Move over Fifty Shades of Grey – the movie that’s going to get the most female tongues wagging this year is unquestionably Magic Mike XXL, in which Channing Tatum returns to the role of an ace male stripper who thought he was out of the life for good, only to find himself drawn back in for more sweaty, sexy antics with such buff co-stars as Joe Manganiello, Adam Rodriguez, Matt Bomer and Kevin Nash.
A new trailer for the R-rated summer flick has splashed online, dripping with enough sexual innuendos and pent-up passion to make a NSFW label somewhat appropriate. The actual plot of the sequel is irrelevant, as the trailer itself points out through a fourth-wall-breaking narration – Magic Mike XXL promises some ripped, raunchy fellas doing what they do best, and that’s more than enough for the pic’s target audience.
There are some deviations from the first film’s formula, though. XXL picks up three years after Mike “retired” in Magic Mike, and though Tatum is back in the saddle, director Steven Soderbergh is actually standing by his retirement plans (kinda), so Soderbergh’s assistant director Greg Jacobs sat behind the camera on this one. Audiences may not notice a difference, though, as Soderbergh did step in to lens and edit the sequel (hence kinda).
Additionally, Matthew McConaughey, Alex Pettyfer and Cody Horn are all absent for the second go-round. Instead, the supporting cast is stacked sky-high with newcomers including Amber Heard, Jada Pinkett Smith, Andie MacDowell, Jane McNeill, Max Webster, Elizabeth Banks, Donald Glover and Michael Strahan. In particular, Glover, aka rapper Childish Gambino, appears to have gotten in tremendous shape for Magic Mike XXL, and it’s not a stretch to imagine he’ll be up there gyrating with the best of them. Heard, meanwhile, seems to be in the role of a love interest.
Magic Mike XXL is gonna make you sweat when it hits theaters July 1.
