Channing Tatum is set to return to his role as stripper Mike Lane for a third Magic Mike movie. Tatum is reteaming with Steven Soderbergh, who directed the first film and produced the second, for a third installment titled Magic Mike’s Last Dance, which will be exclusive to HBO Max.
Reid Carolin, who wrote the first film, is also on board, as is Gregory Jacobs as a producer, having directed Magic Mike XXL back in 2015.
The original film revolves around a man trying to live paycheque to paycheque by starring in an all-male revue. When he meets an up and comer simply named The Kid, Mike takes the 19-year-old under his wing to teach him the ins and outs of the dancing business. But things get messy when Mike has to juggle the business with his blossoming romance with the Kid’s sister.
Magic Mike XXL continued Mike’s story, but retreated from the drama of the first film and morphed into a low-key amazing expressionist performance art piece, with incredible cinematography (by Soderbergh himself) and an inspirational story about friendship and dream chasing.
The first two films grossed almost $300 million worldwide at the box office and created a further market for live performances in 2017 with Magic Mike Live, which took off after its Las Vegas debut and is still running in many of the biggest cities around the world.
The live show has even spawned its only reality series, Finding Magic Mike, which follows several men trying to make it onto the live circuit while regaining their own magic and charm. The series will premiere, not coincidentally, on HBO Max later this month.
So it’s easy to see why HBO see money in the Magic Mike franchise, and why greenlighting a third film was an easy decision for them. Especially considering Soderbergh’s involvement, as he already has a multi-year deal in place with HBO Max.
Tatum said in a statement: “There are no words for how excited I am to blow the doors off of the world of Magic Mike with Steven, Greg, Reid, and the amazing people at HBO Max. The stripperverse will never be the same.”
Incredibly, Tatum hasn’t had an on-screen starring role since 2017’s Logan Lucky, which was also directed by Soderbergh. Since then he’s been pretty quiet, only having a few voice roles in animated films and some extended cameos.
But this return as Magic Mike looks like it will be a part of his mini-comeback, as his directorial debut (that he’s also starring in) titled Dog is due out in February, while The Lost City, a romantic comedy in which he stars alongside Sandra Bullock, is currently in post-production and prepping for a March 2022 release.
It will be interesting to see where Tatum and Soderbergh take the Magic Mike franchise, which has always been a lot more introspective and intelligent than its reputation and marketing suggests. There’s currently no release date for the film. Finding Magic Mike, the reality show, premieres on HBO Max Thursday, December 16.
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