Confirmed! 'The Best Man' Sequel is Coming
It all started with Love Jones. The 1997 film not only gave rise to the trend (and subsequent downfall) of spoken word poetry, Theodore Witcher's movie about contemporary love in Chicago also started one of my favorite eras of our culture—the neo-Black ensemble movie, or specifically the Black ensemble movie where no one was a) in a gang b) got shot or c) was in a gang, selling drugs to get out...and then got shot. From women rushing home to research who Yemaya and Oshun are, to every guy thinking he could be a poet, Love Jones gave light to a different world of African American life in film at that time: young, creative, professional people navigating their lives. How normal right?Fast forward to 1999 when one film managed to pick up where Love Jones left off, The Best Man. Malcolm D. Lee's story about a group of friends reunited for a wedding in New York City became an instant classic with everyone who was longing for a little more of what Love Jones sparked. Everyone saw a little of themselves, or someone they knew in Harper, Jordan, Mia, Lance, Robin, Julian, Shelby and Quentin—the role that Terrance Howard managed to steal every scene with. About a year ago, Lee announced that the long-anticipated sequel to The Best Man 2 had officially been greenlit by Universal, and now according to an official release, reported by Shadow and Act, it's closer to reality:
"...thanks to an email announcement from Universal Pictures, in which the studio sets the release date for the thus far untitled sequel to The Best Man, for Friday, November 15, 2013.It doesn't give a synopsis, other than to say that Malcolm D. Lee will obviously return to write and direct, as well as produce, with Sean Daniel (The Mummy series) co-producing with Lee.For years, a sequel to the film that starred Taye Diggs, Nia Long, Terrance Howard, and Morris Chestnut as a group of old friends that reunite for a wedding, has been on the minds and mouths of fans of that first film.A reunion dinner with several members of the original cast, and Lee, only fueled rumors of a potential sequel.Now it's a reality.Nothing on casting yet either, but word is that the sequel will reprise the original cast, which also included Sanaa Lathan, Monica Calhoun, Melissa De Sousa and Harold Perrineau."
So are you interested to know if Lance and Mia stayed together? It's hard to tell now that we've had about 13 years to think about it. I'll be interested to see how Malcolm plans to remix this story of friendship, love triangles, sex and romance into something that a new audience will gravitate towards, but as long as no man shows up in a dress—we'll be there to find out next November.-