Paramount Pictures has tapped F. Javier Gutierrez to direct the next installment in “The Ring” franchise.

Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald are on board as producers and it is unknown at this time if Naomi Watts will return to star.

Based on a Japanese cult success, the first U.S. film went on to gross $249 million at the worldwide box office. That was enough to justify a sequel, which didn’t match the first one’s B.O. power but still grossed $160 million worldwide.

The storyline revolved around a mysterious videotape that, when watched, kills the viewer a week after the person has watched it.

Gutierrez is also attached to direct “The Crow” reboot for Relativity and the Weinstein Company and also directed “Before the Fall.”

He is repped by WME, manager Dan Farah, and attorney Stephen Clark