Rise of the Pink Ladies
Who doesn't know Grease, the 1978 musical film directed by Randal Kleiser, starring none other than the magnificent John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John? Grease is considered to be one of the most famous films of all time, which has marked and changed the lives of young kids from the 1980s and generations to come.Now it looks like a prequel is in production , titled Rise of the Pink Ladies, ordered by Paramount +, according to The Hollywood Reporter, for a total of 10 episodes. Let's take a closer look.
Rise of the Pink Ladies: the prequel to Grease
Grease by Paramount Pictures, based on the 1971 musical of the same name by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, was released in theaters on June 16, 1978. Among the key characters of the film set in the 1950s were the Pink Ladies, a gang of greaser girls made up of Frenchy (Didi Conn), Jan (Jamie Donnelly ), Marty Maraschino (Dinah Manoff) and leader Betty Rizzo (Stockard Channing). A new generation of Pink Ladies and their male counterparts, the T-Birds, appeared in 1982's Grease 2.Now the Pink Ladies are back on the scene once again, thanks to Rise of the Pink Ladies, produced by Nicole Clemens at Paramount Television Studios.
What will the show be about then? Rise of the Pink Ladies takes place four years before Grease, before rock 'n' roll dominated and before T-Birds were the coolest in school. The series will consist of 10 episodes and follows four marginalized and fed up girls who dare to have fun on their terms, sparking a moral panic that will change Rydell High forever.
Apparently though, the project is not completely new because Paramount's parent company, ViacomCBS, was originally developing Rise of the Pink Ladies for WarnerMedia's HBO Max streaming service, in October 2019, with the title Grease: Rydell High.
HBO Max however decided to scrape the series due to a takeover that saw Casey Bloys' boss take the streamer under his supervision. Then the project moved on to Paramount +, where it underwent a creative overhaul and got a new title.
Writer Annabel Oakes (Atypical, Awkward) has always stayed with the show and will be showrunner for Rise of the Pink Ladies and executive producer with Marty Bowen of Temple Hill and Erik Feig of Picturestart.
While waiting for the release of Rise of the Pink Ladies, get the Grease Blue-Ray available on Amazon!
‘Grease’ Prequel ‘Rise of the Pink Ladies’ a Go at Paramount+
Grease is the word at Paramount+.
The ViacomCBS streaming service has given a series order to Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, a prequel to the beloved musical. The 10-episode show is the first pickup under new Paramount+ topper Nicole Clemens — who also runs Paramount TV Studios, which is producing the prequel.
Rise of the Pink Ladies takes place four years before the original Grease. Per the show’s logline, “before rock ‘n’ roll ruled, before the T-Birds were the coolest in the school, four fed-up, outcast girls dare to have fun on their own terms, sparking a moral panic that will change Rydell High forever.”
Stockard Channing, Didi Conn, Dinah Manoff and Jamie Donnelly played the Pink Ladies in the 1978 feature film version of Grease.
The show has taken a rather long road to its green light at Paramount+. The show was originally titled Grease: Rydell High and scored a straight to series order from HBO Max in October 2019 under then WarnerMedia Entertainment and direct to consumer boss Bob Greenblatt and chief content officer Kevin Reilly.
HBO Max scrapped the series, however, after a management change that saw HBO head Casey Bloys take the streamer under his purview. It then moved to Paramount+, where it underwent a creative overhaul and got a new title.
Writer Annabel Oakes (Atypical, Awkward.) has remained with the show throughout and will serve as showrunner of Rise of the Pink Ladies. She executive produces with Marty Bowen of Temple Hill and Erik Feig of Picturestart.
Paramount, Temple Hill and Picturestart are also behind a feature film prequel to Grease titled Summer Lovin’, with Brett Haley directing.