Here's the good news: Sony has greenlit the second Ghost Rider movie, and Nic Cage will be back as Johnny Blaze. Here's the potentially bad: The movie's budget may have been slashed almost in half in order to make it happen.

The Wrap is reporting a rumor that GR2's budget has gone from $135 million to $75 million in order to get the movie the go-ahead from the powers that be (To put that in some kind of context, the original movie cost $110 million in 2007 dollars). Part of the reason may be that Sony is only co-financing the movie (Hyde Park Entertainment is co-funding and taking international distribution as a result), although it's equally possible that $135 million was seen as too much of a risk for the sequel to a movie that only made $115 million in the US. Part of the budget cut will come from Cage himself, who - according to the site - has taken a pay cut from $12 million to $7 million to stay involved with the production.

Sony had no comment when reached.