In 2001, the first year of the 21st Century, a modest comedy film by way of MGM came into theaters and became a hit for main star Reese Witherspoon. “Legally Blonde” followed the misadventures of airheaded fashion student and sorority president Elle Woods, who followed his ex-boyfriend to Harvard Law School to win him back only to come into her own as a brilliant (if “bunny-eared”) lawyer. Its surprise success (and Golden Globe nomination) led to a sequel and even a musical adaptation. Now, some 17 years later, word has come out: The Blond is coming back for a third.
Variety has it that MGM has announced its plans to produce a third cinematic “Legally Blond” film (disregarding the direct-to-DVD spinoff “Legally Blondes”), with nobody else but Reese Witherspoon returning to reprise her breakout character Elle Woods. In terms of the producing team, it is also shaping up as a reunion of sorts, with the first film’s producer Marc Platt returning and working in tandem with Adam Siegel, President of Platt Productions, and Witherspoon herself through her Hello Sunshine production company. Karen McCullah, script-wrote for “Legally Blonde” based on the original novel by Amanda Brown, has been tapped by MGM to do it once again for the third movie, with the help of Kirsten Smith.
Reese Witherspoon chose to drop the bombshell on her involvement on the project in a totally “Elle Woods” manner this Thursday, June 8. It came in the form of an Instagram video, showing the actress lounging on a pool mattress in a “Woodsy” pink bikini. Witherspoon’s comment was brief and verifies all initial reports regarding her being in talks with MGM to reprise her character: “It’s true… #LegallyBlonde3”. In just 20 hours the post has garnered some 858,018 likes, as well as some 49,308 reviews.
“Legally Blonde” was a big box office blockbuster for MGM in 2001, with a $141.8 million worldwide gross. Critics praised Witherspoon’s performance, with the film being nominated for the American Film Institute’s Top 10 Courtroom Drama Films in 2008. Its direct sequel, “Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde”, premiered in 2003 and earned a smaller but still respectable $124.9 million globally. The second movie saw Elle Woods settling down in Washington DC as a high-profile lobbyist, and her status was referred to in the “Legally Blondes” home-video spinoff which followed her twin British cousins. “Legally Blonde 3” is slated for a February 2020 release.
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
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