20 years ago, George Clooney and Julia Roberts, both of whom were incredibly well known in Hollywood, collaborated for the first time on Ocean’s Eleven, with Clooney playing Danny Ocean, the leader of the titular group, and Roberts playing Tess Ocean, Danny’s ex-wife. The two would later work together on Ocean’s Twelve and Money Monster, and now their fourth collaboration has been announced. Romantic comedy fans, brace yourselves.
As reported by Deadline, George Clooney and Julia Roberts are re-teaming for Ticket to Paradise, which follows a divorced couple who head to Bali to stop their daughter from making the same mistake they think they made 25 years ago. Ol Parker, whose credits include the Exotic Marigold Hotel movies and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, has been tapped to helm Ticket to Paradise, and he co-wrote the script with Daniel Pipski. Filming is set to begin later this year.
Now, if you’re into romantic comedies, you’ve probably noticed that in recent years, the genre hasn’t had as much of a presence in the traditional theatrical space, but has thrived in the streaming realm. Well, don’t expect Ticket to Paradise to end up on a service like Netflix or Hulu. Universal Pictures is handling the movie alongside Working Pictures, and the studio is reportedly adamant that this George Clooney/Julia Roberts reunion will play on the big screen.
Although the end of Ocean’s Eleven and Ocean’s Twelve saw Danny and Tess Ocean rekindling their relationship, the Ocean’s movies are heist stories first and foremost, so there wasn’t a lot of time to explore romance. Money Monster was a crime thriller that saw George Clooney’s character being taken hostage, so even if there were sparks between him and Julia Roberts’ character, there really wasn’t any way to delve into that. So after all these years, these popular actors finally get to fully explore what their chemistry is like in a romantic comedy setting. Granted, their characters are divorced at the start of Ticket to Paradise, but one wouldn’t be faulted for thinking that they’ll fall back in love as the story progresses.
It’s been a while since we last saw Julia Roberts on film and TV, with her last appearances being in Ben in Black and Season 1 of the Amazon series Homecoming, both of which came out in 2018. That said, Roberts did participate in the Fast Times at Ridgemont High virtual table read last year, and in addition to Ticket to Paradise, her other upcoming projects include White Bird, Little Bee, Leave the World Behind (where she’ll reunite with Denzel Washington) and the Starz series Gaslit.
As for George Clooney, he most recently directed and starred in the Netflix movie The Midnight Sky, which marked his first film appearance since Money Monster was released in 2016. He also directed 2017’s Suburbicon, as well as appeared in and executive produced Hulu’s Catch-22 miniseries. Along with Ticket to Paradise, it’s been reported that Clooney’s next directorial endeavor, The Tender Bar, might see him teaming up with fellow Batman actor Ben Affleck, although it’s unclear if Clooney would also appear in the movie.
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