Third 'Bridget Jones' movie on its way

LONDON, July 15 (UPI) -- A third Bridget Jones movie is being developed with Hollywood actress Renee Zellweger once again set to play the beloved British singleton.

Variety.com said Working Title is working on a sequel to the hits "Bridget Jones's Diary" and "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason," which were films based on Helen Fielding's newspaper columns and novels about a fictional spinster.

The third movie reportedly could go into production late next year. It is expected to be based on columns Fielding penned in 2005 about Bridget getting pregnant and having a baby while in her 40s, the entertainment industry trade newspaper said.

The first two movies co-starred Hugh Grant and Colin Firth as Bridget's suitors. The Variety report did not say whether they will be on board for the as-yet-untitled third installment of the film franchise.

Firth told UPI last year he hasn't ruled out reprising his "Bridget" role of Mark Darcy, a modern incarnation of his Mr. Darcy character from British TV's "Pride and Prejudice" miniseries.

"I remember being on the set of the second ('Bridget Jones') with Hugh one day and one of us asked the other, 'Do you remember saying yes to this?' 'No, never did!'" Firth told UPI in 2008.

"Then, once the process was in motion, it had that kind of air of inevitability and then you would have had to be the one to unglue it all. So, if there was a third one, it might be like that. We might all come back as a kind of dysfunctional family again," he quipped. "It would have to be pretty damn good, I think."