Ocean’s 12 Plus 1 is Ocean’s 13

Warner Bros. announced yesterday that George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon will star in Ocean’s 13, the third installment in their crime/comedy franchise about a gang of crooks. The rest of the cast, including Don Cheadle, Andy Garcia, Bernie Mac, Carl Reiner and Elliott Gould, will also most likely return. Joining the cast of the new film, will be Ellen Barkin.

The story revolves around a new heist in Las Vegas. Clooney’s producing partner Steven Soderbergh, who helmed the 2001 hit Ocean’s Eleven and its 2004 sequel Ocean’s Twelve, will again direct, however, Julia Roberts, who played Clooney’s love interest in the first two films, and Ocean’s Twelve co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones will not be back for the third movie, according to Warner Bros., however they left the window open for their possible inclusion, should a good script element arise, during the writing stage. Production is scheduled to start in July, with Ocean’s 13 due in theaters in summer 2007.