'Wicker Man' sequel scrapped

Plans to produce a sequel to 1970s cult movie 'The Wicker Man' have been scrapped due to "financing problems".

A remake of the original movie - with Nicolas Cage in the leading role - was released in 2006, but producers had hoped to shoot a follow-up to the previous Edward Woodward thriller.

The horror picture was slated to begin later this month in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland - the same remote landscape used in the original eerie 1973 thriller - but the shoot has now been cancelled indefinitely due to a lack of funds.

The news has devastated local councillors, who had hoped to profit from the publicity surrounding the movie.

Dumfries and Galloway councillor Gill Dykes says: "We will maintain contact with this interesting project and I can only hope we'll be top of their location list if the financial problems get resolved."