Montreal: Les Boys en prolongation, the fourth installment in Quebec’s top movie franchise about a team of misfit amateur hockey players, is underway for producer/creator Richard Goudreau of Montreal’s Melenny Productions.

‘Everything’s been going very well. We’re having a lot of fun as usual. The actors are happy to be together again,’ said Goudreau on the eleventh day of shooting.

The comedy reunites key cast from the first three Boys movies, including Serge Thériault, Yvan Ponton, Pierre Lebeau, Rémy Girard, Michel Charette, Luc Guérin, Roc LaFortune and Patrick Labbé. Réal Béland Jr. plays Martin, the new guy.

Principal photography runs June 5 to Aug. 3. While most of the locations are in Montreal, this time the script takes the boys to rural locations outside the city.

This time ’round, in order to reunite the team, Stan (Girard) decides to take them away on a trip together. In this installment, the team may finally get to realize their dream – they’re in the final of one of the country’s biggest hockey tournaments, and the winner gets to play against the ‘legends.’

The biggest change on the new film is that Louis Saïa, who directed parts one through three, is not on hand, as he is busy codirecting the TV series Vice caché with Claude Desrosiers. However, Goudreau says he is more than pleased with new director George Mihalka’s approach to the story.

‘I don’t think this will be my last movie with George,’ he says.

Mihalka, who has directed action-packed productions such as the TV series Charlie Jade and Galidor: Defenders of the Outer Dimension, is a good fit for Les Boys IV, according to Goudreau, because the new script calls for more action, with more of the story taking place outdoors.

The budget for part four has increased to $6.7 million from $6 million for part three.

‘We wish we had more, but we’re being very creative and the actors are very good,’ says Goudreau, explaining that working with so many of the same cast and crew makes each film easier. ‘It’s like getting back together with a family.’

For example, he says the cast had a lot of input on the script for writers René Brisebois and François Camirand, who also collaborated on the last two scripts with Saïa.

While Goudreau says he is always concerned about how audiences will respond to a film, the track record of the franchise speaks for itself. After the first Les Boys grossed $6.1 million in 1997/98, parts two and three each brought in more than $5 million. The Les Boys franchise has grossed $17 million at the box office so far.

The latest film comes on the heels of Goudreau’s epic $35-million period piece Nouvelle-France, which made only slightly more than $2 million at the local box office.

Christal Films will release Les Boys en prolongation in Quebec over Christmas.