Ortega returns to direct ‘Dirty Dancing’ remake 25 years on

The classic 1987 film “Dirty Dancing” is getting a remake, adding songs from the 1960s and new compositions to some of the original music, film studio Lionsgate said on Monday.

The beloved coming-of-age movie, starring the late Patrick Swayze as smoldering dance teacher Johnny Castle in a forbidden romance with teenager Jennifer Grey as Frances “Baby” Houseman, will be modernized for a new generation, producers said.

Kenny Ortega, the film’s original choreographer and the director of the Michael Jackson concert movie “This Is It,” will direct the new version, which has not yet been cast.

“Amazingly it has been almost 25 years since the original film was released, but the fans remain legion and engaged more than ever with a brand that is special and vital to them. We believe that the timing couldn’t be better to modernize this story on the big screen,” Lionsgate film group president Joe Drake said in a statement.

Swayze died in 2009 of pancreatic cancer at the age of 57. Grey hit the headlines again in 2010 when she won the TV show “Dancing With the Stars.”

“Dirty Dancing” won Oscars for best music and best original song for its emotional closing number “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life,” and has sold more than 10 million units on DVD, as well as inspiring a hit stage show in London and six other countries. A Facebook page of the same name has over 10 million fans.

This is the latest iconic dance film to be revisited. A much-delayed remake of the 1984 film “Footloose” starring newcomer Kenny Wormald and Julianne Hough is due to arrive in movie theaters in October, while an updated version of “Fame” (1980) was a flop in 2009.

Reuters