10 More Upcoming Movie Sequels Nobody Wants
5. Dirty Dancing 2
Dirty Dancing is one of the most iconic and unexpectedly successful films of the 1980s, and while it led to a wider franchise including a 1988 TV series, a 2004 standalone prequel, various reality TV spin-offs, and a 2017 TV movie remake, a direct sequel has never happened.
This was apparently due to Patrick Swayze's reluctance to simply rehash the same concept for another go-around, but in 2020, a sequel was formally announced with Jennifer Grey set to reprise the role of Baby. By 2022, Jonathan Levine (50/50, The Night Before) had been hired to direct.
This one's really simple - Patrick Swayze's 2009 passing leaves a massive void for any direct sequel to the original Dirty Dancing, and one that's basically impossible to fill.
While it's reasonable to assume that the new movie will go the legacy sequel route and have Baby work with a younger dancer, this story never really felt like it needed to be anything more than a single film, and certainly not a - gulp - "IP."
Decades from now, there will still be people lovingly watching the original, but even if this sequel is produced in the next few years, it'll likely struggle to muster a fraction of the same cultural staying power.