Get ready for another shot of Hairspray.
New Line Cinema has made a deal with Hairspray creator John Waters to write a treatment for a sequel to summer 2007’s hit musical feature.
Planning to return are director-choreographer Adam Shankman, producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron and Tony-winning songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, who will write new songs for the film.
No cast has been engaged yet, and none of the stars of Hairspray had sequel options. But the studio hopes to reunite the original cast in a film that will be ready for release by Warner Bros. in mid-July 2010.
Hairspray grossed more than $200 million worldwide and served up a strong-selling DVD and soundtrack album. The mid-July target would mirror the release of the original, which was replicated this summer by Mamma Mia!
Original starred John Travolta (dolled up in a fat suit to play Edna), Christopher Walken and Nikki Blonsky as well as Zac Efron, Queen Latifah, Michelle Pfeiffer, James Marsden, Amanda Bynes, Elijah Kelley and Allison Janney.
Aim is to pick up the Baltimore saga of the Turnblad family after the resolution of the first film, which was set in 1962.
“I never thought of musicals as franchises, but it certainly worked with High School Musical, and the idea of working with that cast again, and creating new material and music, is a dream come true,” Shankman told Daily Variety. “John (Waters) has such an original and extraordinary voice; we all can’t wait to see what he has come up with.”
There won’t be movement on hiring a screenwriter until Waters completes his work. Leslie Dixon scripted the original.
Credit: Variety
