Channing Tatum and longtime collaborator and producing partner Reid Carolin were set to make their co-directorial debut with an adaptation of Matthew Quick’s YA novel Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock. The film was set up with The Weinstein Co., but in an official statement released today, Tatum and Carolin revealed that they are no longer developing the project at the studio in the wake of extensive sexual assault and harassment allegations against former studio head Harvey Weinstein.
After the release of the shocking Sausage Party racked up an equally shocking $140 million (far more than any of us expected a movie involving anal beads forcibly yanked out of an anthropomorphized hot dog bun to make), it was only a matter of time until more bawdy animation followed. Cartoons for grown-ups may be on their way to a moment in the sun, as today brings the news that Netflix has launched production on an R-rated project in a similar vein. But they won’t stop at desecrating the sacred space of the grocery store. This time, nothing short of our nation’s origin story will provide the canvas for whatever vulgarity they’ve got in store.
It made sense that Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan-Tatum would parlay their Step Up past into an NBC dance competition, but their next TV venture is a trifle more direct. YouTube (yes, YouTube) has officially ordered a straight-to-series adaptation of Step Up, with Tatum and Dewan aboard to produce.
Magic Mike or no, there simply hasn’t been enough occasion for Channing Tatum or Jenna Dewan Tatum to dance in recent years, let alone together, and NBC desperately seeks to rectify that. The two will shepherd a “fresh take” on a new NBC reality dance competition, both appearing and starring.