Even the folks at Netflix couldn’t have thought that Wednesday would turn into the hit that it did. The Addams Family property is one that many in the cultural zeitgeist are aware of, however, many would be hard pressed to believe that the mythology within that franchise is as rich as Tim Burton has been able to make it with the series. One of the reasons for that is for Jenna Ortega who plays the titular Wednesday Addams, and she has lined up her next project.

According to an exclusive from Deadline, Ortega will re-team with Percy Hynes White, who plays Xavier Thorpe on Wednesday for the romantic drama, Winter Spring Summer or Fall. The film will be the directorial debut of Tiffany Paulsen with Ortega serving as an executive producer on the project. Winter Spring Summer or Fall is described as Before Sunrise meets The Perks of Being a Wallflower following two teens coming-of-age into adulthood who meet and fall in love over four days throughout the year in all four seasons, hence the title of the flick.

Ortega has been skyrocketing to stardom due to Wednesday but has had a massive year in film and television. The young Latina was recently nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in the Netflix original but also starred in horror films Scream 5 and X in 2022. She’ll next be seen in Scream 6 which hits theaters in March 2023. The highly in-demand actress will also star in a crime thriller for Paramount titled Finest Kind alongside Ben Foster and Tommy Lee Jones as well as Miller’s Girl for Lionsgate where she’ll star with Martin Freeman. Ortega’s co-star Hynes White is best known for his lead role in Fox’s X-Men based series, The Gifted where he played Andy Strucker.

Paulsen is best known for writing the Netflix holiday rom com Holidate which starred Emma Roberts. Additionally, Paulsen also wrote About Fate which stars Roberts, Thomas Mann, Madelaine Petsch and Britt Robertson which is streaming currently on Amazon.

With the long-awaited continuations of Disney stories such as Enchanted, The Santa Clause, The Mighty Ducks, Willow, etc. being released and in development, it seems that Disney has more stories they want to tell in The Princess Diaries universe. 

According to a report from The Hollywood Reporter, Disney has hired writer Aadrita Mukerji to pen a script for a new installment which will act as a continuation of the story and not a reboot. Though Anne Hathaway has yet to sign on, she has previously publicly expressed interest in returning and stated support for a third installment. The hope for the house of mouse, is that if Hathaway is a fan of the script, she’ll sign on.

The Princess Diaries released in 2001, with the subsequent film arriving in 2004. The two films combined grossed $300 million globally and are still in the pop culture stratosphere today. Hathaway played an American teenager who discovers that she is a successor to royalty in the European kingdom, Genovia. The Oscar-winning actress starred in both movies alongside Julie Andrews and were directed by the late filmmaker, Garry Marshall.

Mukerji has previously written for television, most recently for The CW’s Supergirl, Amazon’s Reacher and the new broadcast hit for NBC, the reboot of Quantum Leap.

Absurdity. Sheer coincidental ridiculousness. Lashings of social media bravado. There are many reasons why Kat Coiro’s Marry Me shouldn’t work, yet it leaves a taste so endearingly sweet that even a rom-com philistine couldn’t resist melting into its charm. 

On the final night of her sellout tour, superstar Kat Valdez (Jennifer Lopez) is due to marry her beau Bastian (Maluma) live in front of 20 million people. After a video of him kissing her assistant goes viral, Kat spontaneously decides to marry a man in the crowd—unsuspecting maths teacher Charlie (Owen Wilson). While the two figure out how to navigate married life, they must also try and fit into each others’ worlds. 

Global society has arguably been starved of a successful romantic comedy for the last few years. Ranking Marry Me amongst its predecessors, it effortlessly ticks most (if not all) of the genre’s checklist. It’s borderline trashy, has a heartthrob and heroine worth rooting for, scenes of blistering joy and the all-important ‘happy ever after’. While it’s hugely enjoyable on a surface level, the dramatic meat proves more satisfying thanks to its amount of nuanced layers. Marry Me looks the downfalls of modern life directly in the eye, questioning digital privacy, the price of fame and the framework of fake fulfilment fuelled by beasts of capitalism.

There isn’t a single misstep in its casting, yet Jennifer Lopez shines in the type of role she always masters. Hunkering down on some seriously humbling acting, she encapsulates the essence of Kat Valdez as if she were playing her truth (which, let’s face it, she most likely is). Pairing moments of visual joy with an undeniably catchy soundtrack, she reminds us of exactly who the JLo brand is—a powerhouse all-rounder.

Owen Wilson and the rest of the cast make for the ideal, sweetened ensemble. It’s surprisingly refreshing to see an otherwise unlikely duo matched in age—Maluma’s 28 years of beefcake much more inline with the Hollywood romantic standard. Alongside Wilson’s textbook charm offensive of an everyday Joe, standouts include Sarah Silverman’s sapphic nonchalance and John Bradley’s quiet assertion (already riding on standalone success in Moonfall). 

For many reasons, the eye of the audience is fully enraptured in Marry Me’s narrative. Originally based on a graphic novel of the same name, the cinema adaptation is filmed almost like a reality TV show, making the overall experience feel incredibly immersive. This extends to the incorporation of social media feeds, bridging the gap between the unwilling (Wilson) and the consumed (Lopez). There are multiple moments where Marry Me feels like front row seats at a real life concert, with glowing musical numbers peppering the movie’s structure.

As far as romantic comedies go, Marry Me drives its presence forward with full throttle. Perhaps too on the nose, too bogged down in the hype of social media and too coincidental for the sake of realism—all of these elements successfully make it a lovable rom-com for the millennial age.