(L to R) Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze in ‘Dirty Dancing’. Photo: Vestron Pictures.
Preview:
‘Hunger Games’ producers Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson have boarded the new ‘Dirty Dancing’ sequel.
The movie will be a direct continuation of the 1987 film.
Original star Jennifer Grey is aboard to appear in and also produce the movie.
Lionsgate is hoping to have the time of its life all over again.
While plans have been underway for a while now to a new, more official sequel to 1987 hit ‘Dirty Dancing’, the studio is adding the producing power of Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson, who together have shepherded the ‘Hunger Games’ franchise to screens. They’re joining Jennifer Grey, who starred in the original alongside Patrick Swayze and will appear in and produce the new one.
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The aim is to have the movie shooting this year, but doesn’t currently appear to have a director aboard, as the new Lionsgate statement about the sequel doesn’t mention one.
(L to R) Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in ‘Dirty Dancing’. Photo: Vestron Pictures.
We don’t yet know the exact story of the sequel –– though Grey’s return as Frances “Baby” Houseman, the character from the original suggests that we’ll see the story of a new young woman through her eyes.
(L to R) Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in ‘Dirty Dancing’. Photo: Vestron Pictures.
Here’s what Grey said in a new statement about returning to the world of ‘Dirty Dancing’:
“The role of Baby has held a very deep and meaningful place in my heart, as it has in the hearts of so many fans over the years. I’ve long wondered where we might find Baby years later and what her life might be like, but it’s taken time to assemble the kind of people that I felt could be entrusted to build on the legacy of the original film… and I’m excited to say that It looks like the wait will soon be over!”
(L to R) Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in ‘Dirty Dancing’. Photo: Vestron Pictures.
Other Movies and TV Shows in the ‘Dirty Dancing’ Franchise:
Keanu Reeves in ‘Point Break.’ Photo: 20th Century Fox.
Preview:
A TV series based on 1991’s ‘Point Break’ is in development.
AMC Network is backing the project.
David Kalstein will run the show.
1991 action thriller ‘Point Break’ has been through the remake wringer once before (see more on that lower down the page), but according to Deadline, cable channel AMC has decided to try again, this time developing the concept as a TV series.
David Kalstein, who recently worked on Prime Video series ‘Butterfly’ (which starred Daniel Dae Kim as an intelligence agent working in Korea), will be overseeing the eventual show.
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It’s hardly the first time AMC has looked to convert a 1990s movie into a series –– it has seen success with Anne Rice adaptation ‘Interview with the Vampire,’ which has spawned a small-screen franchise based on the author’s work.
(L to R): Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze in ‘Point Break.’ Photo: 20th Century Fox.
The original movie, which was directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by W. Peter Iliff, starred Keanu Reeves as rookie FBI agent Johnny Utah, who infiltrates the Ex-Presidents, a gang of Southern California surfers who rob banks.
The Ex-Presidents, who wear masks of Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter and Lyndon B. Johnson, are led by Patrick Swayze’s Bodhi, and Utah gets swept up in their daredevil lifestyle before a massive action chase and a reunion amid lethal waves.
A bigger question is how the concept can be stretched in order to fit the TV format; though Deadline’s story does at least offer some details: the series is set 35 years after the events of the original film and is focused on a dangerous heist crew with ties to the Ex-Presidents gang.
And converting movies to TV series has been a hit and miss prospect of late, with the likes of ‘Lethal Weapon’ failing to spark.
When will the new ‘Point Break’ TV series be on screens?
It’s clearly early days for this one, so AMC Networks has yet to announce when the show might be hitting our screens. We’re not sure we expect it much before 2027, though.
(L to R): Patrick Swayze, James Le Gros, Bojesse Christopher and John Philbin in ‘Point Break.’ Photo: 20th Century Fox.
Doug Liman is developing his own ‘Road House’ sequel.
It would be based on a script by the 1989 movie’s writer R. Lance Hill.
This would be a rival for Amazon MGM’s sequel to the 2024 remake.
Here’s an intriguing twist on the ‘Road House’ saga.
Doug Liman, who directed the 2024 remake but ended up disagreeing with studio Amazon MGM over its release on Prime Video instead of theaters (more on that below), is developing his own new ‘Road House’ movie.
That would be a completely different project from the sequel to the remake that Amazon MGM has in the works even now.
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According to Deadline, Liman has acquired the rights to R. Lance Hill’s sequel script ‘Road House: Dylan,’ which follows up the events of the 1989 original, starring Patrick Swayze as bouncer Dalton (Hill wrote that movie too).
(L to R) Casey Affleck, director Doug Liman and Matt Damon on the set of ‘The Instigators’. Photo: Apple TV+.
Liman made a deal to direct what became the 2024 ‘Road House’ which starred Jake Gyllenhaal as a new version of Dylan, this one a UFC fighter who starts working at a roadside bar as a bouncer to stop the local thugs and corrupt businessman trashing the place.
The original plan –– and Liman’s agreement –– was for the movie to hit theaters. It tested well enough to be a sleeper theatrical hit, but Amazon decided it would be released directly to Prime Video.
While Liman and producer Joel Silver even screened the picture for Amazon chief Jeff Bezos and his now-wife Lauren Sanchez Bezos, Amazon creative execs would not yield.
There was even a PR conflict, as Liman placed a Deadline article complaining about the move, but did attend the premiere. And the movie became a streaming hit, the biggest film debut ever with a record-breaking 50 million worldwide viewers in its first two weekends on Prime Video.
This new potential sequel is fraught with its own issues, as there is disagreement over who owns the rights to Hill’s original ‘Road House’ script and anything spawned from it.
What’s the latest with Amazon’s ‘Road House’ sequel?
Disney and Marvel have shifted the release dates for the next two ‘Avengers’ movies.
‘Doomsday’ and ‘Secret Wars’ are moving from their May slots to December premieres.
Dates for ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ and ‘The Dog Stars’ were also confirmed.
Turns out, making two giant ‘Avengers’ movies back to back is going to take a little longer than originally thought.
Disney and Marvel have announced that the next two team-up films from the comic book behemoth are now set to arrive a little later in theaters than originally planned –– ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ is shifting from a planned May 5th, 2026 slot to December 18th, 2026.
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Likewise, ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ will now decamp from a May 5th, 2027 release date to –– you guessed it! –– December 18th that year.
Clearly, directors Joe Russo and Anthony Russo have decided the new movies will require some more work than they figured. Which honestly, is no bad thing –– better to wait and get it right in the hopes of an ‘Infinity War’ and ‘Endgame’-level success, than pump out something quickly.
The sprawling cast for at least the first movie (we’re expecting several to appear in both) was first announced in a viral video Marvel put online showing director’s chairs with the actor’s names on them.
Simu Liu will return as Shang-Chi, a character who really has deserved a sequel before now. And Danny Ramirez, who was introduced as Joaquim Torres in ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ and reprised the role in February’s ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ will show up as the new Falcon.
Finally, because you can’t really have ‘Doomsday’ without Doom, Robert Downey Jr. is making his big MCU return, this time playing classic ‘Fantastic Four’ villain Doctor Doom.
We’re sure more cast will be announced before ‘Doomsday’ arrives, but Disney has more time to get the message out.
“We’re very close with Kevin [Feige] and Lou [D’Esposito, Marvel Studios’ Co-President] and the entire Marvel team and we’ve had conversations through the years. We’ve talked about a lot of ideas. Really what happened was, we ended up stumbling upon a [‘Secret Wars’] idea that activated all of us, you couldn’t see it coming until it came, and once it came it was like, ‘Well, that’s a story we need to tell.’”
And that creative spark extended to regular collaborator Stephen McFeely, who is also back writing the new movies.
While other co-writer Christopher Markus is so far sticking with the Russos’ AGBO company to keep it running, McFeely was tempted back into the MCU machine.
Here’s what Joe told Empire:
“There were ideas that we were trying to wrap our heads around that preceded this one, and we just never found the story. I remember calling Steve and said, ‘Hey, crazy idea. What do you think if we all go back and do Secret Wars?’ He was like, ‘F*** no. Absolutely not.’ And then he hung up. And the next morning at 7.30 he called and were like, ‘Alright, I have an idea…’ ”
‘Secret Wars’ would draw from (through the usual Marvel movie filter where changes will be made) a pair of 1980s comic book series focused on an all-powerful antagonist known as the Beyonder, who in the first installment pitted Marvel’s heroes and villains against each other on a planet known as Battleworld.
In a 2015 revival by Jonathan Hickman, the resulting conflict left the multiverse collapsed, the survivors living on a single planet ruled by classic villain Doctor Doom.
The Russos have previously talked about their enthusiasm for ‘Secret Wars,’ so this one made sense.
What other movie release dates were announced?
Director James Cameron at D23 2024 presenting ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’. Photo: Disney.
In a Thanos-like snap, three Marvel dates have disappeared from the calendar completely. The place holders for February 13th, 2026, November 6th, 2026, and November 5, 2027, have all been removed from Disney’s calendar, pointing towards the result of Marvel’s commitment to quality over quantity.
It wasn’t all Marvel changes –– Disney also confirmed the dates for some of the movies headed our way via its 20th Century Studios, including Ridley Scott’s post-apocalyptic thriller ‘The Dog Stars,’ starring Jacob Elordi and Josh Brolin. That one will be released on March 27th, 2026.
Then there is sequel ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2,’ which will see the return of Meryl Streep‘s imperious magazine editor Miranda Priestly as she navigates the challenges of the declining print industry. The comedy drama sequel is due on May 1st, 2026.
We can now add 1987 hit ‘Dirty Dancing’ to the list, as Lionsgate is turning the movie into a stage musical with the help of Eleanor Bergstein (who scripted the movie) and Lonny Price, who in addition to being a Tony-winning director, began his career as an actor and played Neil Kellerman in the film.
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What’s the story of ‘Dirty Dancing’?
(L to R) Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze in ‘Dirty Dancing’. Photo: Vestron Pictures.
The film saw Frances “Baby” Houseman (Jennifer Grey) spending the summer at a Catskills resort with her family, where falls in love with the camp’s charismatic dance instructor, Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze).
Against the wishes of her family and the camp’s authorities, Baby and Johnny keep seeing each other –– and dancing, while a jealous fellow dance frames him for theft.
With Bergstein writing the script, Emile Ardolino directed the movie.
‘Dirty Dancing’ became a big box office hit at the time and is a perennial favorite. It spawned a late, far less well-regarded sequel (‘Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights’ in 2004), a couple of short-lived TV adaptations and a TV movie in 2017. And not forgetting (though many people have) reality competition series ‘The Real Dirty Dancing’ in 2022.
Jonathan Levine is currently developing a new version for the big screen, with Grey attached.
The original soundtrack, created by Jimmy Ienner, yielded two multi-platinum albums and multiple singles. “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life”, performed by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, won the Oscar for Best Original Song, as well as the Golden Globe for Best Original Song and the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals.
There was also the chart-toppers “She’s Like the Wind” which was performed by Swayze and “Hungry Eyes” performed by Eric Carmen.
‘Dirty Dancing’ Musical: The Writer and Studio Speak
(L to R) Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze in ‘Dirty Dancing’. Photo: Vestron Pictures.
Here’s what Bergstein had to say in a statement:
“In the years after I wrote and co-produced the original film ‘Dirty Dancing,’ I was grateful and astonished by the generations of audiences who responded with open hearts to the themes of honor and courage beneath the surface. Years later, sensing our audiences wanted to ‘be there’ while the story was happening, I wrote and co-produced a stage show. Its reception all over the world exceeded my sweetest dreams. Now we’ve come full circle, and with my old friend Lonny Price by my side, I’m returning to the stage with a reimagined version. Its hope is to be equal to the new world swirling around us while revisiting more fully and precisely the story I’d wanted to tell when I wrote my first lines. It’s my way of saying thank you to you all.”
And this was the comment from Jenefer Brown, Lionsgate Head of Global Products & Experiences:
“Dirty Dancing continues to be one of the most enduring and impactful titles in Lionsgate’s library. The important truths and themes present in Dirty Dancing are as relevant today as they were in 1987. We’re thrilled to create a live experience that honors the cultural significance and storytelling magic of the original film while inviting a new generation to fall in love with Dirty Dancing.”
When will the ‘Dirty Dancing’ musical arrive?
(L to R) Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in ‘Dirty Dancing’. Photo: Vestron Pictures.
The aim is for the show to kick off in 2025 with a major run in North America and ambitions to hit Broadway.
From there, there are plans to take the show abroad to Asia, Australia, Latin America and beyond.
Now, of course, we have to wonder if the stage show is a success, whether it’ll go the ‘Color Purple’ and ‘Mean Girls’ route and return to screens in musical movie form…
(L to R) Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in ‘Dirty Dancing’. Photo: Vestron Pictures.
Other Movies and TV Shows in the ‘Dirty Dancing’ Franchise:
Despite being beloved now, the original ‘Road House’ was not a great movie. Really, it was a “so bad its good” movie and has since become a nostalgic classic thanks mostly to Patrick Swayze’s bizarrely serious performance in a film that didn’t deserve that much effort. So, what happens when you remake an essentially bad movie? You just get another bad movie!
Removing all the mystery behind the character of Dalton, his Eastern philosophy, and the unintentional humor, the result is a paint-by-numbers action film that never really works on any other level. Despite some unique direction in the fight scenes from filmmaker Doug Liman, and a charming and strong performance from Jake Gyllenhaal, ‘Road House’ will leave viewers unsatisfied and longing for the silliness of the original.
The movie begins by introducing us to the character of Elwood Dalton (adding a new first name for the remake), played by Jake Gyllenhaal. Dalton is a down-on-his-luck ex-UFC fighter who accidentally killed an opponent in the ring, and now cannot get anyone to fight him. He soon meets Frankie (Jessica Williams), who owns a bar in the Florida Keys called “The Road House.” (Yes, that’s now the name of the bar and its never really explained why.) Some locals are causing trouble, and she hires Dalton, who unlike the original has no experience bouncing, to clean up her establishment.
Upon his arrival, Dalton befriends a young girl named Charlie (Hannah Love Lanier) and her father, as well as some of the other Road House employees and a local doctor named Ellie (Daniel Melchoir), who he begins a relationship with. After expelling some of the riff raff from the bar, Dalton discovers that rich businessman Ben Brandt (Billy Magnussen) is behind the trouble and is trying to get Frankie to sell him the bar so he can tear it down and build a luxury hotel. Having his hands full with Dalton, Brandt hires a madman named Knox (played by real UFC fighter Conor McGregor) to take him out.
The updates to the story only work to eliminate any of the humor and charm of the original movie and make this a more standard action movie. Dalton’s UFC background is an interesting 2024 addition, but completely strips Dalton of the mystery that made the character interesting in the first place. In 1989’s ‘Road House,’ Patrick Swayze’s Dalton was a professional bouncer, and had a philosophy (“Be Nice”) that formed his personality. He was also a mysterious character, with no first name, no home to call his own and a sorted past. The new film tries to establish itself as a modern Western but fails on many levels.
While I liked the idea of adding the UFC background, it doesn’t work and strips the character of everything that made him unique in the original. If director Doug Liman wanted to make a movie about an ex-UFC fighter troubled by what happened in the ring, he should have just made that movie and left the ‘Road House’ franchise alone. Again, it’s not like the original was some great movie no one should touch, but if you are going to remake it, try to include some of what made the first movie popular over the decades.
I will give Liman credit for some fun and exciting fight sequences, both in the ring and out. For Dalton’s UFC flashback scenes, (and again, we don’t want to know about Dalton’s past, we want it to be a mystery, but I digress) Liman wisely shot during a real UFC fight and those scenes were excellent. Liman has the camera right in the ring and you feel every punch and kick. The fight scenes in the bar are great too, especially when Dalton and Knox face off. Liman uses a Steadicam for those sequences and rarely cuts, giving off the illusion of one long take. But there are other fight sequences that seemed more contrived, like when Dalton first fights the bikers, in a very ‘Jack Reacher,’ “Are you sure you want to do this” type of way.
This movie belongs to Jake Gyllenhaal, as he’s the only one giving a decent performance. While I don’t agree with many of the changes that they made to the character and the story, you can’t help but root for Gyllenhaal’s Dalton. The actor captures much of the charm and charisma that Swayze had in the original, while also being physically believable.
We’ve seen the actor physically transform before, playing a boxer in the excellent ‘Southpaw,’ so his action scenes are completely believable. Now, I expect that in real life Gyllenhaal would be no match for Conor McGregor, but you do think that while outmatched, Dalton does have a chance against Knox, and that is because Gyllenhaal is so believable in the role.
Speaking of McGregor, he’s also fun in the movie thanks to his wild character and performance. Physically, he is exactly the type of person you need in a movie like this, and he is clearly having fun playing his cartoonish yet dangerous character.
Daniela Melchior plays Ellie, Dalton’s love interest, a role played by Kelly Lynch in the original. Melchior is a great actress and was excellent in ‘The Suicide Squad,’ but is let down here by the screenplay. She has nice chemistry with Gyllenhaal, but is never really allowed to explore it, not in the way Swayze and Lynch did in the original and their relationship is never established enough to work when the script needs it to in the final act.
In fact, all the female roles are underwritten, which was disappointing to say the least. The role of Frankie the bar owner was gender-swapped from the original, but Jessie Williams is given almost nothing to do but recruit Dalton and seems to disappear halfway through the film. They hint at an attraction between Dalton and Frankie, but that is never explored.
Even Hannah Love Lanier’s Charlie is not given enough to do. Dalton makes a connection with her early in the film only to give the bad guys leverage against him in the third act. She basically disappears through the course of the movie as well, and I would have liked to have explored that character and her relationship to Dalton more.
‘No Time to Die’s Billy Magnussen plays Ben Brandt, which is the remake’s version of Brad Wesley, the villain in the original played by legendary Hollywood actor Ben Gazzara. I have to say that I don’t understand the need to make this a younger character. Brandt never gets into a physical fight with Dalton (although even Gazzara and Swayze had a fight scene in the original), so why the character was made younger, I have no idea? But it doesn’t work.
Instead of playing an older former mob boss who controls the town with his power, Brandt is instead the son of an imprisoned mob boss, trying to run his father’s crime family how he sees fit while still looking for daddy’s approval. The result is a crybaby of a villain that you neither fear nor care about. Magnussen does his best with the poorly written role, chewing up some scenery, but it never really amounts to much on screen.
To be fair, ‘Road House’ is at times just as dumb and fun as the original, but that’s not saying much. Gyllenhaal’s performance is solid, but the actor deserved a better script. The action sequences are good, thanks to Liman’s camera work and Gyllenhaal and McGregor’s performances, but the poor script, focus on the UFC, and nonsensical changes from the original, strip the movie of any originality, mystery or silly fun that we may expect from the franchise.
‘Road House’ receives 4.5 out of 10 stars.
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What is the Plot of ‘Road House’?
A former UFC middleweight fighter (Jake Gyllenhaal) ends up working at a roadhouse in the Florida Keys where things are not as they seem.
Talk of this one first emerged in November last year, but it is now official, with Doug Liman directing and Prime Video backing the movie.
The original, directed by Rowdy Herrington, starred Swayze in the story of a roadside dive called The Double Deuce, a sleazy music joint in the small town of Jasper, Missouri, “the kind of place where they sweep up the eyeballs after closing”.
The owner, tired of his place being wrecked by muscle-bound “power drinkers” and provocative bimbos, hires the best bouncer in the business (Swayze’s Dalton) to cool things down. Famously, he starts off charming but doesn’t hesitate to take extreme throat-ripping measures when pushed to his limit.
Anthony Bagarozzi & Charles Mondry have written the new movie which, according to its synopsis, stars Gyllenhaal as a former UFC fighter who takes a job as a bouncer at a rough-and-tumble roadhouse in the Florida Keys, but “soon discovers that not everything is what it seems in this tropical paradise.” The cameras will be rolling this month in the Dominican Republic.
And Joel Silver, who produced the original, is back working on this one alongside JJ Hook, Alison Winter and Aaron Auch.
“‘Road House’ is a homerun for us. Not only is it a nod to fans of the original, but it is also a big, fun, broad audience movie,” says Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke. “We are thrilled to collaborate with Joel, Doug, and this great cast led by Jake Gyllenhaal, and for them to come together to reimagine the classic MGM film as an action-packed adventure for our global audience.”
“I’m thrilled to put my own spin on the beloved ‘Road House’ legacy,” Doug Liman enthuses in his own statement. “And I can’t wait to show audiences what Jake and I are going to do with this iconic role.”
“The original ‘Road House’ has a special place in my heart and I am so excited to bring this newly imagined version to audiences around the world,” Silver says. “Doug and I have each made some big, boisterous action movies and are ready to bring everything we have to this one.”
Though the original was a modest earner at the box office, it has since gone on to earn cult status and is a favorite among Swayze fans. So, no pressure for the new team, then.
No release date is on the books yet, but it’ll arrive on Prime Video, probably sometime next year.
Patrick Swayze in 1989’s ‘Road House.’
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Sometimes overlooked in favor of other “slobs vs. snobs” comedy classics from the same era, like Animal House and Caddyshack, this was Bill Murray’s first starring role, and the feature directorial debut for Ivan Reitman. Murray stars as Tripper, head counselor at Camp North Star, a bargain-basement summer camp in Ontario. Murray takes the lonely Rudy (Chris Makepeace) under his wing while still overseeing a group of oddball counselors-in-training as they have their own romances, pull pranks on the camp’s director, and take on wealthy Camp Mohawk in a yearly tournament. It’s ultimately a sweet story, without ever getting quite as crass as some of the era’s other films starring Saturday Night Live alumni. ‘Meatballs’ would turn out to be hugely successful, spawning three mostly unrelated sequels and countless knockoffs.
Wet Hot American Summer
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If ‘Meatballs’ saw plenty of lesser imitations, ‘The State’ alumni David Wain and Michael Showalter stepped up with a satirical take on summer camp movies. Although it bombed at the box office, it’s since become a cult classic, spawning two series on Netflix (one prequel and one sequel). There’s an amazing cast here, including Bradley Cooper, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Amy Poehler, Judah Friedlander, Janeane Garofalo, Christopher Meloni, and David Hyde Pierce, plus other alumni from ‘The State,’ such as Ken Marino, Michael Ian Black, and Joe Lo Truglio. There’s a plot here about the camp putting on a talent show, counselors in love, and a falling piece of Skylab that threatens everyone’s lives, but it’s really just an excuse to see some stars and future stars show off some great comic chops.
Dirty Dancing
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For those that haven’t gotten around to seeing this classic, it’s easy to write off ‘Dirty Dancing’ as sappy romance. But that would be wrong. It’s an emotionally satisfying coming-of-age story about Frances “Baby” Houseman (Jennifer Grey) and her steamy summer romance with dancer Johnny (Patrick Swayze). The dancing is terrific, Grey and Swayze have terrific chemistry. Written by Eleanor Bergstein and based on her own summer trips to the Catskills, Baby’s adventure starts because she and her family are taking a summer vacation at Kellerman’s a tony resort. Baby sees hints of classism between some of the staff, and she finds herself drawn more to the working class staffers instead of the Ivy League-bound waiters. The film subversively gives Baby agency, letting her pick her own friends and make her own choices in her sex life; she has a summer fling with a sexy dancer and isn’t punished by fate for it. That was fairly groundbreaking in 1987, and is (sadly) might still be considered unusual in some corners even now.
National Lampoon’s Vacation
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This is another film that started a franchise, but the original version is still the best. Based on screenwriter John Hughes’ own National Lampoon story about a disastrous road trip, the movie focuses on the Griswold’s drive from Chicago to California for a visit to a thinly-veiled version of Disneyland called “Wally World.” Chevy Chase puts in a legendary turn as Clark, the increasingly obsessive patriarch of the Griswold clan. Clark is going to have a great road trip with his family whether they like it or not, and if he becomes Ahab in a station wagon, then so be it. Beverly D’Angelo hits just the right notes as Clark’s wife Ellen, as does Anthony Michael Hall and Dana Barron as their children Rusty and Audrey. Chase and D’Angelo would return for sequels, and it became a running joke that Rusty and Audrey would be recast in every subsequent film. This first adventure sees car trouble in the desert, an unwanted passenger, a temptress in a Ferrari, and a visit with Cousin Eddy (a reminder of when Randy Quaid was funny). It’s filled with laughs, but it will definitely make you think twice about future family road trips.
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
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Based on the best-selling YA novel by Ann Brashares, this is the story of four teen girls, best friends since childhood, who are about to spend their first summer apart. But before three of them leave town, the quartet go shopping and find a pair of jeans that magically fit each one of them. The four decide that they’ll share the pants for the summer, and while each of them have these mysterious jeans in their possession, their individual summers are upended. Blake Lively, America Ferrara, Alexis Bledel, and Amber Tamblyn play Bridget, Carmen, Lena, and Tibby (respectively). The movie captures the charm of the novel, in no small part because of the charisma and chemistry of the stars, and it’s ultimately a heartwarming tale about female friendships and the bonds young women make that can last a lifetime.
Girls Trip
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The annual Essence Music Fest takes place in New Orleans every 4th of July, and that’s the backdrop for Ryan Pierce’s (Regina Hall) attempt to reunite with three of her friends from college. Pierce is a bestselling author and lifestyle guru, poised to be “the next Oprah.” She’s scheduled to speak at the festival, so she invites her college friends to join her, in the hopes of rekindling their friendships. These other three have lives of their own now; Sasha (Queen Latifah) is a celebrity gossip blogger, Lisa (Jada Pinkett Smith) is a working single mother, and Dina (Tiffany Haddish) is still party-girl Dina, all these years later. These four actors are great together, but Tiffany Haddish is a revelation here, stealing the movie and never giving it back. The film isn’t afraid to remind us that women can and do party hard, but it doesn’t lose sight of these friends repairing burned bridges and reaffirming their love for each other.
Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar
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One of the casualties of quarantine is that this film didn’t get a proper theatrical release. That’s a shame, because as funny as this movie is, it would have been even more side-splitting with a big audience. Make no mistake, this movie is straight up bananas from beginning to end. Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo wrote the script and star as Star and Barb, two middle-aged best friends that talk a bit too much, they can be both clueless and timid, but once they hit Vista Del Mar, the movie all but explodes into mayhem. To describe too much would be to take away some of the stunningly insane jokes packed wall-to-wall across the entire film. But suffice to say you may never look at Jamie Dornan the same way again.
The Endless Summer
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This is one of the first and probably still the best surf movie ever made. Director Bruce Brown follows two surfers, Robert August and Mike Hynson, as they leave Southern California and travel to surf spots around the world, including South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Tahiti, Senegal, New Zealand, Hawaii, and Australia. Brown’s breezy narration is a far cry from the stiffer voices heard in most documentaries at the time, and it lends an inviting tone to the gorgeous cinematography of the both surf action and the local landscapes. This documentary might help non-surfers understand the appeal of surfing more than any other film ever made, and the idea of an “endless summer” means its welcome on any day of the calendar year.
It’s been 30 years since “Road House” arrived in theaters and made being a “cooler” seem like the greatest job in the world. This campy action movie’s appeal has only grown over the years, so celebrate this big milestone by learning more about the making and legacy of “Road House.”
1.Patrick Swayze injured his knee while filming “Road House,” which forced him to turn down starring roles in both “Predator 2” and “Tango & Cash.”
2. On the plus side, Swayze’s injury did motivate him to take on a less physically demanding role in “Ghost,” resulting in one of his most iconic movie roles.
Paramount Pictures
3. All the actors were trained by accomplished martial artist and stuntman Benny “The Jet” Urquidez. Urquidez was so impressed by Swayze’s natural talent that he tried to convince him to take up a new career as a professional kickboxer.
4. Though it’s never spoken in the film, Dalton’s first name is James. His full name can be glimpsed on a medical chart in the hospital.
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5. The film originally featured the tagline “The dancing’s over. Now it gets dirty.”, a clear callback to 1987’s “Dirty Dancing.”
6. According to Sam Elliott, the original cut of the film was well over three hours long. Some of the many deleted scenes were included in the theatrical trailers, including a sequence where Dalton trains his bouncers by forcing them to wear ballerina costumes.
20th Television
7. The “Family Guy” episode “Brian’s Got a Brand New Bag” features an homage to “Road House,” as Peter Griffin rekindles his obsession with the film. That episode is also dedicated to Swayze, who passed away a few weeks before it aired.
8. Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton earned the nickname “Road House” because he shares a last name with Swayze’s character.
9. The film received a belated direct-to-video sequel in 2006. “Road House 2” stars Johnathon Schaech as Dalton’s son Shane, an undercover DEA agent posing as a bar bouncer.
Sony Pictures
10. The “Road House 2” character Nate Tanner was originally written to be Swayze’s James Dalton. When Swayze declined to appear in the film, the part was changed and the film was rewritten to reveal that Dalton was gunned down at some point after the events of the first movie.
11. News broke in 2015 that a “Road House” remake was in the works, with Nick Cassavetes attached to write and direct and Ronda Rousey expected to star. However, the project was later canceled the following year.
Hard to believe, but “Dirty Dancing” never reached higher than No. 2 on the box office chart. (It kept losing to “Stakeout.”) Yet 30 years after the Jennifer Grey–Patrick Swayze romance’s release (on August 21, 1987), “Dirty Dancing” seems more popular than ever.
Long after the movie became a worldwide smash and sold tens of millions of copies of two soundtrack albums, there’s still the current touring stage show and this past spring’s TV remake. When the film turned 25, we learned plenty about its untold history. Still, there are some “Dirty” secrets left to tell. 1. Producer/screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein may have based much of “Dirty Dancing” on her own teenage vacations at resorts in New York’s Catskill mountains, but it’s not clear how accurate her memory of those days was. When scouting locations in Virginia, she was asked if they resembled the mountain resorts of her youth. She replied that she didn’t remember because “I was always looking at boys.”
2. Bergstein had been a dance instructor herself. “I was a teenage mambo queen,” she said in 2015, “which was our alternate title if we lost ‘Dirty Dancing.’” Apparently, there was some concern that potential moviegoers would see that title and expect the film to be porn. 3. The soundtrack came from Bergstein’s own collection of vintage 45s. She used the old singles as temporary tracks while the dancers were learning their steps, and the filmmakers just decided to keep them and license the rights. Wise move.
4. One exception: “She’s Like the Wind.” Sung by Swayze, it sounded to most moviegoers like a new tune, but the ballad was actually composed for his pre-fame film “Grandview U.S.A.” in 1984 and never used. 5. Years after he played Dr. Houseman, Jerry Orbach recalled that the producers were unwilling to meet his asking price, so he agreed to a reduced salary in return for percentages of the movie’s profits and its music sales. Both ended up being worth so much that he called it the best deal he ever negotiated.
6. The movie’s $5 million budget was so meager, Bergstein said in 2006, that one day on the set, she had to help feed the crew. “There I was, feeding the extras peanut butter and crackers because we couldn’t afford catering. I’d wade through them and get up on a chair and tell them: ‘You are the heart and soul of this movie.’ And then I’d lock them in, in case they ran away.” 7. Personality clashes between Swayze and Grey, which dated back to their failure to get along while making 1984’s “Red Dawn,” continued on the “Dirty Dancing” set. Filming the rehearsal montage where Johnny runs his hand down Baby’s arm, Grey couldn’t stop laughing, which irritated Swayze. They were supposed to be playing the scene for serious drama, but eventually, the filmmakers gave up and kept the muffed takes, resulting in one of the movie’s most beloved sequences.
8. Jane Brucker, who played Baby’s sister Lisa, composed her hilariously awful talent show song (Hawaiian misfire “Hula Hana”) herself, and she did it on the spot. “They wanted to do a song from ‘South Pacific,’ and they couldn’t get the rights to it.” Brucker tells Moviefone. “They said, ‘You have to write something or we have to cut it.’ [Choreographer] Kenny Ortega helped me make it Hawaiian.” 9. After rehearsing the number, she was told there might not be time to shoot it. At the end of the day, however, “I got one set-up. I had two takes to get it right.” An accomplished jazz singer, Brucker had to sing off-key on purpose. The number stayed, but it took 20 years for Brucker to get songwriting credit for it. Not until the song was reused in the stage musical did Brucker succeed in her legal battle to earn royalties from “Hula Hana.” Which, she says, provide her to this day with “a steady income.”
10. The long-gestating stage musical version, which Bergstein mounted in Australia and on London’s West End a decade ago, finally reached America as a touring production in 2014. It never made it to Broadway, but it’s about to start its fourth year on the regional circuit. 11. The film crew snickered when Swayze said, “Nobody puts Baby in a corner.” No one expected that to become the movie’s most iconic line.
12. The Office” regular Melora Hardin as Baby. It lasted 11 episodes.
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Preview:
Hard to believe, but “
1. Producer/screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein may have based much of “Dirty Dancing” on her own teenage vacations at resorts in New York’s Catskill mountains, but it’s not clear how accurate her memory of those days was. When scouting locations in Virginia, she was asked if they resembled the mountain resorts of her youth. She replied that she didn’t remember because “I was always looking at boys.”
3. The soundtrack came from Bergstein’s own collection of vintage 45s. She used the old singles as temporary tracks while the dancers were learning their steps, and the filmmakers just decided to keep them and license the rights. Wise move.
5. Years after he played Dr. Houseman, 
7. Personality clashes between Swayze and Grey, which dated back to their failure to get along while making 1984’s “
9. After rehearsing the number, she was told there might not be time to shoot it. At the end of the day, however, “I got one set-up. I had two takes to get it right.” An accomplished jazz singer, Brucker had to sing off-key on purpose. The number stayed, but it took 20 years for Brucker to get songwriting credit for it. Not until the song was reused in the stage musical did Brucker succeed in her legal battle to earn royalties from “Hula Hana.” Which, she says, provide her to this day with “a steady income.”
11. The film crew snickered when Swayze said, “Nobody puts Baby in a corner.” No one expected that to become the movie’s most iconic line.