For a genre deemed the “chick-flick,” many classic staples of the genre weren’t actually directed by women. However, we’ve slowly seen a progression of female-directed romantic comedies, with a more equal dispersion of male and female-centric stories seen in popular films of the genre from the 2010s. Coupled with the trend of immense nostalgia and revisiting of older films, the news of a completed third film in the My Big Fat Greek Wedding franchise is quite a delight.
On Feb. 17, Focus Features announced the release date for My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3. Excited is an understatement, TBH.
The first My Big Fat Greek Wedding was released on April 19 (Aries, WYA?), 2002. Though it was released as an indie film, My Big Fat Greek Wedding has since become a staple of the rom-com genre and was even nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Based on the one-woman play (because those did exist before Fleabag), it chronicles the routine but zany family life of Greek American Fotoula “Toula” Portokalos as she falls in love with a white man named Ian Miller, played by John Corbett, whom we know best as the heartbroken Aidan from Sex and the City. (Who, for some reason, is being dragged back into Carrie’s life in the new series.)
In 2016, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 introduced audiences to Toula and Ian’s daughter, Paris, as she struggles to establish herself amidst her tight-knit family and secretly desires to go out of state for college. While this is a tale of the future of the family, the wedding itself regards itself with the past as Toula’s parents learn their priest never signed their wedding document, so they must have a new, official ceremony. While it didn’t receive the same success as the first, it further cemented the franchise into audiences’ hearts, especially my mother, who screamed when she found out about the threequel.
When Will My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 come out?
Focus Features confirmed that Sept. 8 will be the day the film will be hitting U.S. theaters. A fall feature that will most likely feature the sun-soaked Greecian landscape and be the source of all our envy, as we’ll for sure all be wishing for Thanksgiving break to hurry up and arrive.
What is My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 about?
Focus Features has yet to release much of the synopsis besides the fact that it takes place on location in Greece and center around a family reunion. Elias Kacavas, who played the younger version of Cal Jacobs in the Euphoria episode that broke everyone’s heart, is set to join the cast of recurring actors, including Andrea Martin, who plays the hilarious nun in Paramount Plus’s Evil, and Joey Fatone, a member of NSYNC.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 will feature the franchise’s first female director.
Exciting news for the film buffs! Nia Vardalos, who plays Toula and wrote the first two films, is finally directing her work. I say finally because, until this past Valentine’s Day, I was under the assumption Vardalos had both written and directed the first two films. However, upon further digging, I discovered the first film was directed by Jack Zwick and the sequel by Kirk Jones.
IMHO, it feels right to not only give the female-driven storyline a female director but to hand over creative control to the woman behind the story’s magic in the first place. Romantic comedies have sort of become a dying breed, with a couple of new ones emerging here and there. But, a common trend in the genre is a woman operating as a screenwriter or story creator and a man as the director, like When Harry Met Sally, Bridget Jones’s Dairy, and Girls Trip. Standout rom-coms written and directed by women, however, include Clueless, Sleeping with Other People, and Love & Basketball: a stacked roster, if you ask me. Adding My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 to this list will be a welcome and long-awaited moment in cinema. Can September come any sooner?
Gather up your friends or lovers and mark your calendars for this September; Greece awaits!