With no hesitation whatsoever, I named Grown Ups the worst movie of 2010 at the end of that year, not so much because it was badly made, but because its laziness and smug self-regard seemed to embody everything awful about Hollywood, stardom, modern comedy, and the awful moviegoers who turned it into a huge hit. Before the year was over and we could safely forget about it, Adam Sandler started talking up his hopes for a sequel, and clearly our collective ability to wish it out of existence wasn't enough. Coming Soon reports that Grown Ups 2 isn't just happening, but that it has a release date in place: July 12, 2013.

Though the original film's writer Fred Wolf is in negotiations to write this screenplay, they say Sandler is only "potentially interested" in returning, which is strange. Though the first movie was sold on the collective appeal of the ensemble cast, Sandler is clearly the leader of the bunch, and the most successful movie star of them all. Theoretically Kevin James, Rob Schneider, David Spade and Chris Rock could return without him, but it would feel pretty pointless. My guess is Sandler is playing coy because he wants another bascrillion dollars added to his deal to film another movie that's essentially a vacation with all of his buddies. Call me cynical, but seeing Grown Ups has that effect on people.

No other films are currently set for July 12 release dates in 2013, though that's bound to change given the usual dynamics of summer releases. At this point I don't even care what else opens that weekend-- see that instead. It couldn't possibly be more of a death knell for Hollywood than Grown Ups 2.