“As boyfriends go, Paulie Bleeker is totally boss: He is the cheese to my macaroni.” Fans of writerDiablo Codyknow the dialogue from the award-winningJunoall too well. After all, the coming-of-age film led to Cody receiving the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for her work onJunoat the 2008 ceremony. But it is Cody’s work onJennifer’s Bodythat the author wants to revisit in the form of a sequel. Cody said during an exclusive interview onThe Boo Crewpodcast (perBloody Disgusting):
YES! I wanna do a sequel. I am not done with Jennifer’s Body.
Cody added:
“I just need to find… I need to partner with people who believe in it as much as I do and that hasn’t really happened yet. I need someone to believe in it who has a billion dollars […] I mean it’s gotten progressively happier for me. At first, I was like, I was excited about it, obviously. But I was also a little bit salty because I remember thinking, ‘Well, where was this audience when the movie came out?'”
Despite working steadily over the years following the release ofJennifer’s Body, and amassing credits which includeThe United States of Tara, Young AdultandTully, Cody hasn’t been able to achieve the same critical success she garnered thanks toJuno.
Jennifer’s Body: Why the Film Went From Hated to Loved in a Decade
Despite its initial box office blunder, it’s safe to say that Jennifer’s Body is regarded as a genuine cult classic today, and therein lies its power.
Check Out Jennifer’s Body
Diablo Cody returns to the horror genre with her latest screenplay, which was written forthe upcomingLisa Frankenstein. Back in 2009, the Megan Fox-ledJennifer’s Bodyflopped at the box office. Nevertheless, Cody still has hopes of revisiting the material in the form of a film sequel. Cody said during the same podcast:
“It [Jennifer’s Body] was a critical, commercial failure. I was pretty humiliated to be perfectly honest with you. It was a rough experience having that movie come out. It was rough for me, it was rough for Megan [Fox]… [then] people started suddenly talking about it like it was a good movie, which I had thought all along.”
“At first I just thought, oh where was this audience when I needed it and then I realized they were like… seven. And then some people who maybe didn’t appreciate it at the time have come around and now I’m just like, there’s no saltiness, now I’m just happy.”
The film made only $31.6 million worldwide during its original theatrical release, butJennifer’s Bodyremains one of the funniest horror comediesof all time. Critics lambasted the quirky film, which resulted in the movie registering a mere 46% on the Tomatometer. Meanwhile, fans seem to despise the flick even more, as it currently holds a 35% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Jennifer’s Bodyis available to stream on Max, at the time of this writing. AndLisa Frankensteinopens in theaters on February 9.
For those horror fans who haven’t seen it yet, check out co-star Amanda Seyfried revisiting the film in a 2023 video, courtesy of Vanity Fair (below):
