Knocked Up Again?
Posted 01.07.11 by reelz
Proving nothing's safe from being turned into a franchise, Judd Apatow's next movie will actually be a spinoff of Knocked Up. But instead of focusing on Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl's characters, the untitled comedy will actually focus on Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann's characters from the 2007 movie.
Apatow will write and direct the film. The funnyman must be a pretty confident husband, since he keeps pairing his wife, Mann, with heartthrobs like Rudd and Eric Bana.
The timing of Apatow's desire to go back to source material is interesting given his last movie, Funny People, tanked at the box office. Is this Apatow's way to get back into the good graces of audiences and studio bosses? We have all see what happens when directors desperately keep bringing back popular characters to fill their coffers (see Kevin Smith and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back AND Clerks II).
But to be fair of Apatow, Funny People probably was not expected to have the same box office success as Knocked Up or The 40 Year Old Virgin. It was marketed as a straight comedy but was actually a drama, which probably turned off some people. And the writer/producer/director so far as a pretty good track record with moviegoers. The man's producing and director credits include Pineapple Express, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Superbad and Talladega Nights. But they also include duds like Year One, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and Drillbit Taylor.
Well, we'll know Apatow has jumped the shark when he announces he's re-releasing his movies in 3-D.
Next Showing: The untitled
Knocked Up spinoff is tentatively scheduled to open June 2012