Nobody puts Baby in a corner when there’s sequel cash to be made.
In an earning call with Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer, it was revealed that a new Dirty Dancing film is in the work with returning star Jennifer Grey and director Jonathan Levine.
The original 1987 film starred the late Patrick Swayze and Grey as a dancing instructor and his student and was a smash hit and cultural phenomenon when it was released. Feltheimer teased that the new film “will be exactly the kind of romantic, nostalgic movie that the franchise’s fans have been waiting for and that have made it the biggest-selling library title in the company’s history.”
With Grey attached to star (and produce), I can wager that this film will be a bigger deal than the previous Dirty Dancing sequel Havana Nights (released in 2004). There was also the Dirty Dancing made-for-TV remake in 2017 which I never watched because I think it was close to three hours long.
Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis (Five Feet Apart) will be writing the screenplay. Plot details are scarce at the moment, but if Grey is back as Baby then the film will have to be set in the early ’90s to account for the passage of real time. That might work out well for everyone involved since ’90s nostalgia is beginning to take over ’80s nostalgia. If Lionsgate strikes while the decades are hot then they may have a major hit coming there way.
I recently saw Dirty Dancing in theaters and it was an absolute blast. If the sequel can capture even an ounce of what made the 1987 film so special they’ll have my money.
Would you watch a Dirty Dancing sequel? Do you think it’s pointless without Swayze? Tell us your thoughts below!
