Despite the bombing of the Love Guru, leaving Myers outdated and outperformed by more serious superhero fare, New Line (really Warners) is ready to jump back into bed with the has-been and make Austin Powers 4, which Nikki Finke has heard he has started writing:

I’m told that Mike Myers has started writing Austin Powers 4 which will be an homage to his father. “It’s very personal with a father and son theme loosely based on his own life,” an insider tells me. As Myers has previously said, this fourth installment of the super spy spoof movie series will focus on Austin’s arch-villain Dr. Evil, who was based on Blofeld of the Bond films. But what hasn’t been known is that the AP4 plot is really about Dr. Evil and his son (introduced already as Scott Evil, played by Seth Green). Myers is penning his idea with Baby Mama’s Mike McCullers, who collaborated with Myers on Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me and Austin Powers 3: Goldmember.

Great. The writers two sub-par sequels to Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (which should have never gone beyond sleeper-hit) are back at it, probably watching the earlier three films looking for jokes involving midgets, pop songs and “zip it” that absolutely MUST be brought to the forefront of the cultural zeitgeist.

Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’re going to bang our heads against this nearby wall until we’re brain-damaged enough to think this is a good idea.

Then, maybe we can get that producing job at Warners we’ve always wanted.