Is Mike Myers on board for Austin Powers 4 or what?

2012 will mark 10 years since AUSTIN POWERS IN GOLDMEMBER was released. I absolutely hated that film, but I was however very fond of AUSTIN POWERS: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY, and even THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME. But the one thing that’s become very evident over the past decade and change since these films have been released, is that the film’s star Mike Myers is sort of a one-trick pony. Seriously, re-watch his stuff on “SNL” and see the same jokes and material we would eventually catch in a number of his films years later.

So what that means is, of course Myers wants an AUSTIN POWERS 4. There have been some rumblings these past few days that the comedic actor was back in talks to get the franchise up and running again. HitFix reported this past Friday that Myers was actually officially signed and that the fourth film was a go, but a day later Deadline refuted that scoop. They said that the Myers camp only now began showing interest in returning to the franchise after New Line had made an offer (six months ago!) that gave the funnyman “a low upfront payday against a gross that would kick in after Warner Bros recouped its costs.” By comparison, Myers made $20 mil for GOLDMEMBER plus a nice backend percentage of the film’s gross. What happened in between? THE LOVE GURU in 2008, which – a bit part in INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS aside – pretty much made Myers as an on screen presence go AWOL these past few years.

So while there definitely appears to be some sort of movement on the project, we’ll have to wait and see what the official word is. But the real question, though: Does anyone really want another AUSTIN POWERS film a decade after the character’s popularity has come and gone?