20 years after ‘Hitch’ smashed box office records, Will Smith is reportedly developing a sequel

“Hitch” director Andy Tennant discusses the hit romantic comedy and its future on the film’s 20th anniversary.
Twenty years after the romantic comedy “Hitch” appeared in theaters, and smashed box office records with Will Smith starring as suave and debonaire dating coach Alex “Hitch” Hitchens, Smith is reportedly developing a sequel.
The original film’s director, Andy Tennant, recently discussed the romcom, which hit theaters on Valentine’s Day weekend in 2005, and the franchise’s future for its 20th anniversary with Business Insider.
Speaking about the film’s origins he told the outlet, “I think there was a lot of fear doing a big, expensive romantic comedy with Will.”
At the time, Smith, who did not participate in the article, was a reliable leading action hero following 2004’s “I Robot.” Some wondered if the lead role in a romcom would be the right move given his trajectory in Hollywood and because many still didn’t think Black romantic leads did well overseas at the time.
“That was the reason why Will wanted to do it,” Tennant continued. “He wanted to break that barrier.”
Still, Tennant revealed, even Smith still had his doubts right up until they began shooting.
“Will tried to back out three days before we started shooting. He wanted to shut down and work on it some more. It was madness,” said Tennant.
The cult classic rom-com, which also starred Kevin James and Eva Mendes, was a giant success. It not only had the biggest opening weekend of any rom-com at the time but also grossed $371 million worldwide, Business Insider reported.
Considering the film’s success and Smith’s penchant for starring in franchises, it’s a wonder no sequels have gotten off the ground yet. In 2014, there was talk of Smith developing a TV series based on the movie with Fox.
Tennant said he recently learned about a new sequel project Smith is developing with his own production company.
“I just found out about it three months ago. I had a really good idea for a sequel, and I was talking to an executive at Sony, and he said Will’s production company is developing a sequel. Hey, that’s Hollywood,” Tennant explained.
Even though Tennant recalls some of the many creative challenges he claims to have experienced working with Smith on the original film, he said he doesn’t “have anything against” him.
“He hired me to make this movie. It was not an easy job for anybody, but we went around the world with the movie,” he said, adding that even during “hard times” working on the film, Smith would say, “‘Wait until the junket. We’re gonna go around the world with this’ — and we did, and it was great. It was the most amazing trip I had ever been on.”
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