Ghost Rider 2 is happening, with or without Nicolas Cage

Would you watch a Ghost Rider movie without Nicolas Cage in the starring role? The correct answer is, no, I wouldn't watch any movie without Nicolas Cage in the starring role. So what's all this nonsense?

The first Ghost Rider movie, as you may have guessed from both the premise and the cast, is a little on the silly side. But praise be to Cage, I actually kind of liked it. It fit with the kind of movies he was making at the time i.e. offbeat, goofy, and just shamelessly shitty.

Uber-nerd Cage has been banging on about a sequel for years now, even though most critics weren't half as forgiving as I was and the idea is pretty laughable now that comic-book movies are generally considered to be serious and meaningful and not fun in the slightest.

As it happens, Columbia Pictures are keen on Ghost Rider 2, but due to scheduling issues, they're going to forge ahead and make it, whether Nic Cage can ride or not. Their licencing rights expire in November this year, so unless they begin production of a new Ghost Rider movie before then, the character becomes property of Marvel again. Which is pretty much the worst reason ever to make a movie.

The question is, would Ghost Rider even work without the terrifying power of Cage? There's no denying he's enjoying a massive surge of popularity at the moment thanks to Kick-Ass and the awesome Bad Lieutenant. But does it matter if it's his skull on fire or some new chump?

Obviously it always helps to have an Oscar-winning actor on board your movie, no matter how diametrically opposed the words 'Oscar' and 'Nicolas Cage' would seem to be these days. The downside is, of course, he'll probably be expensive and start demanding iguanas in his dressing room.

Could Ghost Rider work with a new actor? I don't see why not: the first movie is hardly a classic, it's not like anyone's suggesting they recast Batman. I wouldn't be ecstatic about the idea, but I'd be interested to see who Columbia might go for. Is there even a young equivalent of Nicolas Cage? It's all Shia LaBeoufs and Logan Lermans these days. (*tuts*)

Really, all of this is moot. Frankly, from a marketing point of view, if you're struggling to sell a movie whose main character is a flaming skeleton who rides a motorcycle and works for Satan, then you're a fucking idiot.