You are viewing the archive: “Kenny Ortega”

Lionsgate Postpones ‘Dirty Dancing’ Reboot

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Friday June 8, 2012 @ 11:59am PDTTags: Dirty Dancing, Kenny Ortega, Lionsgate

EXCLUSIVE: Lionsgate is postponing the Dirty Dancing reboot. The studio has put the remake on ice for another year for casting reasons, Deadline has learned. The remake of the 1987 Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey film was scheduled to be released in July 2013, but now the movie is off the studio’s release dance card at least until 2014. Kenny Ortega, who was a choreographer on the original, is attached to direct the film. No cast had been announced.  However Deadline has learned that Glee’s Lea Michele, Trespass’ Liana Liberato and Canadian singer Nikki Yanofsky were screen tested as were Brothers & Sisters’ Luke Grime, Nashville Star’s Justin Gaston and Dancing With the Stars’ Derek Hough.

Comments 23

Lionsgate’s ‘Dirty Dancing’ Set For July 2013

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday November 3, 2011 @ 5:21pm PDTTags: Dirty Dancing, Film Release Date, Kenny Ortega, Lionsgate, Maria Maggenti

Lionsgate said today that its remake of Dirty Dancing will get a wide release on July 26, 2013. Deadline broke the news in August that the studio had set Kenny Ortega to direct the period musical drama, a new … Read More »

Comments 26

NBC Teams With Kenny Ortega For Latin Dance Studio Drama

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday October 13, 2011 @ 3:09pm PDTTags: Kenny Ortega, NBC, Steve Stark, Universal Television
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: NBC is developing a Latino family drama with dance elements executive produced by top choreographer/director Kenny Ortega and The Event executive producer Steve Stark. Ortega is … Read More »

Comments (7)

Scribe Maria Maggenti To Reboot ‘Dirty Dancing’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday August 29, 2011 @ 9:41am PDTTags: Dirty Dancing, Kenny Ortega, Lionsgate, Maria Maggenti
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Lionsgate has set Maria Maggenti to script the Dirty Dancing remake that has Kenny Ortega attached to direct. Ortega was the choreographer of the 1987 Emile Ardolino-helmed film about a pampered young girl who summers with her upscale … Read More »

Comments 23

Kenny Ortega Comes Full Circle To Direct ‘Dirty Dancing’ Reboot

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday August 8, 2011 @ 1:58pm PDTTags: Dirty Dancing, Jennifer Grey, Kenny Ortega, Lionsgate
Mike Fleming

UPDATE: Lionsgate has now confirmed Deadline’s Dirty Dancing story. The release appears below the original story.

EARLIER EXCLUSIVE: Lionsgate has set Kenny Ortega to direct Dirty Dancing, the remake of the 1987 Emile Ardolino-helmed film about a pampered young girl who summers with her upscale family at an establishment in the Catskills and falls in love with the resident dance instructor. It brings Ortega full circle, since he choreographed and came up with the grinding “dirty dancing” that made the original sleeper hit one of the most profitable independent films ever made to that point. The original, made by Vestron Pictures, cost $6 million, grossed $213.95 million worldwide, and went on to become a big video title. Unbelievably, Vestron took so long to work out a sequel (some of it was cast salary, and I recall Patrick Swayze asking $5 million and Jennifer Grey a comparable amount), that Vestron folded before the movie could be mobilized. Lionsgate first got involved when it released Artisan’s 2004 sequel, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, but it didn’t feature the same cast and it tanked. Lionsgate is starting over. Read More »

Comments 58

Universal Tuning Feature Version Of Green Day Stage Musical ‘American Idiot’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday April 12, 2011 @ 6:04pm PDTTags: Cameron Mackintosh, Dustin Lance Black, Gary Goetzman, Kenny Ortega, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mamma Mia!, Michael Mayer, Playtone, Tom Hanks, Tom Hooper, Universal Pictures
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Universal Pictures is negotiating to turn the Green Day-fueled Broadway musical American Idiot into a feature film. Dustin Lance Black, the Oscar-winning Milk scribe, is in talks to write the script, and Michael Mayer will direct. Mayer helmed the stage run of the musical, which is closing on Broadway April 24 and launching a tour in the fall. Black most recently scripted J. Edgar, the Clint Eastwood film that stars Leonardo DiCaprio as J. Edgar Hoover.

The musical, which uses the songs of the punk band’s seminal 2004 album to tell the coming-of-age story of three small-town guys, was optioned before its opening last spring by Playtone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman. They previously turned the stage hit Mamma Mia! into a Universal film. It is expected that Green Day lead singer/songwriter Billie Joe Armstrong will be courted to play the role of the drug dealer St. Jimmy. Each time he did a stint in the role on Broadway, the grosses rose considerably at the St. James Theatre. The band was actively involved in the formation of the musical. Read More »

Comments 20

Universal Dropping Musical ‘In The Heights’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday March 28, 2011 @ 3:00pm PDTTags: Kenny Ortega, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Universal Pictures
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Universal Pictures has ended plans to turn the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical In The Heights into a feature with director Kenny Ortega. I’m told that the studio made a hard decision to drop the project. Expectation is that creator … Read More »

Comments 51