It took quite a lot longer than 10 days, but Matthew McConaughey's favorite rom-com of his career is finally getting a second date.
A sequel to the 2003 romantic comedy "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" is
in the works at Paramount, according to reports from Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.
Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey starred in the original movie, and Variety reports Hudson will take on a new role as a producer on the sequel.
USA TODAY has reached out to Paramount, Hudson and McConaughey.
It hasn't been confirmed if Hudson and McConaughey will both also reprise their roles. The Oscar-nominated actress was not a producer on the original movie, though she currently serves as executive producer on her Netflix comedy series "Running Point." She also previously produced her 2009 rom-com "Bride Wars."
'How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days' sequel comes 23 years after original
Released in 2003, "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" starred Hudson as a magazine writer who sets out to push a man away by intentionally doing everything women do wrong in relationships for a "how to" column, while McConaughey played an advertising executive who bets that he can quickly make a woman fall in love with him. Despite receiving mixed reviews, the film performed well at the box office at the time.
Hudson had previously teased the idea of a sequel in an interview with USA TODAY earlier this year after a reference to the film popped up in Season 2 of her show "Running Point."
"I feel like that could happen if it was the right situation," she said in April. "If it was the right script and the right way in, I think that I would definitely be open to it. But nothing's in the works at the moment."
The "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" sequel comes as Hollywood has been leaning into long-awaited follow-ups to comedy favorites from the late 1990s into the mid-2000s. In May, nostalgia for "The Devil Wears Prada" propelled the 20-years-later sequel, starring Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep, into one of the year's biggest hits: "The Devil Wears Prada 2" grossed nearly $700 million worldwide, roughly twice what the original movie made in 2006.
In 2025, the long-awaited "Freaky Friday" sequel "Freakier Friday," which again arrived about 20 years after the first movie, also performed moderately well, though not to the degree of "Devil Wears Prada 2": That sequel grossed $153 million worldwide.
But there's reason to believe there's still enough love out there for "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" for a follow-up to be a hit. McConaughey recently cited his own pay stubs as evidence: On the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast in August, the Oscar-winning actor revealed that out of all the movies he's starred in, he still makes "by far" the most money off of "How to Lose a Guy" due to to its annual uptick in popularity every Feb. 14.
"When it used to be just DVDs or cable, every March, I'd get a big check, because Valentine's Day," he said, also calling the film "probably my favorite rom-com I've done."
Other long-awaited sequels to late '90s or early 2000s favorites that are on the way include "Practical Magic 2," starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, and a sequel to 1997's "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion," with Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow returning. A fourth movie in the "Meet the Parents" franchise is also releasing in November, and in 2025, it was reported that a sequel to "My Best Friend’s Wedding," the 1997 Julia Roberts rom-com, is in the works, from "Past Lives" director Celine Song.
At the same time, original romantic comedies have recently been having a rough go of it in theaters, with films like "One Night Only" and "You, Me & Tuscany" underperforming at the box office this year.
Contributing: Erin Jensen, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Will 'How to Lose a Guy' sequel be the next 'Devil Wears Prada 2'?
