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It is official! We’ll be having the time of our lives AGAIN as Lionsgate has officially given Dirty Dancing 2 a release date. Deadline reported that the sequel will be released on February 9, 2024, giving you plenty of time to get your iconic “Dirty Dancing” lift just right. (Warning: the lift is not for everyone).
Jennifer Gray will star in the sequel, although she admits capturing the magic of the original will be very difficult without Patrick Swayze. Swayze played the male lead of Johnny Castle, of course – but the actor tragically died of pancreatic cancer in 2009.
While it will be hard to imagine Frances “Baby” Houseman without her Johnny, Gray said the writers are doing their best to honor Swayze’s legacy without trying to replace him.
“Making a film without Patrick is a huge challenge. It will never be that movie, and it should never try to be that movie. It’ll be a movie in its own right when I’m involved.” Gray told ET Online. She added of the sequel, “It’s on one track. It’s more on track than ever. It’s more real than ever.”
Details about the Dirty Dancing sequel are top secret, but Jonathan Levine is directing. Levine previously directed 50/50, The Wackness and Warm Bodies. The screenplay is by Levine, Elizabeth Chomko, Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis.
There’s no word yet on who else will appear in the sequel, but Levine has said he wants to bring as many people back from the original film as possible. We also know it will be held at Kellerman’s, the same Catskills resort as the original. Production is scheduled to begin later this year.
In 2004, a prequel starring Diego Luna titled Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights was filmed. A television version of Dirty Dancing starring Abigail Breslin, Debra Messing, Bruce Greenwood, Sarah Hyland, Nicole Scherzinger and Tony Roberts was released in 2017. Unfortunately, both were panned wide.
However, the stage remake that debuted in the West End in 2006 – which was written by original Dirty Dancing creator Eleanor Bergstein – received higher marks. We hope the sequel lives up to the original!