New Line must confident it has a hit on its hands with Valentine's Day, the romantic ensemble comedy that's opening this Friday, as it's already moving forward on a sequel, called New Year's Eve. It's incredibly unusual for this type of movie to have a follow-up lined up before it's known whether the first is a hit, but with the movies tied into significant dates in the calendar and therefore needing to be released at specific times, it seems the studio thinks surging forward is a good idea.
Variety describes it as a spin-off rather than a sequel, featuring some of the characters from Valentine's Day. The reason for this is that as Garry Marshall's film has a massive list of top flight names in it, getting them all to agree to return (for less than astonomical sums of money), would likely prove impossible. After all, Valentine's Day features Jessica Alba, Katy Bates, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Eric Dane, Patrick Dempsey, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Topher Grace, Anne Hathaway, Ashton Kutcher, Bradley Cooper, Queen Latifah, Taylor Luatner, Julia Roberts and Shirley MacLaine, to name but a few.
Whilst that movie looks at the fate of intertwining couples and singles in LA facing the pressure and expectations of Valentine's Day, the sequel is expected to move the action to New York on New Year's Eve. Director Garry Marshall is expected to return, as if screenwriter Katherine Fugate. Filming is planned for later this year, with the movie being released at the end of 2011. However, if Valentine's Day turns out to be a flop, don't be surprised if we never hear of this spin-off again.
