The Dimension Films dark comedy Bad Santa is finally close to getting a sequel. Billy Bob Thornton recently caught up with The Playlist revealing some good news for Bad Santa 2. Earlier last year Johnny Rosenthal and John Phillips were writing separate scripts for the sequel.

The original follows two conmen who go on a road trip to malls dressed as Santa and his elf. Rather than spreading good cheer, the duo's motive is to rob each establishment, a strategy that becomes complicated when they encounter an 8-year-old who teaches them the true meaning of Christmas. The new scripts are being held under wraps and no details about the story have surfaced.

The actor is attending the Berlin Film Festival promoting his most recent directorial, Jayne Mansfield's Car.

He had this to say about the sequel:

"This is predominately me and one other actor that are the main characters and there are a couple of other characters that are in maybe a third of the movie. Everybody else is going to be kind of in and out. It's sort of a trip across the United States. We're working on that, we won't be done with it for a while but we plan to shoot it this summer," Thornton said, "The plan is to shoot that in the fall."

The project is expected to shoot this fall with a 2013 release date.