, and just signed the writers Fabrizio & Passmore. It will be a hardcore action film set in both Hong Kong and Chicago. We will keep some of the action set pieces of the game, but the story is different. It is a total reinvention, with a much younger Tequila. In other words, it is not a sequel to HARD-BOILED."

Although he mentions that it's a "total reinvention," he also mentions it'll feature a "much younger Tequila," which leads to the assumption that it will be a combination of a reboot and a prequel. Sadly, that effectively puts to rest my hope that Chow Yun-Fat will be back to star as Inspector Tequila. I know there are ways they could apply CGI or make-up effects to make him seem much younger, but because of the way Chang made a point to mention the fact it will feature a much younger version of the Inspector, it leads me to believe they are planning on getting a much younger actor. Which is kind of disheartening since along with the action, Chow Yun-Fat was what made the original film.

At least Chow Yun-Fat will still be involved with his production company on the film, and I'm sure since it's one of the films he's associated with (still to this day), that he'll make sure it turns out well, whoever they get to play Tequila.

KFCC is reporting that Korean director Stephen Fung (House of Fury ) is in talks to direct the film, and we already know writers Jeremy Passmore and Andre Fabrizio have been signed on to write the screenplay. It's still not known if John Woo is involved in any way, although since his long-time production partner Chang is obviously on-board, I think he will probably end up being involved in some capacity. However I suspect it'll only be on some sort of Executive Producer front (which we all know usually is just a labelling technique to garner a film more attention), but wouldn't it be just great if he shocked and came back to direct again?

I was more looking forward to a straight sequel to Hard Boiled than I am now about any sort of reboot or prequel. Really the only thing keeping me hopeful about it is the fact Chow Yun-Fat's production company is still involved.

I guess we'll have to wait and see if they're able to reach anywhere near the level of the kick-ass original.

What do you think of this new Hard Boiled film being a prequel/reboot? Would you rather see the continuation of Inspector Tequila's story or find out what happened before what we already know?

Sources: /Film , KFCC and TwitchFilm