Netflix is making a sequel to The Kissing Booth, one of its most popular original movies from 2018, the streaming giant announced Thursday.
The company teased a short hype video on Twitter, showing stars Joey King and Joel Courtney building a kissing booth, then adding a wooden “2” to the title.
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The original movie was based on the Beth Reekles novel, which was self-published on Wattpad. It was directed by Vince Marcello, who is expected to helm the sequel, reports Variety. The first film’s script was written by Marcello and Jay Arnold. Jacob Elordi, Molly Ringwald and Bryon Langley also starred in the film.
It’s official: @JoeyKing @Joel_Courtney & @JacobElordi will return in #TheKissingBooth2! pic.twitter.com/Wis7WJ06g1
— See What’s Next (@seewhatsnext) February 14, 2019
Marcello, Michele Weisler and Andrew Cole-Bulgin and Edward Glauser of Komixx are the executives on the new film.
Although the first film was slammed by critics and holds a 20 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the coming-of-age movie was a huge hit with Netflix viewers. Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos told Vulture it is “one of the most-watched movies in the country, and maybe in the world.”
“In [IMDb’s] popularity rankings right now, it’s the No. 4 movie behind Deadpool 2, Avengers: Infinity War, and Solo,” Sarandos said. “Jacob Elordi is the male lead. Three weeks ago on the IMDb Star-o-Meter, which is how they rank their popularity, he was No. 25,000. Today he is the No. 1 star in the world. And Joey King, the female lead, went from like No. 17,000 to No. 6. This is a movie that I bet you’d never heard of until I just mentioned it to you.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix claimed one in three viewers of the movie have re-watched it, which is 30 percent higher than the average movie re-watch rate. Nearly 80 million Netflix accounts, or two thirds of all members, have watched an original or licensed movie involving a love story.
Before Netflix officially announced The Kissing Booth 2, King said she was eagerly waiting to play her Elle Evans again.
“Right now, we’re not really sure. [The cast] would love for that to happen, but everything is still up in the air. We’re still waiting on [Netflix],” King told TVGuide.com earlier this week.
Now, the call has come. According to Variety, pre-production has already started and the new movie could be available in 2020.
In the meantime, fans can still see King in Hulu’s upcoming series The Act, co-starring Patricia Arquette. The series, based on the real-life story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, starts on March 20.
Photo credit: Netflix
