'Hairspray,' 'Harold & Kumar' followups are on

(FROM VARIETY) — Two recent box-office successes are set for another go-around at the multiplex. John Waters has been commissioned to write a treatment for a followup to 2007’s hit movie musical Hairspray, which was itself based on his 1988 period comedy. The most recent installment grossed more than $200 million worldwide. While director-choreographer Adam Shankman and the film’s producers and songwriters are expected to return, the cast has yet to be put in place for the sequel, which Warner Bros. hopes to release in the summer of 2010. Meanwhile, actors John Cho and Kal Penn should reprise their roles in a third installment of their cult-favorite Harold & Kumar series. This year’s Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay grossed $38.1 mil domestically, more than double its production budget; its writers and directors, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, are already on board part 3. The series’ first film, 2004’s Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, has been a hit on DVD, earning more than $30 mil from home video alone.