Basic Instinct 2: According to Variety, A sequel to Basic Instinct is moving closer to getting a greenlight.

The follow-up to the 1992 hit thriller that made Sharon Stone a household name has secured financing from German film fund IMF3, film group Internationalmedia said Tuesday.

Move reunites Internationalmedia subsid Intermedia and IMF with C-2 Pictures' Andy Vajna and Mario Kassar, the team that resurrected the "Terminator" franchise with last year's Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

There is no official word on the budget but it is expected to exceed $70 million.

"The great interest from international distribution partners in this project has made us extremely confident of the film's success," said Internationalmedia finance chief Andreas Konle.

It's still unclear when Basic Instinct 2 may begin lensing.

Although producers hope to start production sooner than later, with Michael Caton-Jones at the helm, pic must still cast its male lead before a start date can be set. MGM will distribute the thriller.

Stone's schedule is also starting to fill up.

She is attached to star in Gold Circle Films' Cougars, a romantic comedy about a 40ish woman who falls for a younger man, which will shoot next year. She will also appear in Nick Cassavetes' Alpha Dog, which New Line will distribute.

Either way, production would follow the settlement of Stone's three-year lawsuit against Vajna and Kassar in July. The actress took legal action against the producers for failing to produce the sequel. MGM was never a party to the lawsuit.