Columbia Pictures has announced that Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, the sequel to the 2007 Ghost Rider movie, will be shot in 3-D and will debut on February 17th, 2012.   Nicholas Cage will reprise his role as Johnny Blaze in the sequel, which is being helmed by Crank directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, who also share the dubious distinction of having written the script for the Jonah Hex movie.

Under Marvel’s “use it or lose it” policy Sony/Columbia was under considerable pressure to make a second Ghost Rider movie or lose the movie license to the property (see “Ghost Rider 2 Is No Reboot”).