You either understand the magic of "Dirty Dancing," or you don’t, and if you’re in the latter category, then this news probably won’t mean much to you. But for those who fully understand the intense sturm und drang between Baby Houseman and Johnny Castle as displayed in the 1987 movie picture, then this news will seem like a cruel joke.
While a feature film remake had been pending at one point, instead ABC is going to make a 3-hour TV movie version of the dance romance classic. Abigail Breslin will fill the emotional dancing shoes of Jennifer Grey, but there’s no word yet on who will attempt Patrick Swayze‘s nonchalant hunkiness or dare to fill the role of the irreplaceable Jerry Orbach. And the plot will be exactly the same, about the cultural and social clash that happens at a resort in the Catskills when a woman from an affluent family starts a frowned upon fling with a leather jacketed bad boy, that is overcome by the power of dance and having the time of your life like you’ve never had before.
But here’s the thing, in a lot of ways, "Dirty Dancing" is pretty much a TV movie already, so remaking it as such seems misguided. I mean, if you’re gonna go for it, might as well really change things up and have Baby and Johnny dancing to save the world from the apocalypse or something, and spend $100 million dollars on it. Otherwise, what’s the point? [Deadline]
