HATCHET 3 has been green-lit.  With Adam Green’s “Hatchet 2” exceeding all expectations for sales on DVD and continually selling out in major retail stores nationwide as fast as they can stock it, Dark Sky Films announced today that they have greenlit production on “Hatchet 3.”

The film will be produced by Green’s ArieScope Pictures and Dark Sky Films, which is a subsidiary of indie producer-distrib MPI Media Group. ArieScope’s Cory Neal will serve as a producer along with Green and Sarah Elbert.

The third installment in the popular franchise will continue the horrific saga of Victory Crowley and pick up where “Hatchet 2” left off, with a young woman (Danielle Harris) getting revenge on the malevolent monster who killed her friends while they vacationed in Louisiana swamp country.

Cast and other details of the production, including its director, are expected shortly.

“For a little indie movie that I dreamt up when I was just eight years old, it has been absolutely surreal to watch it turn into a modern-day slasher franchise,” said Green, who had already worked out a possible storyline for “Hatchet 3” before he started shooting “Hatchet 2,” the first unrated indie horror film to be exhibited by a major chain in 25 years when it opened last fall in AMC Theatres across the country.

While Green expressed trepidation about the possibility of handing the franchise to another filmmaker, he expects to be “more involved” than the typical producer, and promises “we’ll never run out of creative ways for Victor Crowley to kill people.”

“It has been our intention from the beginning to continue building the ‘Hatchet’ franchise,” said Greg Newman, EVP of Dark Sky. “Adam Green has created a horror icon in Victor Crowley, and we’re pleased that Crowley will live on in future installments of the franchise.”