God, the "Bridesmaids" sequel conversation has to stop. It all started when Universal said they'd consider making a sequel with or without lead actress Kristen Wiig (who wrote the script with her pal Annie Mumolo). Of course they would: the hilarious and successful comedy became the highest-grossing R-rated female-led comedy of all time (domestically) last year (outgrossing "Sex and the City" by about $17 million in North America). They'd love a repeat of that financial success. But cast members quickly said the obvious aloud: a sequel without Wiig would be a terrible idea, and producer Judd Apatow pretty much said the same. But the wishful-thinking crowd got a little bit more excited for a sequel when co-star Wendi McLendon-Covey gave them all a little hope and said Wiig could star in a sequel after all (so far, she's been fairly disinterested in returning to the territory and told THR she was writing something else).
Something of a final word arrived today from Judd Apatow and director Paul Feig, the creative leads of the film minus Wiig. Apatow, again, stated the obvious: they'll make a sequel if and when a worthy idea presents itself. "We’re still promoting Bridesmaids 1; when the fog clears, we’ll see if there is an idea worth doing," he said. "People like to send up projects without thought." Apatow added that the motivation to make a sequel had to be more than, "How much money we could make? That usually leads to 'Jaws 3D.' ”
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Feig echoed the same sentiment. “I would only want to do it if we could make it as good or better than the original, and that’s very hard,” Feig told the magazine, “That original one worked very well because it was a very personal story about a woman going through a crisis, and the wedding was a catalyst. We don’t want to just do a, ‘And now it’s a different crazy wedding’ or ‘It’s a crazy honeymoon.’ There were all these movies we were trying not to make when we made 'Bridesmaids' and that would be us making them. But if it can all work out, the planets could align and everyone came on board, I think it would be really fun because it was such a fun experience making it. I would love to have it a second time. I love all the people we worked with on it.”
And no one wants to ruin a good thing, which seems to be Kristen Wiig's take on it all, even though she's remained largely silent through all these very recent discussions. “I’m so in love with those characters so I almost want to let it be what it was,” co-writer Anne Mumolo told EW. “I can certainly understand why they do sequels when something catches on like that.”
And sure Universal could move forward without them all if they wanted, but clearly that would be a wrong-headed idea that wouldn't even help themselves financially. And even McLendon-Covey backed away from her earlier comments and said, “Kristen will be busy for the next decade with that day-job of hers. Annie Mumolo, same thing. They’ve both been given so many opportunities. If they have one day off to even write and outline, I’m sure they do it. If they can think of an idea that’s as good or better than the first one, we’re in there.”
Either way, with Wiig allegedly having beef with Uni, and the principal writers making the most of their newfound opportunities, don't hold your breath for it arriving anytime soon. Can we move on now?