When the original My Big Fat Greek Wedding hit in 2002, it was a huge sleeper hit. Starting with a limited release and a minuscule budget, the film became one of the biggest and most profitable comedy hits of all time. In most cases, this would produce a sequel almost immediately, whether there was a good idea for one or not. While it’s been more than a decade, the inevitable sequel is finally here. Toula (Nia Vardalos) and Ian (Bill Corbett) are still happily married and they have a daughter, and yes, there’s going to be another wedding, but it’s probably not for who you think. Check out the trailer below.
Due to a clerical error (wait for it, that’ll be funny in a second) it’s mom and dad who it turns out aren’t actually married. They’ve been living in sin this whole time. Sounds like a good enough excuse to throw a giant party to me. While all that is going on, Fortoula is dealing with her daughter, who is getting ready to go to college, (apparently we’re time jumping more than the 13 actual years between films), and is trying to get as far away from her family as possible, because they’re all insane, as we learned in the first movie. All of the elements that made the first film a success appear to be here. It would be easy enough to chalk this up to Hollywood’s current need to make sequels to everything, but hopefully the fact that they waited a decent amount of time means there’s truly a fresh story here worth telling.
In addition to bringing back all of the original cast they are adding Elena Kampouris as daughter Paris. Much of the behind-the-scenes crew is also the same. Nia Vardalos wrote the screenplay as she did for the original, a script that got her nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The film is also being produced by Tom Hanks’ Playtone production company. The film is set for a March 25, 2016 release date. That date may sound familiar, as it’s the same release date as Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice Needless to say it’s not likely that the two films would be looking to cater to the same audience.
The original movie grossed nearly $370 million on a budget of only $5 million, which is exactly the kind of profit that studios like to see. It’s the sort of return that Universal would have loved on its most recent $5 million film. It’s still the top-grossing romantic comedy of all time. It also holds an intriguing record as the highest grossing film that never reached number one at the box office. Considering what it will be opening up against, the sequel will likely not reach that plateau either.
