Warner Bros. has tapped Jay Chandrasekhar to rewrite and direct Yogi Bear 2.  The original film in this new era of the series, which came out in 2010, was written by Jeffrey Ventimilia (Rio) and Joshua Sternin (The Tooth Fairy), with Eric Brevig (Men In Black) in the director’s chair.  Though not too well received by critics, the film made over $200 million worldwide.

Chandrasekhar, known for his work in the Broken Lizard comedy troupe, has also directed The Babymakers (starring Paul Schneider and Olivia Munn) as well as the Dukes of Hazzard film.  For TV work, Chandrasekhar has directed episodes of Up All Night, Royal Pains and Community.  For more on the project and whether Boo Boo can ever be as popular as Honey Boo Boo (probably not), hit the jump.

Last December, Yogi Bear opened to just $16.7 million, a disappointing total for a family film during the holiday season.  However, the CGI/live-action hybrid showed surprising legs, ending up with $100 million domestic and $200 million worldwide.  According to Variety, Warner Bros. is encouraged enough to move forward on development for the sequel.  The studio hired writing team Joshua Sternin and Jeffrey Ventimilia to script the project.  Sternin and Ventimilia are two of the three screenwriters credited on the screenplay of the first movie (sorry, Brad Copeland) — the duo recently wrote for the more critic-friendly Rio and are currently working on Peabody and Sherman for DreamWorks Animation.

Dan Aykroyd and Justin Timberlake voiced Yogi and Boo-Boo, respectively.  Anna Faris, Tom Cavanaugh, Andrew Daly, and T.J. Miller starred in the live-action roles — the report does not specify if there are any plans to bring them back for Yogi Bear 2.