Disney Wants to Make a Third ‘Princess Diaries’ Movie
Writer Aadrita Mukerji, a veteran of shows such as ‘Supergirl’ and ‘Quantum Leap’ is at work on a script.
Anne Hathaway in 2001's 'The Princess Diaries.'
Could Anne Hathaway once more don the crown of Genovia? If Disney has its way, then she will. It’s still very early days, but according to The Hollywood Reporter, plans are afoot for a third outing for ‘The Princess Diaries’.
Based on a novel series created by Meg Cabot that launched in 2000, the 2001 original saw Hathaway as Mia Thermopolis, a socially awkward but happy teenager living in and attending private school in San Francisco with her mother and her cat.
Mia’s life is thrown for a loop when she learns from her mother Helen Thermopolis (Caroline Goodall) that her deceased father, Philippe Renaldi (Rene Auberjonois), was the Crown Prince of Genovia.
To keep the royal reigns from passing to another family due to a broken bloodline, Queen Clarisse Renaldi (Dame Julie Andrews) seeks the favor of her estranged granddaughter in hopes that she will take her father’s place as the Crown Princess. While Mia contemplates her future, her grandmother insists on turning her from a social misfit to a lady fit for the throne.
And that, of course, causes further chaos for Mia and best friend Lilly Moscovitz (Heather Matarazzo) as she figures out how to navigate school, hormones and the challenges of a small European country.
Much of the cast returned for the sequel – 2004’s ‘The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement’ – which added extra wrinkles, including the presence of Chris Pine’s Nicholas Devereaux, a potential threat to Mia’s claim to the throne who ends up as her love interest.
(L to R) Julie Andrews and Anne Hathaway in 2001's 'The Princess Diaries.'
Garry Marshall directed both of the movies, but his death in 2016 meant that a lot of the forward momentum was taken out of any plan for a third film.
Still, rumors would pop up from time to time and this appears the closest that anyone has gotten to an actual plan for a threequel.
Debra Martin Chase, who produced the movies is back for the new film, with Melissa Stack, the screenwriter behind the Cameron Diaz comedy ‘The Other Woman’ and the 2020 Disney+ feature ‘Godmothered’, is executive producing.
And Disney has Aadrita Mukerji, who has worked on series including ‘Supergirl’, ‘Reacher’ and ‘Quantum Leap’, writing the script.
What the company doesn’t have yet, at least in an official, signed-to-a-deal capacity, is Hathaway, though she’s often said that she’s more than willing to return to the world of the ‘Diaries’ – even as recently as last month.
And while Andrews has been more likely to pour cold water on the concept, feeling that the time may have passed for another movie, there’s still a chance she could be convinced by Disney.
With more than $300 million in the bank from the first two movies and a big fanbase that has introduced their children to the movies, it’s hardly surprising that Disney would want to keep hope alive.
Anne Hathaway in 2001's 'The Princess Diaries.'
