Now that’s what I call a nun-brainer.
Disney has announced that it’s pressing forward with a third installment of Sister Act, rebooting the ’90s comedy that found Whoopi Goldberg playing a Reno lounge singer hiding out from a vengeful mob boss at a convent.
No word yet on whether Goldberg will be involved in the new take, but the studio has enlisted Kristen “Kiwi” Smith and Karen McCullah, the hitmaking duo behind Ella Enchanted, Legally Blonde, The House Bunny and She’s the Man, to pen the script.
The original 1992 film was a hit for Disney’s Touchstone Pictures, pulling in $232 million worldwide and earning positive reviews from critics. The pic spawned a sequel, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, that did far less well with audiences and critics alike, as well as a Broadway adaptation.
The project comes in the wake of Cinderella‘s massive haul (that film’s producer Alli Shearmur is on board in the same capacity here), as Disney is looking to simultaneously prioritize female-led fare and remake its most successful releases. Sister Act will also allow Disney to answer questions of diversity in its upcoming slate, as it will likely enlist a new African-American, female lead in addition to Goldberg, should the original star opt to return.
Disney’s upcoming films include a host of long-awaited sequels, adaptations and remakes, like The Jungle Book, The BFG, Pete’s Dragon, Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, Dumbo, Pinocchio, Winnie the Pooh, Tink and The Haunted Mansion. Just today, the studio also announced that it had plans to draw on classic Fantasia segment “Night on Bald Mountain” in order to develop a Gothic-tinged, live-action feature, from the scribes behind Universal’s Dracula Untold reboot.