Patrick Swayze & Jennifer Grey Classic ‘Dirty Dancing’ To Be Rebooted By Kenny Ortega, Lionsgate

“Dirty Dancing” is getting the reboot treatment, Lionsgate announced on Monday.

Kenny Ortega, the film’s original choreographer, and director of Michael Jackson’s “This Is It,” will direct the new film.

“The opportunity to direct ‘Dirty Dancing’ is like returning home for me,” Ortega said in a statement. “Growing up in the 60’s, on the dance floor helped define me as a person and as an artist. I am looking forward to assembling a great creative team and an exciting cast to bring ‘Dirty Dancing’ to the screen for a new generation. Patrick Swayze set the bar for men dancing in the movies as Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire did before him. I believe everywhere you look there is evidence that the talent is out there and I can’t wait to begin the process of discovering the next breakout triple-threats.”

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Ortega is set to produce the film with Debra Martin Chase, whose credits include “The Princess Diaries” and “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.”

“Amazingly it has been almost 25 years since the original film was released, but the fans remain legion, and engaged more than ever with a brand that is special and vital to them. We believe that the timing couldn’t be better to modernize this story on the big screen, and we are proud to have Kenny Ortega at the helm,” Joe Drake, co-Chief Operating Officer of Lionsgate and President of the Motion Picture Group said in a statement.

Lionsgate is in talks with the original writer and co-producer of the 1987 film, Eleanor Bergstein, to become involved with the reboot in some capacity, the studio said in a release.

The late Patrick Swayze and recent “Dancing with the Stars” champ Jennifer Grey starred in the original, much-beloved film.

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