Well now that the Wall Street sequel project has bounced back from the brink of oblivion, let’s hope the economy will soon follow suit.

There has been speculation over the last couple of months on whether or not a Wall Street sequel was ever going to be made. Last we heard, the sequel, tentatively titled Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, was dead-in-the-water on account of Oliver Stone deciding he wasn’t going to do it. Michael Douglas, who originated the iconic Gordon Gekko role, was interested but his involvement seemed conditional on Stone being on board.

Well, it looks like the director has changed his mind, as Variety now reports that the director will return to helm the sequel, now called simply Wall Street 2. The current script is by Things We Lost in the Fire and 21 writer Allan Loeb, who did a page-one rewrite of Stephen Schiff’s Money Never Sleeps draft. Michael Douglas will reprise his Oscar-winning role as Gekko, and Shia LaBeouf is in talks to play a new Gekko protege.

Variety doesn’t have any story details to report, but Latino Review did a whole video expose on the plot, which you can catch here. According to LR, the story starts with Gekko being released from prison in 2002 after serving 14 years in a maximum security facility for insider trading and other securities fraud. Fast forward to 2008, and though he is no longer allowed to trade on the US Stock Exchange, Gekko has become a hit on the lecture circuit and is a successful writer, with a new book coming out called “Moral Hazard: Why Wall Street Has Finally Gone Too Far.”

The story kicks into motion when young Wall Street hot-shot Jacob Ellmore discovers that the investment company he used to work for, KZI, went under because a hedge fund manager spread rumors on the street about insolvency in regards to KZI’s books. The resulting bankruptcy led KZI’s founder/Jacob’s father-figure to commit suicide, and Jacob vows revenge. Gekko agrees to mentor Jacob and help him exact revenge, but in return Jacob must help Gekko reconnect with his estranged daughter Winnie, to whom Jacob is currently engaged.

LR has called the script “a worthy sequel that’s just as good as Wall Street” because it’s as relevant in today’s economical climate as the original was back in 1987. Oh, and in the version they read, Charlie Sheen’s Bud Fox character DOES have a cameo in the movie, so that could be a fun bit for Wall Street fans. I thought the original was fantastic, and hope the film sequel can live up to its aforementioned hype.

Tags: Allan Loeb, Michael Douglas, Oliver Stone, Shia LaBeouf, Wall Street 2