New Dirty Dancing starring Jennifer Grey confirmed by movie boss
The boss of Lionsgate John Feltheimer joked the follow-up movie is ‘one of the worst kept secrets in Hollywood’
We are ready to have the time our lives… again, as a second Dirty Dancing movie is officially happening.
Lionsgate CEO John Feltheimer has announced that the much rumoured follow up is going ahead with original star Jennifer Grey appearing in and executive producing the film.
Feltheimer told Deadline the movie will be very much like the beloved 1987 original, which raked in almost $220 million (£167.4 million) at the box office.
“It 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,” he revealed.
A second movie was first rumoured back in July, with Feltheimer admitting it was ‘one of the worst kept secrets in Hollywood’ as he made the announcement today.
Three months ago Lionsgate teased they were working with Grey on an untitled dance movie but refused to say if it was linked to Dirty Dancing.
During a conference call today, Feltheimer confirmed that it is indeed a brand new Dirty Dancing movie that is being released.
“And to reveal one of the worst kept secrets in Hollywood, we’re pleased to confirm that Jennifer Grey will both executive produce and star in a new ‘Dirty Dancing’ movie for Lionsgate from ‘Warm Bodies’ director Jonathan Levine,” he said.
The pressure will be on as the original film is regarded as movie classic that is still adored by audiences today.
It made huge stars of Jennifer Grey and the late Patrick Swayze, who appeared as student Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman and dance instructor Johnny Castle.
The movie about the forbidden lovers premiered at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival to huge acclaim and became a box office hit on its cinema release.
Dirty Dancing then broke records as the first film to sell over a million copies on home video.
The soundtrack generated multi-platinum albums with (I’ve Had) The Time of my Life winning the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Original Song as well as a Grammy for best duet.
Lionsgate released a sequel to the movie in 2004, entitled Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, which was badly received by critics who labelled it ‘cheesy and unnecessary.’
While a made for TV remake was released in 2017 starring Debra Messing, Sarah Hyland and Nicole Scherzinger.
Original ‘Baby’ Jennifer was asked to be apart of ABC’s TV movie remake of Dirty Dancing, but turned down the opportunity.
Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter in 2016, she revealed: “I was flattered, because I always want to be asked, because it’s nice to want to be included.
“But for me, it would be sacrosanct for me to do it, because it didn’t feel appropriate to me,” she shared.
“It feels like if you’re going to do your own thing, do your own thing.”
Sadly her co-star Patrick Swayze died in September 2009 at the age of 57.
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