Written by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub

Even though New Line Cinema made a small fortune with director Adam Shankman’s “Hairspray”, it’s going to be awhile till we see a possible sequel.

That’s because at the recent press day for “17 Again” (which Shankman produced) Shankman said while “there are some really funny ideas, we don’t have a writer for it yet.” He went on to say, “the group - the producers and myself and the composers - decided on a direction that we want to go in. Because I have no interest in doing something that was going to, it was such a good experience for me that anything that would possibly impugn that experience was absolutely non-gratifying for me. We then sat down and said 'Hairspray 1' worked for this reason, why would we do 'Hairspray 2'? Because you start getting into 'Grease 2'…But there are very funny ideas that me and Mark came up with. John Waters wrote a treatment that was so insane. That was really a sequel to his version of the movie with all the cattle prods and the electro shock therapy, and seaweed. And Penny blew up the world at a certain point out of anger. It was this crazy thing. But we saw it as something to borrow from, so we took some of the less insane ideas. We are just hiring a writer now, and then we will get into it.”

A little while later, I asked Shankman about 3D and what he thought. He told the group of journalists “we were blown away with the tests we just did (for Step Up 3D) and seeing the dance in 3D, and an arm coming out and flips that are going by your head. It was such an incredible experience.”

Since he sounded excited about the footage he saw, I then asked if he would consider doing "Hairspray 2" in 3D. He said, “Yeah, that would be cool in 3D because it has a pop-sensibility. 3D should be relegated to things with a pop-sensibility because that’s the experience you want from those kinds of films. Anything you want really want to think about, you don’t want to see in 3D. You are always struck by the visual elements. Although, think about ‘No Country for Old Men’ in 3D. What would that be like?”

I have to say, I definitely agree with his thoughts on 3D. I don’t think 3D is great for every movie, but for certain films, I welcome it wholeheartedly. Anyway, since “Hairspray 2” is still being written, it’s going to be awhile till we hear any more news. Until then…