Michael Mann has revealed plans to turn his follow-up novel to film Heat into a “large, ambitious movie”.

Starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, the 1995 critically-acclaimed crime epic is written and directed by Mann. A sequel, Heat 2, is set to be released later this August as a novel, which takes place both after and before the original film.

Speaking to Empire, Mann expressed how he plans to turn the novel into a movie at some point. “It’s totally planned to be a movie,” Mann said. “Is it a modest movie? No. Is it a very expensive series? No. It’s going to be one large movie.”

Mann states a film based on the novel, which largely focuses on Vincent Hanna (Pacino) and Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer), wouldn’t feature De Niro or Kilmer, however, “because they’d have to be six years younger than they were in Heat”.

The director believes a sequel to the 1995 original would still be appealing in the modern Hollywood landscape. “When you check out its prominence in home vid for over 20 years, this thing really has legs,” Mann said.

“People are still watching it. People are still talking about it. It’s a brand. It’s kind of a Heat universe, in a way. And that certainly justifies a very large ambitious movie.”

Heat 2, written by Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner, is set to be released on August 18.

Since Heat, Mann has directed The Insider, Ali, Collateral, Miami Vice, Public Enemies and 2015’s Blackhat starring Chris Hemsworth.

His next film project is a biopic of racing mogul Enzo Ferrari, starring Adam Driver, Penelope Cruz and Shailene Woodley. Filming is expected to begin this month.