Although producer and financier John Aglialoro let the cat out of the bag in early February, as readers of Reason 24/7 already knew, the Atlas Shrugged movie team made the official announcement today that, despite losing a reported over $20 million on the first two parts, they are going to finish telling the full Atlas saga in film form, as they wish to.

From their press release:

Today, Atlas Productions, LLC officially announced that "Atlas Shrugged Part 3", the third and final installment of the Atlas Shrugged movie trilogy, has been officially greenlit with principal photography to begin later this year… Aglialoro's company produced and distributed Parts 1 and 2, and has set a USA theatrical release for Part 3 in the Summer of 2014. Parts 1 and 2 are now currently available on DVD and internet download. Producer Harmon Kaslow said, "Our number one goal with Part 3 is to pull the prescient message of Atlas off of the page and project it clearly onto the screen. Ayn Rand drew incredibly sharp archetypes with stark backdrops. Our goal with Part 3 is to bring these characters to life as accurately as possible and celebrate Rand's message."

The first two films featured different casts and director, and no actors or director are yet announced for Part Three.

Hollywood Reporter on the announcement:

"The message of Atlas Shrugged is far greater than any particular political movement and our intention is to convey that message as clearly as possible," Kaslow tells The Hollywood Reporter. "We are ultimately confident that we're going to have absolutely no direct impact on the looters already entrenched in Washington. We are however equally as confident that if we let Atlas speak for itself, we can have an impact on the voters that put them there." Production and marketing budgets for the first two films were between $10 million-$20 million apiece, and the third will be made and marketed for less than $10 million… As with the first two films, Part 3 will hit theaters at a politically advantageous time—summer of 2014, just ahead of the midterm elections. Part 1 was released on April 15, tax day, 2011, and Part 2 opened in October, 2012, just ahead of the November presidential election.

Hostile jokers on the Internet who haven't bothered to read Rand and understand her as some sort of prophet of profit above all seem to find a snickering irony in these filmmakers following their muse. The entire point of her 1943 novel The Fountainhead was of the prime importance of the creative artist, who should and will do the work they want to do, whether or not the world rewards them for it. The Atlas film project, whatever your opinions of its merits, is in a very Randian spirit all the way.

My reports from the set of Atlas Shrugged Part One and Atlas Shrugged Part Two.

My reviews of Atlas Shrugged Part One and Atlas Shrugged Part Two.

The story of Rand's life and impact is told in my book Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement.