Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) is tapping into the 25th anniversary of the British comedy classic “The Full Monty” with a new Disney+ limited series that reboots the story featuring the original cast.
What Happened: The limited-run series will catch up with the men from the 1997 film, who sought to gain extra money during a period of unemployment by working as male strippers. According to a Deadline report, the new series will involve the men’s children and grandchildren and follow them as “they navigate Sheffield and its crumbling healthcare, education and employment sectors, exploring the brighter, sillier and more humane way forward where communal effort can still triumph over adversity.”
The original film’s actors, including Robert Carlyle and Tom Wilkinson, will be back and Simon Beaufoy, whose screenplay received an Academy Award nomination, is writing the new series. However, the series will be shown in the U.S. on Hulu rather than the family-friendly Disney+ — no premiere date has been announced.
Why It Happened: “The Full Monty” is one of the most popular British comedies of all time. It was produced on a $3.5 million budget with a mostly unknown cast and grossed $258 million. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards — Best Picture, Best Director for Peter Cattaneo, Best Original Screenplay and Best Original Musical or Comedy Score, winning the latter prize.
“The Full Monty” was adapted into a Broadway musical in 2000, when it received nine Tony Award nominations. It was shut out when Mel Brooks’ “The Producers” won a record-breaking 12 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Beaufoy adapted his screenplay into a stage play that was produced in London’s West End in 2013, but that version was never seen in the U.S.
Disney inherited the rights to “The Full Monty” through its 2019 purchase of the 21st Century Fox assets.
Photo: A scene from the 1997 film “The Full Monty,” courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures.
