Grease (franchise)

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Grease
Official franchise logo, as released in 1978.
Created byJim Jacobs & Warren Casey
Original workGrease
OwnerParamount Pictures
(Paramount Global)

The Grease franchise consists of American films and television productions, based on the 1971 musical. The stage production was first adapted for film with Grease (1978), followed by Grease 2 (1982). A prequel titled Summer Lovin' entered development beginning in 2019.

The franchise centers around the students of Rydell High, with each individual entry depicting the love story of a couple at opposite ends of the popularity spectrum: one, a popular and unruly student while the other is a shy immigrant and new student who is well behaved. The pair ultimately help each other step out of their comfort zone, balance each other out, and realize their ideal selves. The musical explores the themes of classic rock and roll overcoming differences (including opposing gangs), as the students experience high school and make memories together.

Revered as a cult classic,[1] the original film was met with critical and financial success, and quickly became highest-grossing musical film ever (circa 1978),[2] while its soundtrack album ended 1978 as the second-best-selling album of the year in the United States.[3] The film earned an Oscar nomination at the 51st Academy Awards. In 2020, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[4] The sequel however, did not fare well at the box office nor with critics and was nominated for a Stinkers Bad Movie Awards for Worst Picture.[5] Later on, it was awarded #13 in the 100 worst films of the 20th century, in Stinkers' "100 Years, 100 Stinkers" list.[6][7]

The film series expanded into a franchise with the release of a Broadway musical adaptation, various reality television programs centered around the Broadway production, as well as releases in various other mediums. It will continue with the release of a streaming television series titled Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, an exclusive on Paramount+. Additionally, a prequel film titled Summer Lovin', which will depict the summer prior to the events of Grease, is in early development.

Origin[edit]

Further information: Grease (musical)

Grease is a 1971 stage musical, originally written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, that originated from the Chicago theater scene. It moved to Off-Broadway and then to Broadway in 1972, where it ran until 1980. The original musical was set in urban Chicago and was based on Jacobs's own teenage years, with several of the characters having identifiably Polish-American and Italian-American ethnicities. The Chicago production was more profane and had less musical elements, while the writers partially sanitized the production for Broadway audiences.[8] The musical functioned as an ensemble comedy, while the subplots involving supporting characters were given greater development. The stage production ends with a definitive decision in Danny's favor, as he reverts to his old ways while Sandy transforms into the wild Pink Lady to fit in.[9]

Film[edit]

Film U.S. release date Director Screenwriter Story by Producer(s) Status
Grease June 16, 1978 (1978-06-16) Randal Kleiser Bronté Woodard Allan Carr Allan Carr & Robert Stigwood Released
Grease 2 June 11, 1982 (1982-06-11) Patricia Birch Ken Finkleman
Summer Lovin' TBA Brett Haley John August & Leah McKendrick John August Erik Feig In development

Grease (1978)[edit]

Main article: Grease (film)

In fall 1958 following their summer romance, wholesome Australian immigrant Sandra "Sandy" Olsson and popular greaser Daniel "Danny" Zuko find themselves classmates, when Sandy enrolls at Rydell High School (in a generic setting based on suburban Philadelphia)[10] instead of moving back home. At Rydell, Danny has long been the de facto leader of the T-Birds, a crew of fellow greasers; the T-Birds' female counterparts are the Pink Ladies, a tight-knit clique helmed by queen bee Betty Rizzo. As Danny attempts to maintain his reputation in the T-Birds as the coolest guy at the school amongst his peers, he struggles with keeping his relationship with Sandy alive. Sandy stands by her morals and education, being torn between the upright preppies of Rydell High (typified by cheerleader Patty Simcox) and the cruder Pink Ladies, to whose influences she eventually succumbs in order to keep Danny. Along the way the couple and their friends, experience adolescence amongst 1950s rock and roll culture: sex, substance abuse, and music.[11]

Re-releases[edit]

Grease was re-released in May 1979 in 1,248 theatres in the United States and Canada, Paramount's biggest ever saturation release at the time, and grossed $4.5 million in its opening weekend.[12][13] During the reissue, it overtook The Godfather and became Paramount Pictures' highest-grossing film of all-time.[14] It was re-released in March 1998 for its 20th anniversary where it grossed a further $28 million in North America.[15] An additional re-release in 2018, for its 40th anniversary grossed $1 million.[15]

Grease 2 (1982)[edit]

Main article: Grease 2

In 1961, Stephanie Zinone has succeeded to the leadership of the Pink Ladies following Rizzo's graduation in the first film. Tired of the recurring drama, Stephanie breaks up with her boyfriend Johnny Nogerelli. She receives the admiration of Michael Carrington, a mild-mannered bookish new exchange student and Sandy's cousin. Michael seeks to overcome his nerdy ways while earning her affections by learning to ride a motorcycle, and taking on a secret identity that his peers call the "Cool Rider". Johnny grows jealous of Michelle's romantic pursuits, and as the leader of the T-Birds attempts to use his popularity to win her back.[16]

Summer Lovin' (TBA)[edit]

In April 2019, Paramount Pictures announced a prequel movie titled Summer Lovin' was in development, with John August serving as screenwriter. The project will be a joint-venture production from Paramount Pictures, Paramount Players, Temple Hill Productions, and Picturestart. Receiving its title from the song, the plot will center around the summer in which Danny and Sandy met and fell in love.[17] By July 2020, Brett Haley was hired to serve as director with the most recent draft of the script being written by Leah McKendrick.[18]

Television[edit]

Reality television[edit]

Main articles: Grease: You're the One That I Want! and Grease Is the Word

Grease: You're the One That I Want! (2007)[edit]

A reality television series of a talent competition of singing and dancing. From the producers of Dancing With the Stars, the series was patterned after a format designed and created by Andrew Lloyd Webber for the BBC series How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?. Hosted by Billy Bush and Denise van Outen, the series featured celebrity judges Kathleen Marshall and David Ian alongside co-creator Jim Jacobs, who helped narrow the search for the Broadway leads amongst the contestants.[19]

The program generated so much interest in the upcoming Broadway revival that, ticket sales had topped $9 million. Despite this the series was declared a "ratings loser".[20]

Grease Is the Word (2007)[edit]

The United Kingdom version of NBC's Grease: You're the One That I Want!, which aired in 2007. The series was a production of Syco TV for ITV, with Simon Cowell serving as producer. The winning couple, Susan McFadden & Danny Bayne, became the stars of the West End revival production of the stage musical at the Piccadilly Theatre.

The judges were David Ian, David Gest, Sinitta, and Brian Friedman. The series was hosted by Zoe Ball. The after-show titled Greased Lightnin' shared unseen auditions, behind-the-scenes videos, and interviews; was hosted by Holly Willoughby and aired on ITV2.[21]

Television production[edit]

Main article: Grease Live!

Grease Live! is a television special that was originally broadcast by Fox on January 31, 2016. It was a live, televised remake of the 1978 film Grease, executive produced by Marc Platt, directed by Thomas Kail, and starring Julianne Hough, Aaron Tveit, Vanessa Hudgens and Carlos PenaVega. Patterned on similar live television musicals that had recently been produced by NBC, the production incorporated elements and songs from both the original stage musical and the 1978 film version of Grease, as well as additional songs and a few elements (such as changing Sandy's last name to Young to reflect Hough's own background) that were not present in either. In an effort to emulate the "energy" of a theatrical setting, live audiences were incorporated into the production's stagings. Grease Live! was broadcast from Warner Bros. Studios, utilizing two soundstages and the studio's outdoor backlot—the usage of the latter was notably affected by rain in the Los Angeles area on the day of the broadcast.[22][23]

Series[edit]

Main article: Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies

In September 2019, a musical television series was announced to be in development titled, Grease: Rydell High. The show was ordered straight-to-series, and was to release exclusively on HBO Max. The project was a joint-production between Paramount Television, Picturestart, and Temple Hill Entertainment. Erik Feig served as producer for the show. The series was a prequel to the original film with returning and new characters, as well as new and old songs.[24] By April 2020, Annabel Oakes was hired as writer and executive producer for the series.[25] In May of the same year, the project was retitled as Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies.[26] In October 2020, it was announced that the series would be moving to Paramount+.[27] Paramount+ released the ten episodes of the series over the course of spring 2023 before abruptly removing the series from public view that June.[28]

Main cast[edit]

Character Films Television
Grease Grease 2 Summer Lovin' Grease:
Rise of the Pink Ladies
1978 1982 TBA 2023
Principal McGee Eve Arden Jackie Hoffman
Fran "Frenchy" Facciano Didi Conn   Madison Elizabeth Lagares
Betty Rizzo Stockard Channing   Emma Shannon
Danny Zuko John Travolta   TBA  
Sandra "Sandy" Olsson Olivia Newton-John    
Coach Vince Calhoun Sid Caesar  
Secretary Blanche Hodel Dody Goodman  
Eugene Felsnick Eddie Deezen  
Leo Balmudo (Craterface) Dennis C. Stewart  
Mr. Rudie Spears Dick Patterson  
Kenickie Murdoch Jeff Conaway  
Doody Barry Pearl  
Sonny Lantieri Michael Tucci  
Putzie Kelly Ward  
Marty Maraschino Dinah Manoff  
Jan Jamie Donnelly  
Michael Carrington   Maxwell Caulfield  
Stephanie Zinone   Michelle Pfeiffer  
Johnny Nogerelli   Adrian Zmed  
Goose McKenzie   Christopher McDonald  
Louis DiMucci   Peter Frechette  
Davey Jaworski   Leif Green  
Johnny Nogerelli   Adrian Zmed  
Sharon Cooper   Maureen Teefy  
Paulette Rebchuck   Lorna Luft  
Rhonda Ritter   Alison Price  
Dolores Rebchuck   Pamela Segall  
Jane Facciano   Marisa Davila
Olivia Valdovinos   Cheyenne Isabel Wells
Cynthia Zdunowski   Ari Notartomaso
Nancy Nakagawa   Tricia Fukuhara
Hazel Robertson   Shanel Bailey
Susan St. Clair   Madison Thompson
Richie Valdovinos   Johnathan Nieves
Buddy Aldridge   Jason Schmidt
Gil Rizzo   Nicholas McDonough

Additional crew and production details[edit]

Title Crew/Detail
Composer Cinematographer Editor(s) Production companies Distributing company Running time
Grease Michael Gibson Bill Butler John F. Burnett & Robert Pergament Polydor Records,
Paramount Pictures,
Allan Car Production,
Robert Stigwood Organization 		Paramount Pictures 1 hr 50 mins
Grease 2 Louis St. Louis Frank Stanley John F. Burnett Polydor Records,
Paramount Pictures 		1 hr 54 mins
Grease:
Rise of the Pink Ladies 		TBA TBA TBA Paramount Television Studios,
Disappearing Ink,
Temple Hill Productions,
Picturestart Productions 		Paramount+ TBA
Summer Lovin' TBA TBA TBA Paramount Pictures,
Temple Hill Productions,
Picturestart Productions 		Paramount Players TBA

Reception[edit]

For more details on the reception of each film, see the "Reception" section on each film's article.

Box office and financial performance[edit]

Film Box office gross Box office ranking Home video sales gross Worldwide Total income Budget Ref.
North America Other territories Worldwide All time North America All time worldwide North America
Grease $159,978,870 $206,200,000 $366,178,870 223 290 $26,247,660 $392,426,530 $6,000,000 [29]
Grease 2 $14,297,083 $874,393 $15,171,476 4,283 5,735 — $15,171,476 $11,200,000 [30][31][32]
Total $174,275,953 $207,074,939 $381,350,346 x̄ #2,253 x̄ #3,012.5 $26,247,660 $407,598,006 $11,206,000

Critical and public response[edit]

Title Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic
Grease 75% (73 reviews)[33] 70/100 (15 reviews)[34]
Grease 2 36% (36 reviews)[35] 52/100 (11 reviews)[36]
Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies TBD TBD
Summer Lovin' TBD TBD

Accolades[edit]

Award Grease Grease 2 Summer Lovin'
Best Original Song Nominated

Broadways[edit]

Following the film's success, stage adaptations were revived. Despite this, the new productions were adjusted to align closer with the film release.

  • Grease: Due to the popularity of the film adaptation and the involvement of film producer Robert Stigwood in the West End revival in 1993, the subsequent revivals adopted several of the changes made in the film. One notable change includes renaming the Burger Palace Boys to their film name of T-Birds. However, in the revival the role of Sandy Dumbrowski maintains the original character name from the original stage production. John Farrar, who wrote two of the new songs is credited alongside Jacobs and Casey for the music in these productions. The revival was met with mixed critical reception.[37][38]
  • Cool Rider: Grease 2 was later adapted into a musical, albeit with an alternate title, with the script re-written and modified for the stage on Broadway and the West End.[39] The Broadway production received positive critic reviews, favorably calling it superior over the film.[40]

In other media[edit]

Video games[edit]

See also[edit]

  • Sha Na Na, syndicated television variety show first broadcast from 1977 to 1981

References[edit]

  1. ^ Garrigues, Manon (April 10, 2019). ""What makes Grease a cult film?"". Vogue Paris. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  2. ^ Hofler, Robert (2010). Party Animals: A Hollywood Tale of Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'N' Roll Starring the Fabulous Allan Carr. ReadHowYouWant.com. p. 145. ISBN 9781459600072. Despite the fact that Grease was well on its way to becoming the highest-grossing movie musical in the world, and eventually grossed over $341 million...
  3. ^ "Year End Charts—Year-end Albums—The Billboard 200". Billboard.com. Archived from the original on 2007-12-11. Retrieved 2010-12-20.
  4. ^ Alter, Rebecca (2020-12-14). "Shrek Has Been Inducted Into the National Film Registry". Vulture. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  5. ^ "1982 5th Hastings Bad Cinema Society Stinkers Awards". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 15, 2007. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
  6. ^ "The 100 Worst Films of the 20th Century". The Stinkers. Archived from the original on 4 June 2002. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  7. ^ "The Top Ten [sic] Worst Films of All-Time". The Stinkers. Archived from the original on 7 June 2002. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  8. ^ "Bring back our own, original R-rated 'Grease'". 8 January 2009. Archived from the original on 17 November 2013. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  9. ^ Newmark, Judith (2014-08-01). "'Grease' gets the splashy Muny treatment | Theater reviews". Stltoday.com. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  10. ^ Nick Vadala (17 October 2019). "'Grease's' Rydell High, inspired by Radnor High School, is getting an HBO Max series". Archived from the original on May 25, 2020. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  11. ^ Variety staff (December 31, 1977). "Grease". Variety. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  12. ^ "Par's Biggest-Ever Saturation Due For 'Grease' Re-Release". Daily Variety. May 9, 1979. p. 4.
  13. ^ "'Grease,' $4,500,000, In 1,248 Situations For Re-Re-Runs". Variety. May 23, 1979. p. 27.
  14. ^ "'Ark' Tops 'Grease'". Variety. October 7, 1981. p. 6.
  15. ^ a b Grease at Box Office Mojo
  16. ^ Variety staff (December 31, 1981). "Grease 2". Variety. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  17. ^ Kit, Borys (April 9, 2019). "'Grease' Prequel 'Summer Loving' in the Works With John August Writing (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
  18. ^ Kroll, Justin (July 20, 2020). "'Grease' Prequel Gains Momentum At Paramount As Brett Haley Comes On As Director". Deadline. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
  19. ^ "Grease - NBC.com". NBC.
  20. ^ Riedel, Michael (January 17, 2007). ""Won't Give 'Grease' a Chance"". New York Post. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  21. ^ "Zoe, Holly and Sinitta start search for new Sandy and Danny". 29 March 2007. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  22. ^ Kreps, Daniel (January 17, 2015). "Fox Plans 'Grease' Live Musical With Julianne Hough and Vanessa Hudgens". Rolling Stone. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
  23. ^ Hetrick, Adam; Viagas, Robert; Gioia, Michael (May 28, 2015). "Keke Palmer Joins Cast of Fox's Grease: Live!". Playbill.com. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
  24. ^ "'Grease' TV Spinoff 'Rydell High' Coming to HBO Max". The Hollywood Reporter. October 15, 2019.
  25. ^ "'Grease: Rydell High': Annabel Oakes To Write & EP HBO Max Spinoff Series". Deadline. April 10, 2020. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
  26. ^ @WarnerMedia (May 28, 2020). "#HBOMax is here! 🥳 Our groundbreaking streaming platform features iconic and beloved programming from across the WarnerMedia portfolio, a roster of new Max Originals, & fan-favorite acquired franchises & films" (Tweet). Retrieved May 31, 2020 – via Twitter.
  27. ^ Thorne, Will (October 14, 2020). "'Grease' Spinoff Series Moves From HBO Max to Paramount Plus (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on November 19, 2020. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
  28. ^ White, Peter (23 June 2023). "'Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies', 'Star Trek: Prodigy', 'The Game' & 'Queen of the Universe' Canceled At Paramount+ As Streamer Pulls Shows From Service & Takes Content Write-Down". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
  29. ^ "Grease". Box Office Mojo.
  30. ^ "grease 2 budget - Google Search". www.google.com.
  31. ^ "Box Office Mojo > Box Office by Movie". www.boxofficemojo.com. Archived from the original on 1 October 2004. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  32. ^ "Grease 2 (1982) - Financial Information". The Numbers.
  33. ^ "Grease (1978)". Rotten Tomatoes. 7 July 1978. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
  34. ^ "Grease". Metacritic.
  35. ^ "Grease 2 (1982)". Rotten Tomatoes. 11 June 1982. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  36. ^ "Grease 2". Metacritic.
  37. ^ Barnes, Clive (August 20, 2007). "TV-AIDED 'GREASE' FRIGHTENING". New York Post. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  38. ^ Brantley, Ben (August 20, 2007). "As Seen on TV! Danny and Sandy 4-Ever and Ever". New York Times. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  39. ^ "Cool Rider! The Stage Adaptation of Cult Sequel Grease 2 to Return to the West End".
  40. ^ Ihnut, Gwen (September 28, 2015). ""Cool Rider" was too good for Grease 2". The A.V. Club. Retrieved February 25, 2021.

External links[edit]

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