Anne Hathaway Says ‘The Princess Diaries 3’ Development ‘Is in a Good Place,’ but ‘There’s Nothing to Announce Yet’
It’s been well over a year since news first broke that Disney was moving forward with “The Princess Diaries 3.” Anne Hathaway can’t reveal any details, but she did assure fans in a recent V magazine interview that development continues on the long-anticipated sequel, and the intention remains to get it off the ground.
“We’re in a good place,” Hathaway said. “That’s all I can say. There’s nothing to announce yet. But we’re in a good place.”
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Hathaway would return as down-to-earth royal Mia Thermopolis in “The Princess Diaries 3.” It appears to be the sequel she is most interested in seeing through, as she doesn’t see a feasible way to bring another one of her popular classics, “The Devil Wears Prada,” back to life.
“Probably not,” Hathaway answered when asked about making a “Prada” sequel. “We all love each other and if somebody could come up with a way to do it, I think we’d all be crazy not to. But there’s a huge difference in the world now with technology, and one of the things about that particular story is it was about producing a physical object. Now with so much being digital, it would just be very different. Maybe me, Stanley, Emily, Meryl, Dave Frankel, Patricia Field… we should just all do something else together. That’d be fun.”
Variety confirmed in November 2022 that Disney was developing a third installment in “The Princess Diaries” franchise with screenwriter Aadrita Mukerji (“Reacher,” “Supergirl”). Directed by the late Garry Marshall and based Meg Cabot’s novel, the original 2001 film followed an awkward American teenager who learns she’s the heir to the throne of the European kingdom of Genovia. Julia Andrews played the fictional nation’s queen. The family film became a box office hit with $165 million in global ticket sales. The follow-up film, which was also directed by Marshall and introduced the world to Chris Pine, was equally successful in theaters with $134 million worldwide.
Andrews had bad news fans in December 2022 when she told Access Hollywood that it wasn’t likely she’d return to the beloved Disney franchise, saying, “I think we know that it’s probably not going to be possible.”
“It was talked about very shortly after [“Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement”] came out, but it’s now how many years since then?” she continued. “And I am that much older and Annie the princess, our queen, is so much older. And I am not sure whether it would float or run.”
Hathaway herself told Entertainment Tonight in October 2022 that “if there’s any way to get Julie Andrews involved, I think we would make it work. We would go to where she was and put a green screen behind her and just make it happen.”
Head over to V magazine’s website to read Hathaway’s latest profile in its entirety.
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