Horrible Bosses might not have been a critical favourite last year, but it certainly caught on with audiences, earning a surprising $209 million worldwide. So what are the probably not-so-horrible bosses at New Line doing now? Looking to make a sequel, of course!

The first step down that road has been taken, with the executives locking in Bosses writers John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein to start kicking around ideas for a follow-up to the story of three workers planning to kill their awful supervisors. And the studio types will also be digging into the coffers for enough cash to tempt stars Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day back to the lead roles.

Also likely to return is director Seth Gordon, who brought the original in for around $35 million and is seen as a key part of the film’s success.

Daley (who is a regular on US forensic TV show Bones) and Goldstein, a telly writing stalwart, have been in demand recently. In addition to Bosses, they’ve also worked on Steve Carell comedy Burt Wonderstone and have been cranking out a sequel to ‘toon hit Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs.

The big question for any Bosses sequel is where the plot will go this time, especially since the stories of antagonistic monsters Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Spacey and, particularly Colin Farrell wrapped up pretty neatly in the original. Perhaps they could switch the focus and have Sudeikis, Bateman and Day as the dreadful employers this time, trying to stop new workers offing them?