Jordan Karlesson
Dirty Dancing fans are about to have the time of their life — again — as the iconic romcom returns to AMC theaters for its 35th anniversary.
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AMC theaters will bring back the classic 1987 film Dirty Dancing, starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, for a two-day event from Aug. 14-15. The anniversary showing will include a new Dirty Dancing tribute with fresh celebrity interviews.
The news comes less than a month after Lionsgate announced that the long-awaited sequel Dirty Dancing 2 will hit theaters on Feb. 9, 2024. At ComicCon, Lionsgate unveiled a montage of footage from the original film and a voiceover announcing: “Jennifer Grey returns to Kellerman’s in the next chapter.”
Grey revealed earlier this year on The View that she didn’t particularly enjoy working with Swayze in their first movie together, the 1984 action film Red Dawn.
“Patrick was playing pranks on me and everybody,” Grey said on The View while promoting her newly released memoir Out of the Corner. “It was just, like, macho, and I just couldn’t take it. I was just like, ‘Please, this guy, that’s enough with him.’”
And, that’s why Grey was initially opposed to having Swayze sign on opposite her in Dirty Dancing.
Swayze’s dance experience and enthusiasm made him perfect for the part, and he knew he had to redeem himself with Grey.
The critical moment came moments before their Dirty Dancing screen test, according to the actress.
The original film inspired several spinoffs, including a brief TV series in 1988; a 2004 prequel, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, which starred Swayze; and an ABC-produced TV movie featuring Abigail Breslin and Nicole Scherzinger in 2017. None of the projects approached the success of the original film.
Meanwhile, AMC is offering $5 movies on Tuesdays through October, via its AMC Stubs program, as part of an effort to coax audiences back to theaters amid the COVID pandemic.
