Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick are back for “Another Simple Favor.” Lionsgate and Amazon Studios pulled the curtain back on the sequel to the pair’s 2018 black comedy, which saw the pair play friends turned romantic rivals turned murder-suicide conspirators.
The sequel sees Stephanie (Kendrick) and Emily (Lively) back in each other’s company, now en route to coastal Italy for the latter’s wedding to a wealthy businessman. Stephanie has written a book about the events of the first movie, and Emily, who was in prison, crashes a book reading to invite Stephanie to her wedding — and possibly enact her revenge plot.
The cast also sees the return of Henry Golding, Andrew Rannells, Bashir Salahuddin, Joshua Satine, Ian Ho and Kelly McCormack, all reprising their roles from the original “A Simple Favor.” Paul Feig returns as director.
“Another Simple Favor” will have its world premiere at SXSW Festival in March. The caper sequel will mark the opening night screening for the Austin-based event, which runs from March 7 to March 15.
Based on the 2017 novel of the same name by Darcey Bell, “A Simple Favor” told the story of a widowed single mother named Stephanie, played by Kendrick.The first “A Simple Favor” was a theatrical success for Lionsgate, grossing $97.6 million worldwide against a $20 million production budget. But the film was evidently an even stronger release on streaming: it ranked as the most-watched film on Netflix as the sequel was beginning production.
“I’m thrilled,” Feig told Variety. “It makes me so happy because this really is one of my favorite movies. It’s done well in the theaters, but I always feel so many people haven’t seen it yet so now they do get to see it.”
This sequel sees Amazon Studios come on board to co-produce, with a release plan that will see the film debut directly on the Prime Video streamer.
Watch the trailer for “Another Simple Favor” below.
