Variety is reporting that Kate Beckinsale and Scott Speedman will reprise their roles in a sequel to the Screen Gems and Lakeshore Entertainment film Underworld, which will start shooting this fall.  Len Wiseman will return as director, and Danny McBride, who wrote the original Underworld screenplay, is penning another script about the long-running feud between vampires and werewolves and two lovers, one from each side, who are caught in the middle in a sort of dark fantasy version of Romeo and Juliet.  The sequel will reportedly begin with an epic battle between the Vamps and the Lycans.  Underworld, which was shot for a reported $24 million, has earned over $51 million at the domestic box office and done well on video as well.  Screenwriter McBride is also co-plotting a comic book prequel to the Underworld series for IDW (see 'IDW to Publish Underworld Prequel').

Game Publisher White Wolf Inc. and author Nancy Collins are suing Columbia Screen Gems and Lakeshore Entertainment over the original Underworld film.  White Wolf alleges that Underworld's characters, theme, and setting are based on White Wolf's award-winning games, Vampire: the Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse. In addition Collins cites her story 'Love of Monsters,' published by White Wolf and set in the World of Darkness as the source for the Underworld script (see 'White Wolf and Nancy Collins Sue Sony').