One of my favorite movie scenes of the ’90s is in 1997’s I Know What You Did Last Summer, when Jennifer Love Hewitt’s character Julie, tired of being stalked by an unknown killer, grows frustrated and screams “What are you waiting for, huh!?!?”. It’s a great moment, or at least 20-year-old Travis thought so. And who knows? Maybe we’ll get to see that scene reimagined because Hewitt, along with co-star Freddie Prinze Jr., are coming back for a sequel, 17 years after the last film and 3 years after Amazon’s short-lived series relaunch.
Deadline reports that Jennifer Kaytin Robinson will direct a new I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel, with Hewitt and Prinze in talks to reprise their roles. Leah McKendrick will write the screenplay.
Robinson was a producer on Marvel’s Hawkeye series, and also directed the recent teen dark comedy, Do Revenge, which starred Maya Hawke and Camila Mendes. Come to think of it, Hawke and Mendes would be perfect for this new project, too.
The original movie centered on four young friends stalked by a hook-wielding killer exactly one year after they made a pact to cover up a fatal car accident. Joining Hewitt and Prinze in the foursome were Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe.
The first film was a huge hit, earning $125M at the box office. That success led to a quick sequel, 1998’s I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, with Hewitt and Prinze joined by Brandy and Mekhi Phifer. It didn’t do nearly as well. A third film was released straight-to-DVD in 2006 and features nobody from the previous casts.
Basically, Sony is looking to recreate the Scream “legacy sequel” model here. If it worked there, why not here?
