‘Freaky Friday’ Sequel Begins Production, Chad Michael Murray and Mark Harmon Return
The Disney follow-up, once again starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan, hits theaters next year
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“Freaky Friday” is officially ready to swap places again.
The sequel to 2003’s “Freaky Friday,” itself a remake of the Jodie Foster-starring Disney film from 1976, is now in production, once again led by Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan. Additionally, Mark Harmon and Chad Michael Murray are set to reprise their roles, the studio confirmed on Monday.
They are joined by newcomers Julia Butters, Sophia Hammons, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Manny Jacinto. The movie is set to hit theaters nationwide in 2025. Other returning cast members from the ’03 movie include Christina Vidal Mitchell, Haley Hudson, Lucille Soong, Stephen Tobolowsky and Rosalind Chao.
According to the official synopsis, “The film picks up years after Tess (Curtis) and Anna (Lohan) endured an identity crisis. Anna now has a daughter of her own and a soon-to-be stepdaughter. As they navigate the myriad challenges that come when two families merge, Tess and Anna discover that lightning might indeed strike twice.”
The new film is directed by Nisha Ganatra. The producers are Kristin Burr, Andrew Gunn and Curtis; with Nathan Kelly, Ann Marie Sanderlin and Lohan serving as executive producers. Jordan Weiss wrote the script.
Disney’s original “Freaky Friday” was based on a 1972 novel by American author Mary Rodgers. In addition to the movie, it spawned “Summer Switch” and “A Billion for Boris,” both of which focused on the husband of the mom from the original film and aired as two-part ABC afternoon specials. In 1995, it was again resurrected for television as an episode of “The Wonderful World of Disney,” with Shelley Long as the mom and Gaby Hoffmann as the daughter (it was part of a season that aired remakes of several live-action Disney classics).
The concept then returned as a 2016 Disney Theatrical Productions stage adaptation, which was adapted into a Disney Channel Original Movie in 2018. In that production, Heidi Blickenstaff and Cozi Zuehlsdorff played the mother-daughter pair.
While there had been talks of yet another reboot, in 2022, Curtis started saying that she had contacted Disney about the possibility of a direct sequel. By the following year, the actress began assuring press that it was going to happen — and, freakily enough, it did.
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