Third "Bridget Jones" Novel Set for November 2013

[JamesG]

Third Bridget Jones Movie is Finally a Go -- EXCLUSIVE
by Lynette Rice
August 11, 2011


It’s finally time to re-open the diary: Bridget Jones is returning to the big screen.

EW has confirmed exclusively that Working Title Films, the production company responsible for the first movie released in 2001 and the second one dubbed The Edge of Reason in 2004, is moving ahead with a third installment.






Based at Universal, Working Title has been mulling a sequel since 2009.

No other details were available, but last year, Bridget costar Colin Firth, who plays lovable Mark Darcy, told EW’s Dave Karger some details about a possible plot.

“I can tell you that Bridget and Mark can’t have children, I think that’s the way it goes on,” Firth told Karger, who was reporting for Access Hollywood. “So then she makes the huge mistake of going back to Daniel Cleaver [Hugh Grant's character] for long enough to get pregnant. And I think he dumps her, and she’s left stranded, and guess who comes back to rescue her?”






The movies are based on Helen Fielding’s novel of the same name and starred Renee Zellweger as Bridget.

The first film was an international hit, taking in a reported $281 million.

The second was crucified by the critics but still raked in $262 million worldwide.



Earlier this year, the London Evening Standard reported that Fielding had begun writing the third installment of the best-selling books. At the time, she said there had been discussions about the next film.

“I will be working on both the book and the film but I don’t know if they are the same thing yet. It’s not been decided.”

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/08/1...-go-exclusive/

[catlover79]

I never understood why they had to make a second movie, let alone a third. Talk about fried franchises!!!!

[Marvo301]

Originally Posted by catlover79

I never understood why they had to make a second movie, let alone a third. Talk about fried franchises!!!!

It's the only way Renee Zellweger can have a career! When's the last time you saw her in any other movie?

[JamesG]

Originally Posted by catlover79

I never understood why they had to make a second movie, let alone a third. Talk about fried franchises!!!!

Well considering how successful the first movie was it was certain that they would do a movie based off of the second novel.

Now that the author is working on a third Bridget Jones book they announced a third film.

[catlover79]

I guess I can understand it from a commercial standpoint. But from an artistic/creative standpoint, to me it just =

[JamesG]

Bridget Jones 3 Producer Admits Delay, Vows to Shoot Film in 2012
2/3/2012
by Stuart Kemp , Matthew Belloni


Working Title Films issued a statement Friday acknowledging that production on the third film in the Bridget Jones series has been delayed but vowing to make the film sometime this year.





THR first reported Thursday that the film, which reunites Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant in a romantic comedy titled Bridget Jones' Baby, had been stopped on the eve of production due to issues with the screenplay.

THR reported that Grant was especially displeased with the script, and other outlets followed that story by claiming that Grant had exited the project.





Working Title co-chairman Tim Bevan issued a press release to set the record straight.

"Reports that Hugh Grant has exited Bridget Jones’s Baby are untrue. We are still working on the script hence the delay to the start of production, but the film is going ahead as planned."





The third film based on Bridget Jones, a character created by author Helen Fielding, is still on track to reunite the original cast members, but a source close to the project tells THR that cast and crew are being told the delay could stretch into the fall (the film was originally scheduled to start shooting in the next few weeks).

Firth, an Oscar winner for The King's Speech, is an in-demand actor, and reconciling his busy schedule to the needs of the production could be difficult.





David Nicholls and Fielding are credited with the script.

Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty) is directing.

Working Title did not say if a new screenwriter would be brought in to fix the script.

Paul Feig (Bridesmaids) was originally intended to direct the film but he left the project last year over creative differences with Working Title.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...g-title-286909

[Liza]

Here's an idea, how about they actually follow the plot of the book "The Edge of Reason" which they certainly didn't do in that lousy movie. The first movie was fantastic, the second movie was garbage. I liked the book The Edge of Reason but I think the screenwriter just read the back of the book when they "adapted" it. I really, really hated that movie.

Part of Bridget Jones success was that it was based on Pride & Prejudice. Remember how Clueless was Emma? Great story just updated with some modern jokes and it worked perfectly. EOR was based on Persuasion, but you'd never know it to see the movie.

[JamesG]

New Bridget Jones Book Gets Release Date
2/5/2013
by Jennifer Exley


Bridget Jones is back.

The wildly popular, unlucky-in-love heroine of British writer Helen Fielding's novels will return this November with Fielding's third Bridget book. It will be published in the U.S. by Alfred A. Knopf, the publisher's Chairman and Editor in Chief, Sonny Mehta, announced Tuesday.




The series was inspired by Fielding's column about a 30-something single woman living in London in the 1990s. The first book, Bridget Jones' Diary, was published in 1996 and is credited with starting the chick lit phenomenon.

The sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, was published in 1999.

The two novels have sold more than 15 million copies and are published in 40 different countries. They were adapted for the big screen into successful romantic comedies starring Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant.


"My life has moved on and Bridget's will move on, too," says Fielding. "I hope people will have as much fun reading it as I am writing it."





The new novel will be set in present-day London and will show Bridget in a completely new phase in her life.

"Few writers can rival Helen Fielding when it comes to full capturing the modern woman," Mehta says. "I have been waiting a long time to see what's next for Bridget Jones, and I am beyond thrilled she's back."

Fielding will appear as a breakfast speaker on June 1 at BookExpo America in New York.

The first printing in November will be 250,000 copies with an eBook and a Random House Audiobook.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...rd-book-418132