Because You Asked For It: A Dirty Dancing Remake
Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on August 19, 2009
Someone over at Lionsgate must have heard our friend Kellvin over at Latino Review when he wrote extensively yesterday on the topic of remakes, saying that they are not, in fact, a blight on society. And in an attempt to show Kellvin, and the rest of the world, that remakes will be the downfall of cinema as art, the folks at Lionsgate appear to be working on yet another useless rehash — a remake of the 1987 romance classic Dirty Dancing, which starred Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey.
According to Production Weekly, the studio has hired Julia Dahl (Uptown Girl) to write the script. Beyond that, there is no other information yet about the project. We can only assume that it will revolve around a dance instructor who takes a liking to a mousy, spoiled rich girl and shows her that life in the servants’ quarters ain’t so bad as long as you’re dancing and not standing in the corner.
Once again though, we in the media are forced to speculate about the need for such a remake. The original film was made for around $6 million dollars, but went on to gross over $213 million worldwide in 1987. Then, of course, there was the sequel, titled Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights starring Diego Luna, which Lionsgate distributed in 2004. That film was made for $25 million and earned only $27.7 million. If that trend holds true, Lionsgate will spend something like $100 million to make this movie and gross about $300.00, according to some math that I just made up. Bottom line — this probably isn’t that good of an idea.
Perhaps the litmus test for this will be the release of the Fame remake, which hits theaters on September 25, 2009. That is based on a movie about dancing from the 1980s, as well. If it succeeds, hope is not lost. If it fails however, I would urge Lionsgate to take another look at what they’re doing with their lives.
What do you think about a Dirty Dancing remake?
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