Filmmaker Judd Apatow’s middle-aged married couple dramedy “This Is 40” is set to get a sequel with the director telling The Wrap that he’s cooking up “This Is 50”.
The 2012 original film starred Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann as a married couple whose stressful relationship is compounded by each turning 40. John Lithgow, Megan Fox, and Albert Brooks also appeared while Apatow’s real-life daughters Maude and Iris Apatow played the couple’s kids.
Reviews for it were very mixed, but the movie grossed $88 million from a $35 million budget. The 54-year-old Apatow, currently out doing promotional rounds for “The Bubble,” says he’s been hard at work outlining what the story for a follow-up would be:
“I couldn’t have done it five years ago and I can’t do it five years from now, so I’ve been outlining that and hope it’s something that we get to do. I feel like [‘This Is 40’] has really aged well, and it always feels like everyone watches it when they turn 40 and they go, ‘Oh, I understand it all now’ (laughs). So I’m enthusiastic about putting that together.”
The comments come as Apatow Productions this week signed a multiyear production deal for both film and TV with Universal Pictures and Universal Studio Group.
No specific film projects were announced as part of the deal.