Hot Topics:

Fuji to make 'Umizaru 3'

Usui revealed news on film's Website

Spielberg over the moon for Reliance

'Dragon Emperor' fires up overseas

Industry vet Howard G. Minsky dies

'Dark Knight' on top for 4th week

'Express' finds success at box office

Zucker discusses Comcast deal(1384 views)

CBS cancels 'As the World Turns'(1353 views)

Film composers lose luster(1290 views)

Focus to film 'Fela' feature(1216 views)

'Dexter' kills for Showtime(866 views)

Frank Langella hears 'Male' call(844 views)

TOKYO - Fuji TV will make a third feature installment of its hit "Umizaru" franchise about the lives and loves of Japanese Coast Guard divers. Fuji producer Hirotsugu Usui has revealed on the Website of the second pic, "Umizaru 2: Test of Trust." "The legend that began two summers ago with "Umizaru" has returned," Usui wrote.

He did not offer any details about the new pic, including the director, cast or release date, though he did comment that the pic's staff is already "preparing for battle" on the third installment. A Fuji TV rep was unable to add any more to the story, saying only that the pic "is in the preliminary stages."

Based on a popular comic, the first pic, released in June 2004, depicted the struggles of a salaryman-turned-Coast-Guardsman, Daisuke Senzaki (Hideaki Ito) to join the elite diver unit, while romancing a pretty magazine editor, Kanna (Ai Kato). Though the pic was only a modest hit, an "Umizaru" drama, which Fuji aired starting in July 2005, was a ratings smash. The second pic, which bowed in May 2006, was a blockbuster, racking in $65 million, making it the biggest domestic live-action pic of the BO year.