‘Freaky Friday’ Sequel With Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan Officially in the Works

A Freaky Friday sequel starring Lindsay Lohan and newly-minted Oscar-winner Jamie Lee Curtis is finally in development. Disney hired Elyse Hollander to write the script. In the 2003 hit, Lohan and Curtis played a mother-daughter duo who switched bodies thanks to a magical Chinese fortune cookie. The stars are in talks to reprise their roles.

“As I went around the world with Halloween Ends, people wanted to know if there was going to be another Freaky Friday,” Curtis told The New York Times in a retrospective of the movie. “Something really touched a chord. When I came back, I called my friends at Disney and said, ‘It feels like there’s a movie to be made.’”

Lohan added that the two stars are “both open” to the idea of doing a sequel. “So we’re leaving it in the hands that be. We would only make something that people would absolutely adore,” she told the Times.

The Freaky Friday franchise was inspired by Mary Rodgers’ 1972 novel about a teenager. Disney adapted the book for the first time in 1976, with Jodie Foster and the late Barbara Harris as the stars. Rodgers wrote the screenplay, with Gary Nelson as director. Disney remake the story in 1995 as a long-forgotten TV movie starring Gabby Hoffmann and Shelley Long. The Curtis and Lohan version was much more successful, grossing over $160 million worldwide. Mark Waters, who would later direct Lohan in Mean Girls, directed the movie from a script by Heather Hach and Leslie Dixon. Disney took another swing at the story in 2018 with a Disney Channel Original Movie starring Cozi Zuehlsdorff and Heidi Blickenstaff.

It is unclear what the story for the sequel will be, but Rodgers did write two sequel novels with the characters. A Billion for Boris saw the main character and her friend find a TV that broadcasts future events. In Summer Switch, the lead character’s brother switches bodies with their father. Rodgers and Hach also wrote the 2009 novel Freaky Monday, about a 13-year-old student who switches bodies with her teacher.

“When you get to work with such great actors, it really affects your performance,” Lohan said when looking back on Freaky Friday. “You immediately play better off each other.”

Curtis and Lohan said they first met in an office to do a read-through of the script. Curtis was impressed by Lohan from the moment they met. “I had to let go of every control mechanism and just let it fly,” Curtis recalled. “Lindsay was as fluid as I was. If you look at The Parent Trap, she has a facility as an actor that is really impressive. It was a big job. It was a big production. And our relationship was very easy.”

Curtis just won an Oscar for her supporting role in Everything Everywhere All At Once. Meanwhile, Lohan recently scored a Netflix hit with Falling For Christmas. Disney’s 1976, 2003, and 2018 versions of Freaky Friday are streaming on Disney+.