A 'Dirty Dancing' remake isn't dead, it's just heading to TV now
The three-hour TV movie will air on ABC," a network representative told Business Insider. "Scream Queens" actress Abigail Breslin will star as baby, the role made famous by Jennifer Grey.
Produced by Lionsgate TV, the movie will be executive produced by the 1987 film's screenwriters, Allison Shearmur and Eleanor Bergstein, with music from Adam Anders and Peer Astrom ("Glee," "Rock of Ages").
The dance and musical production follows the film's story line. It centers on Baby (Breslin), an innocent young woman in the early 1960's, who vacations with her affluent parents and siblings in the Catskill Mountains and falls for the resort's working-class dance instructor.
ABC hasn't announced an air date.
Kevin Winter/GettyAbigail Breslin will play Baby in the ABC production of "Dirty Dancing."In 2011, Lionsgate announced it was doing a theatrical remake of "Dirty Dancing" set to be directed by the original film's choreographer, Kenny Ortega. That never came to fruition.
A 2004 sequel, "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights," didn't use the same characters and cast. It was made for $25 million and only grossed about $28 million in worldwide box office.
The original movie, which starred Grey and Patrick Swayze, was made for an estimated $6 million and went on to make more than $200 million in worldwide box office.
Event programming like this has become one way that networks have been trying to combat the loss of live viewers. While "Dirty Dancing" will be filmed, live broadcast musicals like NBC's "Sound of Music" and "The Wiz," as well as Fox's "Grease" come from the same desire to capture live viewership.