Variety is reporting that French company TF1 Intl. has announced an August start date for a new live action version of Maurice LeBlanc's Arsene Lupin.  The $25 million film will be the sixteenth feature film based on the venerable property, which has also spawned three television series.  Film versions of LeBlanc's novel of a gentlemen-thief range from Jacques Becker's 1957 version to MGM's 1932 film starring Lionel Barrymore, to a silent 1923 version by the great Japanese director Kenji Mizoguchi.  The character of Arsene Lupin made such an impression on Japanese culture that Lupin's 'grandson' Lupin III, a creation of manga author Kazuhiko Kato (aka Monkey Punch),  has become a manga and anime powerhouse that has spawned almost as many films as his famous ancestor.  Lupin III is also about to get a new live action treatment (see 'Lupin III Live Action') in a film that is supposed to start shooting this year, setting up a potential box office duel between grandpa and grandson.

Some notion of how closely the two characters are intertwined can be gained from the fact that Kristin Scott Thomas has been signed to play the Countess Cagliostro in the new French film.  The Countess also plays a major role in The Castle of Cagliostro, the Lupin III film directed by Hayao Miyazaki, perhaps the best of the many feature films made starring Lupin III.