My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Kirk Jones
Produced by
Written by Nia Vardalos
Starring
Music by Christopher Lennertz
Cinematography Jim Denault
Edited by Markus Czyzewski
Production
companies
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release dates
  • March 25, 2016 (2016-03-25)
Running time
 93 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $18 million[2]
Box office $85.8 million[3]

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 is a 2016 American romantic comedy film directed by Kirk Jones and written by Nia Vardalos. The film stars Vardalos, John Corbett, Lainie Kazan, Michael Constantine, Andrea Martin, Ian Gomez and Elena Kampouris. It is the sequel to My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which was released in 2002. Filming began in late May 2015 in Toronto. The film was released on March 25, 2016 by Universal Pictures.

Plot

The life of Toula Portokalos Miller (Nia Vardalos) is in a bit of shambles. Her travel agency is closed due to the recession, as is the family dry cleaner’s; the only thing left open is the restaurant started by her father, Gus (Michael Constantine). Her husband, Ian (John Corbett), is now the principal of the school their daughter Paris (Elena Kampouris) attends, and Paris is preparing to go to college. Paris has become mortified by the smothering love of not just Toula but everyone else in the family – the fact that they are always there, all of them, even at the university recruiting fair at the high school, is driving her to apply to schools all across the country, not just the local one in Chicago. Ian and Toula are struggling with their marriage because Toula is always trying to “fix” everything that goes wrong with her family, leaving them little time for each other, let alone intimacy.

Gus has become convinced that he is a direct descendant of Alexander the Great and wants an online ancestry site to confirm this for him. He tries to use the computer to trace this, but decides to go back through his old paper records instead. While sorting through things, he discovers that his wedding certificate was never signed by the priest who married him and Maria (Lainie Kazan) fifty years before – the war left Greece in somewhat of a shambles, no one really checked credentials on priests, and he had really only asked Maria to marry him by saying, “I’m going to America, are you coming?” He is frustrated that his current priest won’t just sign the paper, but is willing to renew their vows so that they can be married “officially.” Maria initially scoffs at the idea of needing to be married again after fifty years together, but agrees that she will go through with it if only Gus will ask her properly. Gus refuses, and Maria pushes him to the couch in response. When he ends up needing to go to the hospital and Maria refuses to go with him, he publicly pleads with her to marry him, and she agrees.

Maria wants the wedding she never had. A wedding planner is hired, but when the family’s choices are too wild for her, she quits. The whole family -- including Ian’s parents, Rodney and Harriet (Bruce Gray and Fiona Reid) -- pitches in to make it happen. One surprise for the wedding day is Gus’ brother, Panos (Mark Margolis), flown over from Greece itself for the ceremony. At first, he argues with Gus like old times, but they embrace over some ouzo and reconcile. Unfortunately, the ouzo continues to flow on the way to the church, resulting in Gus, Panos and Taki (Gerry Mendicino) being giggling drunk at the front of the church. Maria is walked to the front but storms off to the vestry, thinking that Gus isn’t taking her seriously. Panos confides to her that Gus needs her, and when she looks out and sees Gus’ face light up at the sight of her once more, she agrees to go through with it.

Paris has been accepted by both Northwestern in Chicago and NYU in New York City. As she starts to see her mother as really truly loving her, she claims to want to attend Northwestern, but a moment with her great-grandmother (Bess Meisler) makes her realize that she really wants to go to New York. She asks Bennett (Alex Wolff), a boy she has watched from afar to the prom after he is turned down by the girl he had asked himself, and he turns out to also be from a crazy Greek family. Prom is the same night as the wedding, so she attends it with a promise to be at the reception later. Ian and Toula watch Gus and Maria say their vows and be paraded around the altar and make their own wreathes and parade around the vestibule, while Paris and Bennett slow-dance at the prom, leading to their first kiss. At the reception for the wedding, Gus receives a note, ostensibly from the ancestry site, saying that he is indeed a descendant of Alexander the Great, but Ian confirms with Toula that she had forged it to make her father happy. The movie ends with the entire family dropping Paris off in New York City to start college.

Cast

Production

In a 2009 interview for her film My Life in Ruins, asked about a possible sequel to the 2002 hit romantic comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Nia Vardalos stated that she had an idea for a sequel and had started writing it, hinting that, like Ruins, the film would be set in Greece.[6]

Asked about a sequel again in a November 2012 interview, she stated, "Well, actually, yes. And it's only now that I've really become open to the idea. Over the years, I've heard from everybody about what the sequel should be. People next to me at Starbucks would say, 'Hey, let me tell you my idea,' and I'd be like, 'Hey, I'm just trying to get a cup of coffee.' I never thought much about it. But then when John (Corbett) and I recently sat down to do that interview (for the 10th anniversary edition), we laughed so hard through the whole thing. It made me think that it's time. He said, "Come on, write something, will you?" And I now think I will. We have such an easy chemistry together. And we have chemistry because we never 'did it.' That's the surefire way to kill chemistry in a scene. You have to make sure your actors don't 'do it' off-screen. If they don't 'do it,' then they'll have chemistry on camera."[7]

On May 27, 2014, various news and media outlets reported that a sequel was in the works.[8] Vardalos later confirmed this via Twitter, and wrote the script for the film.[9] Universal Pictures acquired the US distribution rights to the film on November 11, 2014, and Kirk Jones was set to direct, based on the script by Vardalos, who also starred.[10]

Filming

Principal photography began on May 10, 2015 in Toronto, and ended on June 28.[11][12][13]

Release

In May 2015, Universal set the film for a March 25, 2016 release.[14]

Box office

As of April 24, 2016, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 has grossed $55.4 million in North America and $26.7 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $82 million, against an $18 million budget.[3]

In its opening weekend, the film was projected to gross $15 million from 3,133 theaters.[15] It grossed $7.2 million on its first day and $17.9 million in its opening weekend, finishing third at the box office behind Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($166 million) and Zootopia ($24 million).[16] In its second weekend, the film grossed $11.2 million (a 37.2% drop), again finishing third behind Batman v Superman ($51.3 million) and Zootopia ($19.3 million).[17]

Critical response

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 received generally negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 28%, based on 133 reviews, with an average rating of 4.6/10. The site's consensus reads, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 is as sweet and harmless as the original, but its collection of sitcom gags and stereotypes never coalesces into anything resembling a story with a purpose."[18] Metacritic reports a score of 37 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[19] Audiences have received the film better, with 63% saying they "liked it" on Rotten Tomatoes.[18] Polled by CinemaScore, they gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.[16]

References

  1. ↑ "MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 2 (12A)". British Board of Film Classification. March 2, 2016. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
  2. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony; Tartaglione, Nancy. "‘Batman V. Superman’ Targets Second-Best Pre-Summer Global Opening With $350M". Deadline. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
  3. 1 2 "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (2016)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  4. ↑ Sneider, Jeff (May 14, 2015). "‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2’ Adds ‘American Odyssey’ Star Elena Kampouris (Exclusive)". thewrap.com. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  5. ↑ Ford, Rebecca (June 2, 2015). "'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2' Adds Alex Wolff (Exclusive)". .hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Is a 'Big Fat Greek Wedding' Sequel in the Works?". ExtraTV.com. 2012-03-14. Retrieved 2015-05-30.
  7. ↑ "Nia Vardalos: 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' Star Talks Chemistry, Motherhood And Plans For A Sequel". The Huffington Post. 2012-11-12. Retrieved 2015-05-30.
  8. ↑ Kit, Borys (May 27, 2014). "Nia Vardalos, Playtone Reuniting for 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' Sequel". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Nia Vardalos on Twitter". twitter.com. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  10. ↑ McNary, Dave (November 11, 2014). "‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2′ Heading for Universal With ‘Nanny McPhee’ Director". variety.com. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  11. ↑ Bennett, Anita (June 28, 2015). "Nia Vardalos’ ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2’ Wraps Production". thewrap.com. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  12. ↑ "‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2′ filming now in Toronto". onlocationvacations.com. May 26, 2015. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  13. ↑ DAILYMAIL.COM REPORTER (June 17, 2015). "John Stamos is in good spirits while all smiles on My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 set... as he is back to work after DUI arrest". Daily Mail.
  14. ↑ McNary, Dave (May 21, 2015). "‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2′ Set for March 25 Against ‘Batman v Superman’". variety.com. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  15. ↑ "'Batman V. Superman’ Targets Second-Best Pre-Summer Global Opening With $350". Deadline.com.
  16. 1 2 "'Batman V Superman’ Looks To Punch Out ‘Hunger Games’ For Best Pre-Summer Debut With $157M-$170M". Deadline.com.
  17. ↑ "‘Batman V Superman’s Knock-Down, Drag-Out Fight With The Box Office: 2nd Weekend At $52M+, -68%". deadline.com.
  18. 1 2 "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
  19. ↑ "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved March 28, 2016.

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