Dirty Dancing has spawned its own mini-universe since becoming a surprise hit in 1987. And now, 35 years after Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze) took Frances “Baby” Houseman (Jennifer Grey) out of the corner, the film is getting an appropriate sequel, it seems.
“Jennifer Grey returns to Kellerman’s in the next chapter,” said a voiceover featuring original footage of Dirty Dancing during Lionsgate’s presentation at Cinemacon in Las Vegas on Thursday. Kellerman’s, an upscale Catskills resort, is the setting of Baby’s transformational summer with Johnny.
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There’s no other information about this “next chapter” yet, though Dirty Dancing has been mined for many stories over the years. A short-lived TV series ran in 1988. There was the 2004 prequel Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, a box office flop that didn’t seem to have much in common with the original except for Patrick Swayze playing a dance instructor. A stage version, originating in Australia in 2004 before touring the world, also proved popular. Then in 2017, ABC produced a critically-derided TV movie featuring Abigail Breslin and Nicole Scherzinger.
Back in 2020, EW learned Grey was working on an as-yet-untitled film with Lionsgate set in the ’90s with Grey pulling double duty as lead and executive producer. It appears this was the project, but let’s hope it soars a bit higher than Havana Nights.
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