'Dirty Dancing' Sequel With Jennifer Grey Gets Release Date

The Dirty Dancing sequel finally has a release date. Lionsgate announced on June 15 that the movie starring Jennifer Grey will come to theaters on Feb. 9, 2024. According to Deadline, "In part 2, Baby (Grey) takes us back to Kellerman's Resort for a story of summer, young romance, and dancing." 

Rumors about the film began in July 2020, after Deadline reported that Lionsgate was making a new dance movie with Jennifer Grey as the star and executive producer. The media outlet was informed that the new dance movie took place in the 1990s, 30 years after the events of Dirty Dancing. 

Lionsgate confirmed in August 2020 that the forthcoming film would be set in the Dirty Dancing universe, and Jennifer Grey would be returning and executive producing. A director was also attached, Jonathan Levine, who most recently directed Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron in 2019's Long Shot, reported Deadline. Lionstage CEO Jon Feltheimer said at an earnings call, "It will be exactly the kind of romantic, nostalgic movie that the franchise's fans have been waiting for and that have made it the biggest-selling library title in the Company's history." 

Grey opened up about the Dirty Dancing sequel that November, revealing that while she planned to reprise her role from the original 1987 film, no one could replace Patrick Swayze as Johnny Castle. Swayze passed away in September 2009 at age 57 after a fight with pancreatic cancer. "All I can say is there is no replacing anyone who's passed — you never try to repeat anything that's magic like that," Grey, 60, told PEOPLE. "You just go for something different." 

Grey dropped a few more tidbits about the movie in May, telling Entertainment Tonight, "Baby as an adult could find herself possibly feeling similarly in a corner again, and [have to figure out] how to get herself out of the way."I'm not really at liberty to tease much... I'm excited," she said. "I'm excited for the challenge... To make a movie without Patrick is already an enormous challenge. It will never be that movie, and it should never try to be that movie. It will be its own movie if I have anything to do with it." She added about the sequel, "It's on a track. It's more on track than it's ever been. It's more real than it's ever been."

Dirty Dancing remains one of the most well-known films of the 1980s, becoming a smash hit thanks to its iconic soundtrack. The film won the Oscar for Best Original Song for "(I've Had) The Time of My Life," while both Swayze and Grey were nominated for Golden Globes. The movie is set in 1963 at an upscale Catskills resort where Baby falls in love with her working-class dance instructor (Swayze) and clashes with her parents (Jerry Orbach and Jane Brucker).

Previously, Lionsgate has attempted to capitalize on Dirty Dancing's success. Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, a 2004 adaptation of the story set in Cuba in the late 1950s, underperformed, earning $27.7 million on a $25 million budget. A Made-for-TV remake starring Abigail Breslin, Colt Prattes, Debra Messing, and Nicole Scherzinger aired in 2017.