MONTREAL — Women beware: nearly two decades after wreaking havoc in Montreal’s nightclubs, the motley crew of male seducers of Cruising Bar is getting ready to hit the singles’ scene again.

The $5.2-million Cruising Bar 2, a follow-up to the hit comedy about four men trolling for nocturnal love, will begin shooting in Montreal in July.

As in the 1989 version, Quebec’s Michel Côté (C.R.A.Z.Y.) plays all four characters: Gérard ‘the Bull,’ a paunchy married guy who likes to seduce on the side; Patrice ‘the Lion,’ who is an aggressive head-banger; Jean-Jacques ‘the Peacock,’ a pretentious yuppie, and Serge ‘the Worm,’ whose gawkiness and bad skin prevent him from having any luck with the girls.

The original grossed $3.8 million at the box office and sold to 22 countries, including Australia, Argentina, Mexico, Germany, Israel, Paraguay, Brazil and Japan.

‘It’s a cult film here. People identify with it. Every time it’s broadcast on TV, at least 700,000 people watch it. And the DVD has sold extremely well,’ says Claude Bonin of Les Productions Vidéofilms, who is coproducing the sequel with Robert Ménard, who is in turn codirecting and writing with Côté. Claire Wojas is also a writer on the flick. Ménard directed the original with Vidéofilms.

Bonin says the writing/producing team was initially reluctant to make a second version, but the distributor, Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm, is confident Cruising Bar 2 will be a box-office hit. ‘We hesitated a great deal. But Michel Côté decided he wanted to revisit the characters again, so we decided to do it,’ he says.

For the original, Côté had to undergo extensive makeup and hair work to play all four characters, including wearing false teeth and a wig to play the buck-toothed rocker Patrice and covering his face with an oatmeal mixture to play acne-addled Serge.

Unlike the original film, which took place on one night, Cruising Bar 2‘s drama happens over one month. ‘They are all a bit older and a bit fatter. And we get to find out a little bit more about the characters,’ says Bonin.

Cruising Bar 2 is funded by Telefilm Canada and SODEC. The seven-week shoot wraps Aug. 17. It will be released in theaters June 28, 2008.