Rowan Atkinson Returns in Bean II

Steve Bendelack, who made his feature directing debut with last year's TV spin-off The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse, will direct Bean II for Working Title Films.

Variety reports that the film finds the hapless Mr. Bean travelling to the South of France on holiday, causing the usual mayhem and ending with an unscheduled screening of his video diary at the Cannes Film Festival.

This sequel to the 1997 hit Bean: The Movie will once again star Rowan Atkinson. It starts shooting May 15.

Working Title is producing in association with Tiger Aspect, and Universal will handle worldwide distribution.

The movie is written by Robin Driscoll and Hamish McColl, based on a story by Simon McBurney, and produced by Peter Bennett-Jones, Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner.

Bean (also titled as Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie or simply Bean), itself a spin-off from the hugely successful U.K. television series, grossed $240 million worldwide.