There’s something about the chemistry shared between Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively in the sinister and sexy A Simple Favor that had fans clamoring for more. Released in 2018, Paul Feig’s thriller-comedy found single mother Stephanie (Kendrick) investigating the disappearance of her socialite bestie, Emily (Blake Lively), and digging up way more dirt than anticipated. We loved the movie when it came out, and have delighted in the fact that it has climbed the streaming charts as audiences continued to discover it. We know that the sequel is on its way, and now director Paul Feig has incredible news regarding its performance.
Paul Feig stopped by CinemaBlend’s interview suite at San Diego Comic-Con to discuss his new film Jackpot, which stars Awkwafina, Simu Liu and John Cena in an action-packed comedy that Feig compares to Jackie Chan’s finest works. But in the process, we also took the time to ask Feig about A Simple Favor 2, and learned that it’s already testing through the roof with audiences. Feig told CinemaBlend exclusively:
I'm so happy with it. We just actually did – I'll tell you top secretly – we just did a test screening two nights ago, and you can use this. We scored through the roof. Through the roof!
Well, that’s incredibly encouraging. Especially because, as Paul Feig continued to tell us about the sequel, it sounded like he didn’t like the direction his story was going, and basically threw out what he had. As Feig explained to CinemaBlend regarding sequels (in general), and A Simple Favor 2 specifically:
We had so much fun making the first one. And it ended up doing well. And then it's really kind of gotten this following over the years on streaming and all. And I was just kind of going, ‘I love those characters and I want to see them in another situation.’ And then came up with this idea that I really liked, that would take place in Italy, and thought, ‘That's fun.’ It has to be stylish and over the top and ridiculous, and all those things. But real, and scary, but funny and all. … We had a script that got greenlit, that we really liked. And then during the writer's strike, I remember people were responding to announcements about the movie getting made, and they were pinning so many hopes and dreams on what they thought it was going to be, that I went, ‘I don't think they're going to like what we have right now. It's not in the right world.’ And so we basically threw that script out. Let's say we threw about 70 percent of that script out.
That sounds terrifying. And yet, based on the feedback that Paul Feig received in the test screenings for A Simple Favor 2, the change in direction worked incredibly well. We pushed Feig for a release date, but he just confirmed that it’ll be an upcoming 2025 release. In the meantime, make sure to prepare for Paul Feig’s Jackpot, which will be available to all of those with an Amazon Prime Video subscription on August 15.
