Angelina Jolie's 'Salt' 2 Picks Up New Writer

Angelina Jolie is one step closer to another helping of Salt as Columbia Pictures hits the negotiating table with Seven Years in Tibet writer Becky Johnston.

Naturally with the 2010 original grossing $293.5 million, including $118,311,368 in the U.S., the studio has incentive to get a Salt 2 underway, especially with its irreplaceable star, Angelina Jolie, threatening retirement in the not-too-distant future.

Columbia hired the first Salt's writer Krut Wimmer to write the sequel, but Jolie had apparently scoffed at the script and had not committed to a re-do, according to THR. The studio searched for a replacement who could re-style the story that will satisfy all involved.

Johnston's other credits include The Prince of Tides (1991) as well as Wonder Woman and Brad Bird's San Francisco earthquake story, 1906.

Johnston's participation will be a departure from her previous work, though there's at least one connection. Seven Years in Tibet, released 15 years ago, starred Jolie's future partner, Brad Pitt.

[Source: THR]