There are now 136 movie sequels in active development. And no, that's not a typo.
Two more just crashed the party: My Best Friend's Wedding and Bend It Like Beckham—each a cultural time capsule from the late '90s and early 2000s—are officially headed back to the screen. Because if there's one thing the studio system believes in more than original ideas, it's regression therapy.
Let's start with My Best Friend's Wedding. The 1997 anti-romcom, remembered for Julia Roberts' sharp elbows and Rupert Everett's scene-stealing charisma, is getting the sequel treatment. According to actor Dermot Mulroney, Sony is already contacting original cast reps to negotiate schedules and paychecks. Translation: they're serious. If you're wondering why now, just revisit that 2023 interview where Roberts casually floated the idea. “Maybe My Best Friend's Wedding,” she said when asked about sequels. Looks like someone at Sony was listening.
The original film subverted the romcom formula by daring to leave its heroine heartbroken and changed rather than rewarded. It was messy, a little cruel, and oddly honest. Revisiting that dynamic with middle-aged versions of Jules, Michael, and Kimberly could—if done right—tap into a very different kind of romantic anxiety. If done wrong? It's Sex and the City 2 with wedding cake.
Over in the UK, Gurinder Chadha has officially confirmed that a Bend It Like Beckham sequel is in early development, with eyes set on a 2027 release—strategically timed to coincide with the FIFA Women's World Cup in Brazil and the 25th anniversary of the original film. That's smart placement—capitalizing on a global moment for women's soccer while honoring a film that arguably helped lay the groundwork for its mainstream popularity.
Speaking to Deadline, Chadha said she'd turned down countless pitches over the past two decades because none had the right story. Until now. “I came up with a great super-cool story about a month ago,” she said, adding that her goal is to bring back the original cast—Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley, Archie Panjabi, and Juliet Stevenson—but only if the script holds up. “Everything hinges on the script and if the original cast likes it,” she noted.
The original Beckham worked not because of its soccer plot but because it was a smart, funny, deeply personal coming-of-age story that touched on identity, culture, and rebellion with a light touch. Trying to recreate that spirit 25 years later? Risky. But potentially rewarding—especially if the sequel explores how far women's football and British-Asian identity have evolved since 2002.
Here's what matters from an industry standpoint: both films belong to an era when mid-budget studio movies weren't afraid to be smart, character-driven, and emotionally conflicted. Hollywood's pivot back to these titles isn't just about nostalgia—it's about finding familiar IP that doesn't rely on capes or crossovers. It's a signal that studios are now scraping the romcom and sports-sleeper back catalog for gold, hoping the same adults who bought tickets in 1997 or 2002 will do it again… or at least stream it.
But here's the catch—audiences aren't as forgiving as they were in the era of DVD extras and AOL dial-up. A legacy sequel today has to do more than show up with the same faces and a wink. It has to earn its return. Otherwise, it's just another placeholder on a spreadsheet that ends with “+ nostalgia = profit.”
At this point, even the term “legacy sequel” feels like a marketing euphemism. What we're really watching is a brand reboot—an emotional stock buyback aimed at viewers who want to remember who they were when they first saw these films. Will My Best Friend's Wedding give us closure? Will Beckham score again? Or will they both end up as harmless footnotes in Hollywood's increasingly risk-averse playbook?
I've seen enough of these things to know not to get my hopes up. But I've also seen stranger revivals work—Top Gun: Maverick comes to mind, and even that had no right being as good as it was. If Roberts and Chadha bring their A-game—and the writing doesn't reek of AI-generated sentimentality—these sequels might just surprise us.
But I'm not betting on it. Yet.
