You knew it was bound to happen eventually – no piece of cultural gold is too iconic to avoid an encounter with that dreaded word…. remake. Dirty Dancing, however, seemed immune. A bad sequel was made (though I’ll confess, I secretly kind of loved Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights). It didn’t do very well. It seemed like the original, lightning in a bottle formula of Patrick Swayze, pre-nose-job Jennifer Grey, great dancing and just enough mid-1980′s sincerity would be left to age with dignity.
But then High School Musical happened, and kids these days proved that they like dancing and cheesy romance just as much as kids those days did… and they liked it Kenny Ortega style. Ortega choreographed the original Dirty Dancing and directed High School Musical series, and now he’s planning to direct a remake of Dancing.
Children of the 80′s and 90′s are, of course, appalled. The general consensus seems to be, “They’re murdering my childhood!” While this probably says more about how old we have all gotten than it does about Hollywood suddenly becoming more callous than usual, it does make one wonder whether audiences will show up for a remake of something people still watch regularly (read, obsessively) on DVD.
The remake has support from it’s original cast though – particularly Jennifer Grey herself, who Tweeted:
“I love @Kennyortega and trust that he will do something special #DirtyDancingRemake.”
Lets hope that trust is well founded! What do you think? Will you go see a Dirty Dancing remake?
Everyone that doesn’t approve the remake (I am one)…boycott seeing the movie.
The former “Baby” added in another tweet, “Blown away by all of the love expressed for #DirtyDancing. Makes me want to see it again. So grateful to have been a part of it.” http://bit.ly/o30BwK