Variety reports Pete Segal (Get Smart) is the frontrunner to direct Little Fockers, the third installment in the Universal Pictures/Tribeca Prods. franchise. Apparently Segal’s schedule has opened up as plans to make Get Smart 2 have been put on hold as Steve Carell has signed on to star in Date Night with Tina Fey for Fox.
The script was penned by John Hamburg who co-wrote and directed this weekend’s new release I Love You, Man. Hamburg recently talked to Carrie Bell at Entertainment Weekly about the film calling it a “new chapter” and added, “Everyone will be back… I can guarantee there will be more children and that conflict will ensue between [Robert] De Niro and [Ben] Stiller. Oh yeah, that’s some scoop. Hot off the press!”
Should Segal sign on this will be the first Focker film not directed by Jay Roach. The franchise has brought in a combined worldwide gross just north of $820 million.
Plan is to have Segal get Little Fockers in the can for Universal with more than enough time to begin work and complete Get Smart 2 for Warner Bros. shortly thereafter.
