| Grease | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Randal Kleiser |
| Screenplay by | Bronté Woodard |
| Adaptation by | Allan Carr |
| Based on | |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Bill Butler |
| Edited by | John F. Burnett |
| Music by | Michael Gibson |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures[1] |
Release date |
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Running time | 110 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6 million[2] |
| Box office | $396.3 million[2] |
Grease is a 1978 Americanmusicalromantic comedy film directed byRandal Kleiser (in his feature directorial debut) from a screenplay byBronté Woodard and an adaptation by co-producerAllan Carr, based on the 1972 stage musicalof the same name byJim Jacobs andWarren Casey.[3] The plot followsgreaser Danny Zuko (John Travolta) and Australian transfer student Sandy Olsson (Olivia Newton-John), who develop an attraction for each other during a summer romance.
Grease was released in the United States on June 16, 1978, byParamount Pictures. The film was successful both critically and commercially, becoming thehighest-grossing musical film at the time.[4] Itssoundtrack album ended 1978 as thesecond-best-selling album of the year in the United States, only behind thesoundtrack of the 1977 filmSaturday Night Fever, which also starred Travolta,[5] and the song "Hopelessly Devoted to You" was nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Original Song at the51st Academy Awards. The film also received five nominations at the36th Golden Globe Awards, including forBest Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and two forBest Original Song, for "Grease" and "You're the One that I Want". In 2020,Grease was selected for preservation in the United StatesNational Film Registry by theLibrary of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[6][7]
A sequel,Grease 2, was released in 1982, starringMaxwell Caulfield andMichelle Pfeiffer as a newer class of greasers. Few of the original cast members reprised their roles. In 2023, a short-livedprequel television series,Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, debuted onParamount+, lasting for only one season.[8]
During the summer of 1958, greaser Danny Zuko and straight-laced Australian girl Sandy Olsson fall in love at the beach. As Sandy prepares to return home, she worries that she will never see Danny again, but he comforts her that the summer is "only the beginning" for them.
On the first day of hissenior year at Rydell High School, Danny reconnects with the members of his greaser gang the T-Birds: Sonny, Putzie, Doody, and his best friend Kenickie. Sandy arrives at Rydell and is introduced to girls' gang The Pink Ladies—Marty, Jan and leader Betty Rizzo—by mutual friend Frenchy. At lunch, Danny and Sandy each separately describe their summer, unaware of the other's presence until Sandy mentions Danny's name, which the Pink Ladies recognize.
At a pep rally, Sandy, now acheerleader, flirts with Tom, a football player. Kenickie arrives in "Greased Lightnin'", a heavily used car he plans on restoring todrag race it at Thunder Road. Rizzo and the Pink Ladies surprise Sandy by reuniting her with a shocked Danny. Sandy is thrilled, but Danny makes fun of her to maintain his tough image. Frenchy invites her to a sleepover with the other Pink Ladies that night to make her feel better.
At the sleepover, Rizzo makes fun of Sandy's good girl image and Frenchy announces she is dropping out of Rydell to go to beauty school. The T-Birds crash the party, and Rizzo leaves with Kenickie to have sex in Greased Lightnin' at a nearbymake out spot. While the couple is there, rival greasers Leo and Cha-Cha interrupt them.
Danny motivates the T-Birds to work on the car by saying it will win them both girls and races. Later, he sees Sandy on a date with Tom and tries to apologize for his attitude at the pep rally, but she is unconvinced. Danny tries several sports in order to impress Sandy, eventually succeeding attrack and field. Sandy, bored with Tom, agrees to be Danny's date to an upcoming dance at which the television showNational Bandstand will do a live broadcast from the Rydell gym. Rizzo and Kenickie break up after a fight. After a disastrous beauty class, Frenchy reluctantly decides to return to Rydell to complete her high school education.
At the dance, Rizzo and Kenickie bring Leo and Cha-Cha as their respective dates out of spite. In a ribald dance contest that ends in the T-Birdsmooning the cameras, Danny begins the contest with Sandy before Sonny pushes Sandy off the floor and Cha-Cha cuts in. Danny and Cha-Cha win as Sandy storms off.
To make it up to her, Danny takes Sandy to adrive-in movie and asks her to wear hisring. She accepts, but when he tries to make out with her, she flees the drive-in, leaving Danny hurt. Meanwhile, Rizzo fears that she may be pregnant, and tells Marty. When word reaches Kenickie, he offers to help, but she denies that he is the father.
At Thunder Road, Kenickie's head collides with his own car door, leaving him concussed. Danny takes his place behind the wheel and beats Leo in the race. Sandy decides to change her image and asks Frenchy for help.
At Rydell's graduation carnival, Rizzo discovers that she is not pregnant, and she and Kenickie get back together. Danny shocks the T-Birds by becoming a letterman, and Sandy shocks everyone with a new leather, "greaser" style outfit. She and Danny reconcile and the whole gang vows to "always be together". Danny and Sandy drive off into the sky while their friends wave goodbye.
DirectorRandal Kleiser took numerous liberties with the original source material, most notably moving the setting from an urbanChicago setting (based onWilliam Howard Taft High School[9]), as the original musical had been, to a more suburban locale, reflecting his own teenage years atRadnor High School in the suburbs of Philadelphia. WriterWarren Casey was said to have based the high school onGorton High School inYonkers, New York.[10][11] He had little control over the musical aspects of the film; his choice of theme song, a composition byCharles Fox andPaul Williams, was overruled whenRobert Stigwood andAllan Carr commissioned a song from Stigwood's clientBarry Gibb at the last minute.[12][13]
John Travolta had previously worked with Stigwood onSaturday Night Fever, recorded the top-10 hit "Let Her In" in 1976, and had previously appeared as Doody in a touring production of the stage version ofGrease. As part of a three-picture deal with Stigwood, Travolta was given the lead role afterHenry Winkler (then starring asArthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli onParamount's TV seriesHappy Days) turned down the role for fear of beingtypecast as a greaser character.[14][15] (Winkler would later regret the decision.)[14][16][15] Director Randal Kleiser had never directed a theatrical feature before this but had directed Travolta in the 1976 telefilmThe Boy in the Plastic Bubble; Kleiser helped Travolta maintain focus as he grieved the death ofDiana Hyland (his girlfriend at the time and his on-screen mother inBubble).[14] Before Newton-John was hired,Allan Carr was considering numerous names such asCarrie Fisher,[17][18]Ann-Margret,Deborah Raffin,[19]Susan Dey andMarie Osmond for the lead role. Fisher, who had recently finishedStar Wars, was ultimately rejected because neither Stigwood nor Carr knew if she could sing.[14] Osmond almost took the role before she realized the extent to which the character transformed into a rebel and turned it down[20] to star inGoin' Coconuts instead. Carr eventually chose Newton-John after a chance encounter at a soireé hosted byHelen Reddy.[21] Newton-John had done little acting before this film, with only two film credits (1965'sFunny Things Happen Down Under and the little-seen 1970 filmToomorrow, which predated her singing breakthrough) to her name up to that time; she requested a screen test prior to accepting the role.[21] Newton-John thought that she wasn't going to get cast as she was 28 years old.[22] Newton-John agreed to a reduced asking price in exchange for star billing and the ability to rewrite the script, which included changing her character's origin to an Australian immigrant (to avoid having to emulate an American accent) and making her less passive.[21] In a case of life imitating art, Newton-John's own musical career would undergo a transformation similar to that of the Sandy Olsson character; her next album afterGrease, the provocatively titledTotally Hot, featured a much more sexual and pop-oriented approach, with Newton-John appearing on the album cover in similar all-leather attire and teased hair.[23]
Lorna Luft (who would later be cast inGrease 2) andLucie Arnaz both auditioned for the part of Rizzo, but a talent client of Carr,Stockard Channing, was cast, several years after her last major film role and debut inThe Fortune.[14] At 33 she was the oldest cast member to play a high school student, and Kleiser made her and the other actors playing students take a "crow's feet test" to see whether they could pass for younger in close-ups.[14] Softer focus was used on some of the older actors' faces.[20] Channing lobbied heavily to keep theclimactic song "There Are Worse Things I Could Do" in the score over Carr's objections.[20]
Elvis Presley was considered for the role of The Teen Angel but died before production.[20] Marie Osmond'sbrother andduet partnerDonny Osmond was another potential Teen Angel before Avalon was cast,[20] as wasFrankie Valli, who had been given the choice of either singing the theme or appearing as the Teen Angel (he chose the former, believing the theme to be a better song and more likely hit).[24]Fabian was noted as the inspiration for the role in the musical's script notes, but he and Allan Carr had fallen out after Carr's brief attempt at managing Fabian's stage act in 1974, as Carr determined Fabian's talent was limited to headlining alounge act.[25] Fabian stated in 2025 that he had been offered the role, but had to decline it due to being overseas when the scene was to be filmed. The role would revive Avalon's career on the nostalgia circuit,[26] with Valli noting that both Frankies benefited from their appearances despite "Beauty School Dropout" not being released as a single.[24]
Jeff Conaway, like Travolta, had previously appeared in the stage version ofGrease; he had played Danny Zuko during the show's run on Broadway. He did not get to perform Kenickie's featured number "Greased Lightnin'" due to Travolta's influence and desire to have that song for himself.[20]Jamie Donnelly reprised her role as Jan from the Broadway show, the only cast member to do so; as her hair had begun to gray by this point, she had to dye her hair to resemble her stage character.[27]
Lorenzo Lamas was a last-minute replacement forSteven Ford, who developedstage fright shortly before filming and backed out, andMark Fidrych, who ran into conflicts with his full-time career as a baseball player. His role contained no spoken dialogue and required Lamas to bleach his hair to avoid looking like one of the T-Birds.[27][20]
Adult film starHarry Reems was originally signed to play Coach Calhoun; however, executives at Paramount nixed the idea, concerned that his reputation as a porn star would hinder box office returns in theSouthern United States,[28] and producers castSid Caesar instead.[29] Caesar was one of several veterans of 1950s television (Eve Arden,Frankie Avalon,Joan Blondell,Edd Byrnes,Alice Ghostley,Dody Goodman) to be cast in supporting roles;Paul Lynde was considered for the role Arden ultimately filled,[20] with a scene conceived for Lynde that would have had him in aCarmen Miranda outfit.[14] Coincidentally, Frankie Avalon and Randal Kleiser had both appeared in 1966'sFireball 500, the latter as an extra.[30]
The opening beach scene was shot at Malibu'sLeo Carrillo State Beach, making explicit reference toFrom Here to Eternity. The exterior Rydell scenes, including the front parking lot scenes, the auto shop, the "Summer Nights" bleachers number, Rizzo's "There Are Worse Things I Can Do" number, the basketball, baseball, and track segments, and the interior of the gymnastics gym, were shot atVenice High School inVenice, California, during the summer of 1977. The Rydell interiors, including the high school dance, were filmed atHuntington Park High School. The sleepover was shot at a private house inEast Hollywood. The Paramount Pictures studio lot was the location of the scenes that involve Frosty Palace and the musical numbers "Greased Lightning" and "Beauty School Dropout". The drive-in movie scenes were shot at the Burbank Pickwick Drive-In (it was closed and torn down in 1989 and a shopping center took its place). The race was filmed at theLos Angeles River, between the First and Seventh Street Bridges, where many other films have been shot.[31] The final scene where the carnival took place usedJohn Marshall High School inLos Feliz.[32] Furthermore, owing to budget cuts, a short scene was filmed atHazard Park in Los Angeles.
Scenes inside the Frosty Palace contain obvious blurring of variousCoca-Cola signs.[33] Prior to the film's release, producer Allan Carr had made aproduct placement deal with Coca-Cola's main competitorPepsi (for example, a Pepsi logo can be seen in the animated opening sequence animated byJohn David Wilson atFine Arts Films[34]). When Carr saw the footage of the scene with Coca-Cola products and signage, he ordered director Randal Kleiser to either reshoot the scene with Pepsi products orremove the Coca-Cola logos from the scene. As reshoots were deemed too expensive and time-consuming, optical mattes were used to cover up or blur out the Coca-Cola references. The 'blurring' covered up trademarked menu signage and a large wall poster, but a red cooler with the logo could not be sufficiently altered so was left unchanged. According to Kleiser, "We just had to hope that Pepsi wouldn't complain. They didn't."[35][36]
Due to an editing error, a closing scene in which Danny and Sandy kiss was removed from the finished print and lost before its theatrical release. The scene was preserved only in black-and-white; Kleiser attempted to have the existing footagecolorized and restored to the film for the film's re-release in 1998 but was dissatisfied with the results. The scene is included as an extra on the 40th anniversary home video release, and Kleiser hopes to make another attempt at colorizing the footage that is effective enough for the footage to be inserted into the film as he originally intended by the time the film's 50th anniversary comes in 2028.[37]
Thesoundtrack album ended 1978 as thesecond-best-selling album of the year in the United States, exceeded only byanother soundtrack album, from the filmSaturday Night Fever, which also starred Travolta.[5] The song "Hopelessly Devoted to You" was nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Music – Original Song. The song "You're the One That I Want" was released as a single prior to the film's release and became an immediate chart-topper, despite not being in the stage show or having been seen in the film at that time.[38] Additionally, the dance number to "You're the One That I Want" was nominated for TV Land's award for "Movie Dance Sequence You Reenacted in Your Living Room" in 2008.[39] In the United Kingdom, the two Travolta/Newton-John duets, "You're the One That I Want" and "Summer Nights", were both number one hits and as of 2018[update] were still among the 30 best-selling singles of all time (at Nos. 5 and 28, respectively).[40] The film's title song was also a number-one hit single forFrankie Valli.[41]
The song "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" refers toSal Mineo in the original stage version. Mineo was stabbed to death a year before filming, so the line was changed to refer toElvis Presley instead. The references toTroy Donahue,Doris Day,Rock Hudson andAnnette Funicello are from the original stage version. Coincidentally, this scene as well as the scene before and the scene after it were filmed on August 16, 1977, the date of Presley's death.[42]
Some of the songs were not present in the film; songs that appear in the film but not in the soundtrack are "La Bamba" by Ritchie Valens, "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" byJerry Lee Lewis, "Alma Mater", "Alma Mater Parody", and "Rydell Fight Song". "Alone at a Drive-in Movie (Instrumental)", "Mooning", and "Freddy My Love" are not present in the film, although all three are listed in the end credits in addition to being on the soundtrack. (Both "Mooning" and "Rock'n'Roll Party Queen", the latter of which was played in the film as background music, were written in the musical for a character named Roger that was written out of the film, replaced by the non-singing Putzie. In general, all of the songs in the musical that were performed by characters other than Danny, Rizzo, Sandy, Johnny Casino, or the Teen Angel were either taken out of the film or given to other characters, including Marty Maraschino's number "Freddy My Love", Kenickie's "Greased Lightnin'", and Doody's "Those Magic Changes".) Two songs from the musical, "Shakin' at the High School Hop" and "All Choked Up", were left off both the film and the soundtrack.
The songs appear in the film in the following order:
Grease was originally released in the United States on June 16, 1978, and was an immediate box-office success. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $8,941,717 in 862 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking at number 2 (behindJaws 2) at the box office for the weekend[43] and with the all-time opening weekend records.[44] Despite losing the opening weekend, it topped the box office the following weekend with a gross of $7,867,000 and set a record gross in its first 19 days, with $40,272,000.[45][46] After 66 days, it had grossed $100 million to become Paramount's second-highest-grossing film, behindThe Godfather, and ended its initial run with a gross of $132,472,560,[47][48] which made it thehighest-grossing film in 1978.[49]
In the United States and globally, it became thehighest-grossing musical ever at the time, eclipsing the 13-year-old record held byThe Sound of Music, with a worldwide gross of $341 million.[4]
In the United Kingdom, it opened with a record $2.2 million in its first eight days.[50] It went on to become thehighest-grossing film in the UK, with a gross of £14.7 million.[51]
It was re-released May 18, 1979, in 1,248 theatres in the United States and Canada (except for the New York City area, where it opened a week later), Paramount's biggest ever saturation release at the time, grossing $4.5 million in its opening weekend.[47][48] The film played for four weeks and was then paired with thePG-rated version ofSaturday Night Fever in late June.[48] During the reissue, it overtookThe Godfather asParamount Pictures' highest-grossing film.[52] It was re-released in March 1998 for its 20th anniversary, where it grossed a further $28 million in the United States and Canada.[2]
It remained the highest-grossing live-action musical until 2012 when it was overtaken byLes Misérables,[53] and it remained the US champion until 2017 when it was surpassed byBeauty and the Beast, and again in 2024 withWicked, the first installment of that musical's two-part adaptation.[54] Discounting inflation,Grease is now the seventh-highest-grossing live-action musical worldwide.[53][55]
A further re-issue for its 40th anniversary in 2018 grossed $1 million.[2] To date,Grease has grossed $189,969,103 domestically and $206.2 million internationally, totaling $396 million worldwide.[2] Another re-issue took place in selectAMC Theatres locations in August 2022 to honor Olivia Newton-John following her death earlier that month, with $1 per sold ticket and the proceeds going tobreast cancer research, through a donation by AMC Cares.[56] Similarly, in the UK, selectedMerlin Cinemas venues also reissued the film during August, but partnered withMacmillan Cancer Support, with a contribution of £1 per ticket sold.
Grease is considered by many as one of the best films of 1978.[57][58][59]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 70 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[60] OnRotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 65% approval rating based on 158 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Word is,Grease stars an electrifying John Travolta while serving up some '50s kitsch in a frenetic adaptation that isn't always the one that we want."[61]
First reviews were mixed.[62][63]The New York Times'Vincent Canby called the film "terrific fun", describing it as a "contemporary fantasy about a 1950s teen-age musical—a larger, funnier, wittier and more imaginative-than-Hollywood movie with a life that is all its own". Canby comparedGrease toDon't Knock the Rock (1956) andBeach Party (1963), calling it a "multimillion-dollar evocation" of these "B-picture quickies".[64]Gene Siskel gave the film three stars out of four, calling it "exciting only when John Travolta is on the screen" but still recommending it to viewers, adding, "Four of its musical numbers are genuine showstoppers that should bring applause."[65]Variety praised the "zesty choreography and very excellent new plus revived music", and thought Travolta and Newton-John "play together quite well."[66]
Charles Champlin of theLos Angeles Times was negative, writing, "I didn't seeGrease onstage, but on the testimony of this strident, cluttered, uninvolving and unattractive movie, it is the '50s—maybe the last innocent decade allowed to us—played back through a grotesquely distorting '70s consciousness."[67] Gary Arnold ofThe Washington Post also panned the film, writing, "Despite the obvious attempts to recall bits fromStanley Donen musicals orElvis Presley musicals orFrankie-and-Annette musicals, the spirit is closer to the New Tastelessness exemplified byKen Russell, minus Russell's slick visual style [...] I've never seen an uglier large-scale musical."[68]David Ansen ofNewsweek wrote, "Too often,Grease is simply mediocre, full of broad high-school humor, flat dramatic scenes and lethargic pacing. Fortunately, there's nothing flat about John Travolta [...] when he's on screen you can't watch anyone else."[69]
In a 1998 retrospective review,Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, calling it "an average musical, pleasant and upbeat and plastic." He found John Travolta's Elvis Presley–inspired performance to be the highlight, but felt thatGrease "sees the material as sillycamp."[70] In 2018,Peter Bradshaw fromThe Guardian gave it 5 out of 5 stars, saying "It's still a sugar-rush of a film."[71]Grease was voted the best musical ever onChannel 4's 100 greatest musicals in 2004.[72] The film was ranked number 21 onEntertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies.[73][74]
In recent years, the film has been reassessed for what some critics have deemed as discriminatory and problematic content.[75] Bryn Gelbart fromBusiness Insider wrote that the film had not aged well, describing it as preaching an "unfortunate message" with aspects that could be "considered regressive by today's standards".[76] Kristen Baldwin ofEntertainment Weekly wrote that the ending of the film was "decidedly un-feminist".[77] Katy Hall ofThe Sydney Morning Herald said that the film was "deeply problematic" but also "ahead of its time."[75] Joe Hildebrand ofNews.com.au defended the film, saying that it "isn't horribly sexist and offensive, it's just that its characters say and do horrible, sexist and offensive things [...] In short, they're a lot like, well, people."[78] A 2020 showing of film on theBBC drew complaints from viewers and renewed criticism.[79] Olivia Newton-John responded to the criticism, calling the comments "silly" and saying that the film isn't meant "to be taken so seriously."[80]
| Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards | Best Original Song | "Hopelessly Devoted to You" Music and Lyrics byJohn Farrar | Nominated | [81] |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Nominated | [82] | |
| Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | John Travolta | Nominated | ||
| Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy | Olivia Newton-John | Nominated | ||
| Best Original Song – Motion Picture | "Grease" Music and Lyrics byBarry Gibb | Nominated | ||
| "You're the One That I Want" Music and Lyrics by John Farrar | Nominated | |||
| Golden Screen Awards | Won | |||
| Jupiter Awards | Best International Actor | John Travolta | Nominated | |
| Best International Actress | Olivia Newton-John | Nominated | ||
| National Film Preservation Board | National Film Registry | Inducted | [83] | |
| People's Choice Awards | Favorite Overall Motion Picture | Won | ||
| Favorite Musical Motion Picture | Won | |||
| Favorite Male Musical Performer | John Travolta | Nominated | ||
| Favorite Female Musical Performer | Olivia Newton-John | Won | ||
| Favorite Motion Picture Supporting Actress | Stockard Channing | Won | ||
| Satellite Awards | Best Classic DVD | Nominated | [84] | |
| TV Land Awards | Movie Dance Sequence You Reenacted in Your Living Room | "You're the One That I Want" | Nominated | |
Grease was released in the US onVHS byParamount Home Video in 1979, 1982, 1989, 1992 and 1994; the last VHS release was on June 23, 1998, and was titled the20th Anniversary Edition following a theatrical re-release that March.[85] This one wasTHX certified and consisted of widescreen andpan and scan fullscreen versions.[85]
On September 24, 2002, it was released onDVD for the first time. On September 19, 2006, it was re-released on DVD as theRockin' Rydell Edition, which came with a black Rydell High T-Bird jacket cover, a white Rydell "R" letterman's sweater cover, or theTarget-exclusive Pink Ladies cover. It was released onBlu-ray Disc on May 5, 2009.
On March 12, 2013,Grease andGrease 2 were packaged together in a double feature DVD set fromWarner Home Video.
In connection with the film's 40th anniversary, Paramount releasedGrease on 4KUltra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD on April 24, 2018.[86]
On July 8, 2010, a sing-along version ofGrease was released to selected theaters around the U.S.[87] The film was shown for two weekends only; additional cities lobbied by fans from the Paramount official website started a week later and screened for one weekend.[88]CBS aired this version of the film on June 7, 2020.[89]
Grease 2 (1982) starsMaxwell Caulfield andMichelle Pfeiffer. While several of the Rydell High staff characters reprise their roles, the sequel focused on the latest class of graduating seniors, hence most of the principals fromGrease did not appear.Patricia Birch, the original film's choreographer, directed the sequel. The original musical's cocreatorJim Jacobs, who was not involved in the making ofGrease 2, has disowned the film.
In March 2019, it was announced that a prequel, calledSummer Lovin', was in development fromParamount Players. The project would be a joint-production collaboration withTemple Hill Productions andPicturestart.John August signed on to serve as screenwriter.[90] As of August 2024, there has been no further word on the project.
On August 17, 2009, atelevision series inspired by the film premiered in Venezuela. The series was produced and directed by Vladimir Perez. The show explores and expands on the characters and story from the film.[91][92]
On January 31, 2016,Fox aired alive television-adapted special of the musical, using components from both the 1978 film and the original Broadway show. StarringJulianne Hough,Aaron Tveit, andVanessa Hudgens, the adaptation received positive reviews, especially for Hudgens, and tenEmmy nominations.[93]
On October 15, 2019, it was announced that amusical television series based onGrease, titledGrease: Rydell High, was given a straight-to-series order byHBO Max.[94] Annabel Oakes is set to write the pilot episode and act as executive producer for the series.[95] In 2020, the series' title was changed toGrease: Rise of the Pink Ladies. It premiered onParamount+[96] April 6, 2023. Filming began in January 2022, and the series' cast was announced at the end of the month.[97]Rise of the Pink Ladies released ten episodes in spring 2023 before the series was cancelled and withdrawn from public availability in June.[98]
Despite the fact that Grease was well on its way to becoming the highest-grossing movie musical in the world, and eventually grossed over $341 million...
Although Grease initially received mixed reviews
