Get Ready For Those Summer Nights, Because A ‘Grease’ Prequel Is Coming

Get ready for those summer nights, because it's time for a blast from the past. The classic movie musical Grease is getting a prequel that will go back in time to the events that happened before the first movie even begins. The original 1978 movie begins with its two lovebird main characters have a surprise reunion at high school after a summer fling. The Grease sequel will show all the romance and drama that took place during that fateful summer.

In the movie Grease, main characters Danny Zuko (played by John Travolta) and Sandy Olsson (Olivia Newton-John) meet in the 1950s during a summer vacation at the beach, thinking their fleeting romance will be the only time they get to spend together. But their paths cross again when they meet on the first day of their senior year of high school at Rydell High. Goody-two-shoes Sandy transfers into bad boy Danny's school, and suddenly their fling has the possibility of becoming the real deal. The two explain their summer love to their friends through song — it is a musical after all — called "Summer Nights." A key lyric in that song is how the new prequel movie gets it's name: Summer Loving. The new movie will dig into the story of what happened between Danny and Sandy that summer, but fans can basically get a succinct summary of it in Grease's "Summer Nights:"

Since Grease came out over 40 years ago, Travolta and Newton-John are probably a bit too old now to play their teenaged characters. But, the two do stay in touch all these years later, so maybe they could be involved with Summer Loving when production begins. In fact, Newton-John told Entertainment Weekly that she and Travolta still value their time working on Grease. She said, “We text! We did something life-changing, making that film. I feel grateful to have worked with him.”

Summer Loving is actually not the first addition to the Grease cinematic universe. In 1982, Grease 2 was released, but it was not nearly as successful as the first movie. Grease 2 looked at life for a new group of high schoolers at Rydell High, so part of the reason it wasn't well-received may have been because audiences missed seeing Danny, Sandy, and their group of friends. That's good news for Summer Loving, since the prequel will focus on everyone's favorite 1950s couple Danny and Sandy. Although, some fans are hopeful that a Grease prequel will actually focus on some of the side characters instead:

Grease is filled with dozens of interesting side characters, from the Pink Ladies to Danny's group of friends known as the T-Birds. There's a lot to explore in the story of how Danny and Sandy met, but there's also just as much to look at in the backstories of the other characters. After all, the audience meets them when they're seniors, but what did the previous years of high school look like for them? Right now, it's only confirmed that Summer Loving will focus on Danny and Sandy, but it would be exciting to see even more characters again.

Since Summer Loving was just announced, there's no word yet on when it'll be released, let alone when production will begin. But, hopefully Danny and Sandy will be back on the big screen in time for next summer's nights.