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Wikipedia

Grease (film)

January 26, 2023

Grease is a 1978 American musical romantic comedy film based on the 1971 musical of the same name by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Written by Bronte Woodard[2] (adaptation by Allan Carr) and directed by Randal Kleiser in his theatrical feature film debut, the film depicts the lives of greaser Danny Zuko and Australian transfer student Sandy Olsson, who develop an attraction for each other during a summer romance. The film stars John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John as Danny and Sandy.

Grease
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRandal Kleiser
Screenplay byBronte Woodard
Adaptation byAllan Carr
Based on
Grease
by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyBill Butler
Edited by
Music byMichael Gibson
Production
companies
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • June 16, 1978 (1978-06-16)
Running time
110 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$6 million[1]
Box office$366.2 million[1]

Released on June 16, 1978, Grease was successful both critically and commercially, becoming the highest-grossing musical film ever at the time.[3] Its soundtrack album ended 1978 as the second-best-selling album of the year in the United States, behind the soundtrack of the 1977 blockbuster Saturday Night Fever (which also starred Travolta)[4] and earned an Oscar nomination for "Hopelessly Devoted to You" at the 51st Academy Awards. In 2020, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[5][6]

Launching the franchise of the same name, a sequel, Grease 2, was released in 1982, starring Maxwell Caulfield and Michelle Pfeiffer as a newer class of greasers. Few of the original cast members reprised their roles. As of 2020, a Paramount+ series, Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, based on Grease, and a prequel, titled Summer Lovin', are in production.[7][8]

Plot

In the summer of 1958, local boy Danny Zuko and vacationing Australian Sandy Olsson meet at the beach and fall in love. When the summer comes to an end, Sandy frets that they may never meet again, but Danny tells her that their love is "only the beginning".

At the start of the seniors' term at Rydell High School, Danny resumes his role as leader of the T-Birds greaser gang consisting of Doody, Sonny, Putzie, and his best friend Kenickie. Sandy's parents remain in America and enroll Sandy at Rydell where she meets greaser girl clique the Pink Ladies consisting of Frenchy, Marty, Jan and leader Rizzo.

Danny and Sandy recount their brief romance to their respective groups, Sandy recalling a romantic summer and Danny implying a more physical experience. When Sandy finally says Danny's name, Rizzo arranges a surprise reunion at a pep rally where Sandy meets Tom, a jock, and Kenickie unveils his new used car, Greased Lightnin', which he plans on street racing after a restoration. Caught between his feelings and his bad-boy reputation, Danny snubs Sandy in front of his gang and she becomes upset.

At a Pink Ladies pajama party, Sandy falls ill from drinking, trying a cigarette, and having her ears pierced by Frenchy, while Rizzo, after mocking Sandy's wholesome and chaste personality, departs for sex with Kenickie in his car, during which their condom breaks; they are disturbed by Leo, leader of the rival gang, the Scorpions, and his girlfriend Cha-Cha. After the slumber party comes to an end, Sandy realizes she still loves Danny after all.

The next day, Danny apologizes to Sandy for having brushed her off the night earlier and, with Coach Calhoun's help, becomes a runner and successfully wins her back from Tom, but their friends crash their date, and Kenickie and Rizzo break up after an argument. After a disastrous beauty class leaves Frenchy with candy-pink hair, she reluctantly decides to return to Rydell to complete her high-school education.

During the school dance, broadcast live on National Bandstand and hosted by DJ Vince Fontaine, Rizzo and Kenickie spite each other by bringing Leo and Cha-Cha as their dates. In a chaotic hand jive, Danny and Sandy dance well, but just before the winners are announced, Sonny pulls Sandy away and Cha-Cha cuts in to win with Danny, as Sandy storms out. Danny tries to make it up to Sandy by taking her to a drive-in theater but she flees in horror after he attempts to have sex with her. Rizzo fears she is pregnant after missing a period and confides in Marty, who tells Sonny, who inadvertently spreads the rumor to the apparent father Kenickie, though Rizzo denies it to him.

On race day, Kenickie is concussed by his own car door, so Danny takes the wheel, winning the race after Leo spins out. Sandy, watching from afar and delighted with Danny's victory, concludes she still loves him and enlists Frenchy's help in changing her attitude and looks to impress him.

On the last day of school, Rizzo finds she is not pregnant and reunites with Kenickie. Danny and Sandy each find they have changed for each other: Danny has become a letterman, and Sandy a greaser girl. The two depart in the Greased Lightnin' car, which takes flight.

Cast

Principal cast

Protagonists

T-Birds

Pink Ladies

Secondary cast

Students

School staff

Others

Production

Director Randal Kleiser took numerous liberties with the original source material, most notably moving the setting from an urban Chicago setting (based on William Howard Taft High School[9]), as the original musical had been, to a more suburban locale, reflecting his own teenage years at Radnor High School in the suburbs of Philadelphia.[7] He had little control over the musical aspects of the film; his choice of theme song, a composition by Charles Fox and Paul Williams, was overruled when Robert Stigwood and Allan Carr commissioned a song from Stigwood's client Barry Gibb at the last minute, which displeased Kleiser.[10][11]

Casting

John Travolta had previously worked with Stigwood on Saturday 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 of Grease. He made a number of casting recommendations that Stigwood ultimately accepted, including suggesting Kleiser (who had never directed a theatrical feature before this but had directed Travolta in the 1976 telefilm The Boy in the Plastic Bubble) as director, and Olivia Newton-John, then known almost exclusively as a multiple Grammy winning pop and country singer, as Sandy. Newton-John had done little acting before this film, with only two film credits (1965's Funny Things Happen Down Under and the little-seen 1970 film Toomorrow, which predated her singing breakthrough) to her name up to that time. Before accepting the role, Newton-John requested a screen test for Grease to avoid another career setback.[12] The screen test was done with the drive-in movie scene. Newton-John, who was born in England and spent most of her childhood in Australia, was unable to perform with a convincing American accent, and thus her character was rewritten to be Australian. Before Newton-John was hired, Allan Carr was considering numerous names such as Carrie Fisher,[13][14] Ann-Margret, Deborah Raffin,[15] Susan Dey and Marie Osmond for the lead role. Osmond almost took the role before she realized the extent to which the character transformed into a rebel and turned it down[16] to star in Goin' Coconuts instead. Newton-John agreed to a reduced asking price in exchange for star billing.[12] 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 after Grease, the provocatively titled Totally 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.[17]

Lucie Arnaz 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 in The Fortune.[18] 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.[18] Softer focus was used on some of the older actors' faces.[16] Channing lobbied heavily to keep the climactic song "There Are Worse Things I Could Do" in the score over Carr's objections.[16]

Henry Winkler turned down the role of Danny Zuko for fear of being typecast as a greaser, having been playing the similar bad-boy greaser Arthur Fonzarelli on Happy Days since 1974. Winkler would later regret the decision.[18][19]

Elvis Presley was considered for the role of The Teen Angel but died before production.[16] Marie Osmond's brother and duet partner Donny Osmond was another potential Teen Angel before Avalon was cast,[16] as was Frankie Valli, who had been given the choice of either singing the theme or appearing as the Teen Angel (he chose the former).[20]

Jeff Conaway, like Travolta, had previously appeared in the stage version of Grease; 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.[16] 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.[21] Kelly Ward had previously appeared as a similar sarcastic supporting character in The Boy in the Plastic Bubble with Travolta under Kleiser; he was cast as Putzie, a mostly new character.

Lorenzo Lamas was a last-minute replacement for Steven Ford, who developed stage fright shortly before filming and backed out, and Mark 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.[21][16]

Adult film star Harry 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 the Southern United States,[22] and producers cast Sid Caesar instead.[23] 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.[16] Coincidentally, Frankie Avalon and Randal Kleiser had both appeared in 1966's Fireball 500, the latter as an extra.

Filming locations

The opening beach scene was shot at Malibu's Leo Carrillo State Beach, making explicit reference to From 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 at Venice High School in Venice, California, during the summer of 1977. The Rydell interiors, including the high school dance, were filmed at Huntington Park High School. The sleepover was shot at a private house in East 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 the Los Angeles River, between the First and Seventh Street Bridges, where many other films have been shot.[24] The final scene where the carnival took place used John Marshall High School.[25] Furthermore, owing to budget cuts, a short scene was filmed at Hazard Park in Los Angeles.

Post-production

Scenes inside the Frosty Palace contain obvious blurring of various Coca-Cola signs.[26] Prior to the film's release, producer Allan Carr had made a product placement deal with Coca-Cola's main competitor Pepsi (for example, a Pepsi logo can be seen in the animated opening sequence animated by John David Wilson at Fine Arts Films[27]). 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 or remove 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."[28][29]

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 footage colorized 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.[30]

Release

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 (behind Jaws 2) at the box office for the weekend[31] and with the all-time opening weekend records.[32] 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.[33][34] After 66 days, it had grossed $100 million to become Paramount's second-highest-grossing film, behind The Godfather, and ended its initial run with a gross of $132,472,560,[35][36] which made it the highest-grossing film in 1978.[37]

In the United States and globally, it became the highest-grossing musical ever at the time, eclipsing the 13-year-old record held by The Sound of Music, with a worldwide gross of $341 million.[3]

In the United Kingdom, it opened with a record $2.2 million in its first eight days.[38] It went on to become the highest-grossing film in the UK, with a gross of £14.7 million.[39]

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.[35][36] The film played for four weeks and was then paired with the PG-rated version of Saturday Night Fever in late June.[36] During the reissue, it overtook The Godfather as Paramount Pictures' highest-grossing film.[40] It was re-released in March 1998 for its 20th anniversary, where it grossed a further $28 million in the United States and Canada.[1]

It remained the highest-grossing live-action musical until 2012 when it was overtaken by Les Misérables,[41] and it remained the US champion until 2017 when it was surpassed by Beauty and the Beast.[42] Discounting inflation, Grease is now the seventh-highest-grossing live-action musical worldwide.[41]

A further re-issue for its 40th anniversary in 2018 grossed $1 million.[1] To date, Grease has grossed $189,969,103 domestically and $206.2 million internationally, totaling $396 million worldwide.[1] Another re-issue took place in select AMC 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 to breast cancer research, through a donation by AMC Cares.[43] Similarly, in the UK, selected Merlin Cinemas venues also reissued the film during August, but partnered with Macmillan Cancer Support, with a contribution of £1 per ticket sold.[44]

Reception

Grease received mostly positive reviews from film critics[45] and is considered by many as one of the best films of 1978.[46][47][48][49]

The New York Times' Vincent Canby, on its initial release in June 1978, 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 pointed out that the film was "somewhat in the manner of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which recalls the science-fiction films of the '50s in a manner more elegant and more benign than anything that was ever made then, Grease is a multimillion-dollar evocation of the B-picture quickies that Sam Katzman used to turn out in the '50s (Don't Knock the Rock, 1956) and that American International carried to the sea in the 1960s (Beach Party, 1963)."[50] 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."[51] Variety praised the "zesty choreography and very excellent new plus revived music", and thought Travolta and Newton-John "play together quite well."[52] Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times was negative, writing, "I didn't see Grease 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."[53] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post also panned the film, writing, "Despite the obvious attempts to recall bits from Stanley Donen musicals or Elvis Presley musicals or Frankie-and-Annette musicals, the spirit is closer to the New Tastelessness exemplified by Ken Russell, minus Russell's slick visual style ... I've never seen an uglier large-scale musical."[54] David Ansen of Newsweek 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 ... Travolta can't dominate this movie as he did Fever, but when he's on screen you can't watch anyone else."[55]

Retrospective reviews have generally been positive. In a 1998 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 that Grease "sees the material as silly camp."[56] In 2018, Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian gave it 5 out of 5 stars, saying "It's still a sugar-rush of a film."[57]

Grease was voted the best musical ever on Channel 4's 100 greatest musicals in 2004.[58] On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 76% approval rating based on 75 reviews, with an average rating of 7.00/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Grease is a pleasing, energetic musical with infectiously catchy songs and an ode to young love that never gets old."[59] On Metacritic, it holds a score of 70 out of 100 based on 15 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[45]

The film was ranked number 21 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies.[60][61]

Home media

Grease was released in the US on VHS by Paramount Home Video in 1979, 1982, 1989, 1992 and 1994; the last VHS release was on June 23, 1998, and was titled the 20th Anniversary Edition following a theatrical re-release that March.

On September 24, 2002, it was released on DVD for the first time. On September 19, 2006, it was re-released on DVD as the Rockin' Rydell Edition, which came with a black Rydell High T-Bird jacket cover, a white Rydell "R" letterman's sweater cover, or the Target-exclusive Pink Ladies cover. It was released on Blu-ray Disc on May 5, 2009.

On March 12, 2013, Grease and Grease 2 were packaged together in a double feature DVD set from Warner Home Video.

In connection with the film's 40th anniversary, Paramount released Grease on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD on April 24, 2018.[62]

Awards and nominations

Award Category Recipient(s) Result
Academy Awards[63] Best Original Song "Hopelessly Devoted to You"
Music and Lyrics by John Farrar 		Nominated
Golden Globe Awards[64] Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Nominated
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 by Barry 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
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[65] Best Classic DVD Nominated
TV Land Awards Movie Dance Sequence You Reenacted in Your Living Room "You're the One That I Want" Nominated

American Film Institute recognition

Legacy

Sequel

Grease 2 (1982) stars Maxwell Caulfield and Michelle 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 from Grease did not appear. Patricia Birch, the original film's choreographer, directed the sequel. The original musical's cocreator Jim Jacobs, who was not involved in the making of Grease 2, has disowned the film.

Sing-along version

On July 8, 2010, a sing-along version of Grease was released to selected theaters around the U.S.[66] A trailer was released in May 2010, with cigarettes digitally removed from certain scenes, implying heavy editing; however, Paramount confirmed these changes were done only for the film's advertising,[67] and the rating for the film itself changed from its original PG to that of PG-13 (as that rating had not been introduced until 1984) for "sexual content including references, teen smoking and drinking, and language."[68] 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.[69]

On May 15, 2020, it was announced that CBS, a subsidiary of ViacomCBS, which also owns Paramount, would air this version of the film on June 7, 2020, which was to be the date of the 74th Tony Awards, which was postponed indefinitely due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.[70]

Prequel

In March 2019, it was announced that a prequel, called Summer Lovin', was in development from Paramount Players. The project would be a joint-production collaboration with Temple Hill Productions and Picturestart. John August signed on to serve as screenwriter.[8]

Soundtrack

Main article: Grease: The Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture

The soundtrack album ended 1978 as the second-best-selling album of the year in the United States, exceeded only by another soundtrack album, from the film Saturday Night Fever, which also starred Travolta.[4] The song "Hopelessly Devoted to You" was nominated for an Academy 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.[71] 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.[72] 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 were still among the 30 best-selling singles of all time (at Nos. 5 and 28, respectively).[73] The film's title song was also a number-one hit single for Frankie Valli.[74]

The song "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" refers to Sal Mineo in the original stage version. Mineo was stabbed to death a year before filming, so the line was changed to refer to Elvis Presley instead. The references to Troy Donohue, Doris Day, Rock Hudson and Annette 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.[75]

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" by Jerry 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:

  1. "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing"
  2. "Grease"
  3. "Alma Mater"
  4. "Summer Nights" – Danny, Sandy, Pink Ladies and T-Birds
  5. "Rydell Fight Song" – Rydell Marching Band
  6. "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" – Rizzo and Pink Ladies
  7. "Hopelessly Devoted to You" – Sandy
  8. "Greased Lightnin'" – Danny and T-Birds
  9. "La Bamba"
  10. "It's Raining on Prom Night"
  11. "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On"
  12. "Beauty School Dropout" – Teen Angel and Female Angels
  13. "Rock n' Roll Party Queen"
  14. "Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay"
  15. "Those Magic Changes" – Johnny Casino and the Gamblers; Danny sings along onscreen
  16. "Tears on My Pillow" – Johnny Casino and the Gamblers
  17. "Hound Dog" – Johnny Casino and the Gamblers
  18. "Born to Hand Jive" – Johnny Casino and the Gamblers
  19. "Blue Moon" – Johnny Casino and the Gamblers
  20. "Sandy" – Danny
  21. "There are Worse Things I Could Do" – Rizzo
  22. "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" (Reprise) – Sandy
  23. "Alma Mater Parody" (Instrumental)
  24. "You're the One That I Want" – Danny, Sandy, Pink Ladies, and T-Birds
  25. "We Go Together" – Cast
  26. "Grease" (Reprise)

Television

Main articles: Somos tú y yo and Grease: Live

On August 17, 2009, a television 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.[76][77]

On January 31, 2016, Fox aired a live television-adapted special of the musical, using components from both the 1978 film and the original Broadway show. Starring Julianne Hough, Aaron Tveit, and Vanessa Hudgens, the adaptation received positive reviews, especially for Hudgens, and ten Emmy nominations.[78]

On October 15, 2019, it was announced that a musical television series based on Grease, titled Grease: Rydell High, was given a straight-to-series order by HBO Max.[79] Annabel Oakes is set to write the pilot episode and act as executive producer for the series.[80] In 2020, the series' title was changed to Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies and will premiere on Paramount+.[81] Filming began in January 2022, and the series' cast was announced at the end of the month.[82]

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  13. ^ Hood, Micaela (January 27, 2016). "Carrie Fisher could have played Sandy in 'Grease'". New York Daily News. Retrieved October 27, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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January 26, 2023
grease, film, grease, 1978, american, musical, romantic, comedy, film, based, 1971, musical, same, name, jacobs, warren, casey, written, bronte, woodard, adaptation, allan, carr, directed, randal, kleiser, theatrical, feature, film, debut, film, depicts, lives. Grease is a 1978 American musical romantic comedy film based on the 1971 musical of the same name by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey Written by Bronte Woodard 2 adaptation by Allan Carr and directed by Randal Kleiser in his theatrical feature film debut the film depicts the lives of greaser Danny Zuko and Australian transfer student Sandy Olsson who develop an attraction for each other during a summer romance The film stars John Travolta and Olivia Newton John as Danny and Sandy GreaseTheatrical release posterDirected byRandal KleiserScreenplay byBronte WoodardAdaptation byAllan CarrBased onGreaseby Jim JacobsWarren CaseyProduced byRobert Stigwood Allan CarrStarringJohn Travolta Olivia Newton John Stockard Channing Eve Arden Frankie Avalon Joan Blondell Edd Byrnes Sid Caesar Alice Ghostley Dody Goodman Sha Na NaCinematographyBill ButlerEdited byJohn F Burnett Robert PergamentMusic byMichael GibsonProductioncompaniesParamount Pictures Allan Carr Productions RSO Records Polydor RecordsDistributed byParamount PicturesRelease dateJune 16 1978 1978 06 16 Running time110 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishBudget 6 million 1 Box office 366 2 million 1 Released on June 16 1978 Grease was successful both critically and commercially becoming the highest grossing musical film ever at the time 3 Its soundtrack album ended 1978 as the second best selling album of the year in the United States behind the soundtrack of the 1977 blockbuster Saturday Night Fever which also starred Travolta 4 and earned an Oscar nomination for Hopelessly Devoted to You at the 51st Academy Awards In 2020 the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being culturally historically or aesthetically significant 5 6 Launching the franchise of the same name a sequel Grease 2 was released in 1982 starring Maxwell Caulfield and Michelle Pfeiffer as a newer class of greasers Few of the original cast members reprised their roles As of 2020 a Paramount series Grease Rise of the Pink Ladies based on Grease and a prequel titled Summer Lovin are in production 7 8 Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 2 1 Principal cast 2 1 1 Protagonists 2 1 2 T Birds 2 1 3 Pink Ladies 2 2 Secondary cast 2 2 1 Students 2 2 2 School staff 2 2 3 Others 3 Production 3 1 Casting 3 2 Filming locations 3 3 Post production 4 Release 5 Reception 6 Home media 6 1 Awards and nominations 6 2 American Film Institute recognition 7 Legacy 7 1 Sequel 7 2 Sing along version 7 3 Prequel 8 Soundtrack 9 Television 10 References 11 External linksPlot EditIn the summer of 1958 local boy Danny Zuko and vacationing Australian Sandy Olsson meet at the beach and fall in love When the summer comes to an end Sandy frets that they may never meet again but Danny tells her that their love is only the beginning At the start of the seniors term at Rydell High School Danny resumes his role as leader of the T Birds greaser gang consisting of Doody Sonny Putzie and his best friend Kenickie Sandy s parents remain in America and enroll Sandy at Rydell where she meets greaser girl clique the Pink Ladies consisting of Frenchy Marty Jan and leader Rizzo Danny and Sandy recount their brief romance to their respective groups Sandy recalling a romantic summer and Danny implying a more physical experience When Sandy finally says Danny s name Rizzo arranges a surprise reunion at a pep rally where Sandy meets Tom a jock and Kenickie unveils his new used car Greased Lightnin which he plans on street racing after a restoration Caught between his feelings and his bad boy reputation Danny snubs Sandy in front of his gang and she becomes upset At a Pink Ladies pajama party Sandy falls ill from drinking trying a cigarette and having her ears pierced by Frenchy while Rizzo after mocking Sandy s wholesome and chaste personality departs for sex with Kenickie in his car during which their condom breaks they are disturbed by Leo leader of the rival gang the Scorpions and his girlfriend Cha Cha After the slumber party comes to an end Sandy realizes she still loves Danny after all The next day Danny apologizes to Sandy for having brushed her off the night earlier and with Coach Calhoun s help becomes a runner and successfully wins her back from Tom but their friends crash their date and Kenickie and Rizzo break up after an argument After a disastrous beauty class leaves Frenchy with candy pink hair she reluctantly decides to return to Rydell to complete her high school education During the school dance broadcast live on National Bandstand and hosted by DJ Vince Fontaine Rizzo and Kenickie spite each other by bringing Leo and Cha Cha as their dates In a chaotic hand jive Danny and Sandy dance well but just before the winners are announced Sonny pulls Sandy away and Cha Cha cuts in to win with Danny as Sandy storms out Danny tries to make it up to Sandy by taking her to a drive in theater but she flees in horror after he attempts to have sex with her Rizzo fears she is pregnant after missing a period and confides in Marty who tells Sonny who inadvertently spreads the rumor to the apparent father Kenickie though Rizzo denies it to him On race day Kenickie is concussed by his own car door so Danny takes the wheel winning the race after Leo spins out Sandy watching from afar and delighted with Danny s victory concludes she still loves him and enlists Frenchy s help in changing her attitude and looks to impress him On the last day of school Rizzo finds she is not pregnant and reunites with Kenickie Danny and Sandy each find they have changed for each other Danny has become a letterman and Sandy a greaser girl The two depart in the Greased Lightnin car which takes flight Cast EditPrincipal cast Edit Protagonists Edit John Travolta as Danny Zuko Olivia Newton John as Sandy OlssonT Birds Edit Jeff Conaway as Kenickie Barry Pearl as Doody Michael Tucci as Sonny LaTierri Kelly Ward as PutziePink Ladies Edit Stockard Channing as Betty Rizzo Didi Conn as Frenchy Jamie Donnelly as Jan Dinah Manoff as Marty MaraschinoSecondary cast Edit Students Edit Eddie Deezen as Eugene Felsnic Susan Buckner as Patricia Patty Simcox Lorenzo Lamas as Thomas Tom Chisum Dennis Cleveland Stewart as Leo Crater Face Balmudo Annette Charles as Charlene Cha Cha DiGregorioSchool staff Edit Eve Arden as Principal McGee Dody Goodman as Blanche Hodel Sid Caesar as Coach Vince Calhoun Alice Ghostley as Mrs Murdock Darrell Zwerling as Mr Lynch Dick Patterson as Mr Rudie Fannie Flagg as Nurse WilkinsOthers Edit Joan Blondell as Vi Frankie Avalon as Teen Angel Edd Byrnes as Vince Fontaine Johnny Contardo and Sha Na Na as Johnny Casino amp The Gamblers Ellen Travolta as a Frosty Palace waitressProduction EditDirector Randal Kleiser took numerous liberties with the original source material most notably moving the setting from an urban Chicago setting based on William Howard Taft High School 9 as the original musical had been to a more suburban locale reflecting his own teenage years at Radnor High School in the suburbs of Philadelphia 7 He had little control over the musical aspects of the film his choice of theme song a composition by Charles Fox and Paul Williams was overruled when Robert Stigwood and Allan Carr commissioned a song from Stigwood s client Barry Gibb at the last minute which displeased Kleiser 10 11 Casting Edit John Travolta had previously worked with Stigwood on Saturday 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 of Grease He made a number of casting recommendations that Stigwood ultimately accepted including suggesting Kleiser who had never directed a theatrical feature before this but had directed Travolta in the 1976 telefilm The Boy in the Plastic Bubble as director and Olivia Newton John then known almost exclusively as a multiple Grammy winning pop and country singer as Sandy Newton John had done little acting before this film with only two film credits 1965 s Funny Things Happen Down Under and the little seen 1970 film Toomorrow which predated her singing breakthrough to her name up to that time Before accepting the role Newton John requested a screen test for Grease to avoid another career setback 12 The screen test was done with the drive in movie scene Newton John who was born in England and spent most of her childhood in Australia was unable to perform with a convincing American accent and thus her character was rewritten to be Australian Before Newton John was hired Allan Carr was considering numerous names such as Carrie Fisher 13 14 Ann Margret Deborah Raffin 15 Susan Dey and Marie Osmond for the lead role Osmond almost took the role before she realized the extent to which the character transformed into a rebel and turned it down 16 to star in Goin Coconuts instead Newton John agreed to a reduced asking price in exchange for star billing 12 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 after Grease the provocatively titled Totally 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 17 Lucie Arnaz 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 in The Fortune 18 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 18 Softer focus was used on some of the older actors faces 16 Channing lobbied heavily to keep the climactic song There Are Worse Things I Could Do in the score over Carr s objections 16 Henry Winkler turned down the role of Danny Zuko for fear of being typecast as a greaser having been playing the similar bad boy greaser Arthur Fonzarelli on Happy Days since 1974 Winkler would later regret the decision 18 19 Elvis Presley was considered for the role of The Teen Angel but died before production 16 Marie Osmond s brother and duet partner Donny Osmond was another potential Teen Angel before Avalon was cast 16 as was Frankie Valli who had been given the choice of either singing the theme or appearing as the Teen Angel he chose the former 20 Jeff Conaway like Travolta had previously appeared in the stage version of Grease 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 16 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 21 Kelly Ward had previously appeared as a similar sarcastic supporting character in The Boy in the Plastic Bubble with Travolta under Kleiser he was cast as Putzie a mostly new character Lorenzo Lamas was a last minute replacement for Steven Ford who developed stage fright shortly before filming and backed out and Mark 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 21 16 Adult film star Harry 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 the Southern United States 22 and producers cast Sid Caesar instead 23 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 16 Coincidentally Frankie Avalon and Randal Kleiser had both appeared in 1966 s Fireball 500 the latter as an extra Filming locations Edit The opening beach scene was shot at Malibu s Leo Carrillo State Beach making explicit reference to From 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 at Venice High School in Venice California during the summer of 1977 The Rydell interiors including the high school dance were filmed at Huntington Park High School The sleepover was shot at a private house in East 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 the Los Angeles River between the First and Seventh Street Bridges where many other films have been shot 24 The final scene where the carnival took place used John Marshall High School 25 Furthermore owing to budget cuts a short scene was filmed at Hazard Park in Los Angeles Post production Edit Scenes inside the Frosty Palace contain obvious blurring of various Coca Cola signs 26 Prior to the film s release producer Allan Carr had made a product placement deal with Coca Cola s main competitor Pepsi for example a Pepsi logo can be seen in the animated opening sequence animated by John David Wilson at Fine Arts Films 27 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 or remove 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 28 29 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 footage colorized 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 30 Release EditGrease 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 behind Jaws 2 at the box office for the weekend 31 and with the all time opening weekend records 32 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 33 34 After 66 days it had grossed 100 million to become Paramount s second highest grossing film behind The Godfather and ended its initial run with a gross of 132 472 560 35 36 which made it the highest grossing film in 1978 37 In the United States and globally it became the highest grossing musical ever at the time eclipsing the 13 year old record held by The Sound of Music with a worldwide gross of 341 million 3 In the United Kingdom it opened with a record 2 2 million in its first eight days 38 It went on to become the highest grossing film in the UK with a gross of 14 7 million 39 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 35 36 The film played for four weeks and was then paired with the PG rated version of Saturday Night Fever in late June 36 During the reissue it overtook The Godfather as Paramount Pictures highest grossing film 40 It was re released in March 1998 for its 20th anniversary where it grossed a further 28 million in the United States and Canada 1 It remained the highest grossing live action musical until 2012 when it was overtaken by Les Miserables 41 and it remained the US champion until 2017 when it was surpassed by Beauty and the Beast 42 Discounting inflation Grease is now the seventh highest grossing live action musical worldwide 41 A further re issue for its 40th anniversary in 2018 grossed 1 million 1 To date Grease has grossed 189 969 103 domestically and 206 2 million internationally totaling 396 million worldwide 1 Another re issue took place in select AMC 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 to breast cancer research through a donation by AMC Cares 43 Similarly in the UK selected Merlin Cinemas venues also reissued the film during August but partnered with Macmillan Cancer Support with a contribution of 1 per ticket sold 44 Reception EditGrease received mostly positive reviews from film critics 45 and is considered by many as one of the best films of 1978 46 47 48 49 The New York Times Vincent Canby on its initial release in June 1978 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 pointed out that the film was somewhat in the manner of Close Encounters of the Third Kind which recalls the science fiction films of the 50s in a manner more elegant and more benign than anything that was ever made then Grease is a multimillion dollar evocation of the B picture quickies that Sam Katzman used to turn out in the 50s Don t Knock the Rock 1956 and that American International carried to the sea in the 1960s Beach Party 1963 50 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 51 Variety praised the zesty choreography and very excellent new plus revived music and thought Travolta and Newton John play together quite well 52 Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times was negative writing I didn t see Grease 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 53 Gary Arnold of The Washington Post also panned the film writing Despite the obvious attempts to recall bits from Stanley Donen musicals or Elvis Presley musicals or Frankie and Annette musicals the spirit is closer to the New Tastelessness exemplified by Ken Russell minus Russell s slick visual style I ve never seen an uglier large scale musical 54 David Ansen of Newsweek 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 Travolta can t dominate this movie as he did Fever but when he s on screen you can t watch anyone else 55 Retrospective reviews have generally been positive In a 1998 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 that Grease sees the material as silly camp 56 In 2018 Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian gave it 5 out of 5 stars saying It s still a sugar rush of a film 57 Grease was voted the best musical ever on Channel 4 s 100 greatest musicals in 2004 58 On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 76 approval rating based on 75 reviews with an average rating of 7 00 10 The website s critical consensus reads Grease is a pleasing energetic musical with infectiously catchy songs and an ode to young love that never gets old 59 On Metacritic it holds a score of 70 out of 100 based on 15 reviews indicating generally favorable reviews 45 The film was ranked number 21 on Entertainment Weekly s list of the 50 Best High School Movies 60 61 Home media EditGrease was released in the US on VHS by Paramount Home Video in 1979 1982 1989 1992 and 1994 the last VHS release was on June 23 1998 and was titled the 20th Anniversary Edition following a theatrical re release that March On September 24 2002 it was released on DVD for the first time On September 19 2006 it was re released on DVD as the Rockin Rydell Edition which came with a black Rydell High T Bird jacket cover a white Rydell R letterman s sweater cover or the Target exclusive Pink Ladies cover It was released on Blu ray Disc on May 5 2009 On March 12 2013 Grease and Grease 2 were packaged together in a double feature DVD set from Warner Home Video In connection with the film s 40th anniversary Paramount released Grease on 4K Ultra HD Blu ray Blu ray and DVD on April 24 2018 62 Awards and nominations Edit Award Category Recipient s ResultAcademy Awards 63 Best Original Song Hopelessly Devoted to You Music and Lyrics by John Farrar NominatedGolden Globe Awards 64 Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy NominatedBest Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy John Travolta NominatedBest Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Olivia Newton John NominatedBest Original Song Motion Picture Grease Music and Lyrics by Barry Gibb Nominated You re the One That I Want Music and Lyrics by John Farrar NominatedGolden Screen Awards WonJupiter Awards Best International Actor John Travolta NominatedBest International Actress Olivia Newton John NominatedNational Film Preservation Board National Film Registry InductedPeople s Choice Awards Favorite Overall Motion Picture WonFavorite Musical Motion Picture WonFavorite Male Musical Performer John Travolta NominatedFavorite Female Musical Performer Olivia Newton John WonFavorite Motion Picture Supporting Actress Stockard Channing WonSatellite Awards 65 Best Classic DVD NominatedTV Land Awards Movie Dance Sequence You Reenacted in Your Living Room You re the One That I Want NominatedAmerican Film Institute recognition Edit AFI s 100 Years 100 Passions No 97 AFI s 100 Years 100 Songs No 70 for Summer Nights AFI s Greatest Movie Musicals No 20Legacy EditSequel Edit Grease 2 1982 stars Maxwell Caulfield and Michelle 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 from Grease did not appear Patricia Birch the original film s choreographer directed the sequel The original musical s cocreator Jim Jacobs who was not involved in the making of Grease 2 has disowned the film Sing along version Edit On July 8 2010 a sing along version of Grease was released to selected theaters around the U S 66 A trailer was released in May 2010 with cigarettes digitally removed from certain scenes implying heavy editing however Paramount confirmed these changes were done only for the film s advertising 67 and the rating for the film itself changed from its original PG to that of PG 13 as that rating had not been introduced until 1984 for sexual content including references teen smoking and drinking and language 68 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 69 On May 15 2020 it was announced that CBS a subsidiary of ViacomCBS which also owns Paramount would air this version of the film on June 7 2020 which was to be the date of the 74th Tony Awards which was postponed indefinitely due to the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic 70 Prequel Edit In March 2019 it was announced that a prequel called Summer Lovin was in development from Paramount Players The project would be a joint production collaboration with Temple Hill Productions and Picturestart John August signed on to serve as screenwriter 8 Soundtrack EditMain article Grease The Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture The soundtrack album ended 1978 as the second best selling album of the year in the United States exceeded only by another soundtrack album from the film Saturday Night Fever which also starred Travolta 4 The song Hopelessly Devoted to You was nominated for an Academy 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 71 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 72 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 73 The film s title song was also a number one hit single for Frankie Valli 74 The song Look at Me I m Sandra Dee refers to Sal Mineo in the original stage version Mineo was stabbed to death a year before filming so the line was changed to refer to Elvis Presley instead The references to Troy Donohue Doris Day Rock Hudson and Annette 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 75 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 by Jerry 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 Love Is a Many Splendored Thing Grease Alma Mater Summer Nights Danny Sandy Pink Ladies and T Birds Rydell Fight Song Rydell Marching Band Look at Me I m Sandra Dee Rizzo and Pink Ladies Hopelessly Devoted to You Sandy Greased Lightnin Danny and T Birds La Bamba It s Raining on Prom Night Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On Beauty School Dropout Teen Angel and Female Angels Rock n Roll Party Queen Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay Those Magic Changes Johnny Casino and the Gamblers Danny sings along onscreen Tears on My Pillow Johnny Casino and the Gamblers Hound Dog Johnny Casino and the Gamblers Born to Hand Jive Johnny Casino and the Gamblers Blue Moon Johnny Casino and the Gamblers Sandy Danny There are Worse Things I Could Do Rizzo Look at Me I m Sandra Dee Reprise Sandy Alma Mater Parody Instrumental You re the One That I Want Danny Sandy Pink Ladies and T Birds We Go Together Cast Grease Reprise Television EditMain articles Somos tu y yo and Grease Live On August 17 2009 a television 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 76 77 On January 31 2016 Fox aired a live television adapted special of the musical using components from both the 1978 film and the original Broadway show Starring Julianne Hough Aaron Tveit and Vanessa Hudgens the adaptation received positive reviews especially for Hudgens and ten Emmy nominations 78 On October 15 2019 it was announced that a musical television series based on Grease titled Grease Rydell High was given a straight to series order by HBO Max 79 Annabel Oakes is set to write the pilot episode and act as executive producer for the series 80 In 2020 the series title was changed to Grease Rise of the Pink Ladies and will premiere on Paramount 81 Filming began in January 2022 and the series cast was announced at the end of the month 82 References Edit a b c d e Grease at Box Office Mojo Grease movie soundtrack earns its second 1 hit History com Archived from the original on November 2 2012 Retrieved October 30 2012 a b Hofler Robert 2010 Party Animals A Hollywood Tale of Sex Drugs and Rock N Roll Starring the Fabulous Allan Carr ReadHowYouWant com p 145 ISBN 9781459600072 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 a b Year End Charts Year end Albums The Billboard 200 Billboard com Archived from the original on December 11 2007 Retrieved December 20 2010 McNary Dave December 14 2020 Dark Knight Shrek Grease Blues Brothers Added to National Film Registry Variety Retrieved December 14 2020 Alter Rebecca December 14 2020 Shrek Has Been Inducted Into the National Film Registry Vulture Archived from the original on December 14 2020 Retrieved December 14 2020 a b Nick Vadala October 17 2019 Grease s Rydell High inspired by Radnor High School is getting an HBO Max series Archived from the original on May 25 2020 Retrieved February 21 2020 a b Kit Borys April 9 2019 Grease Prequel Summer Lovin in the Works With John August Writing Exclusive The Hollywood Reporter Archived from the original on April 10 2019 Retrieved April 9 2019 WOULFE MOLLY Grease has deep dark Chicago roots nwitimes com Retrieved October 20 2021 Fox Charles 2010 Killing Me Softly My Life in Music Lanham Maryland Scarecrow Press ISBN 9780810869929 OCLC 678101101 Gibb Songs 1978 www columbia edu a b Windeler Robert July 31 1978 Ohh Sandy Olivia Newton John People Archived from the original on December 2 2008 Retrieved November 10 2008 Hood Micaela January 27 2016 Carrie Fisher could have played Sandy in Grease New York Daily News Retrieved October 27 2021 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link Loughrey Clarisse January 28 2016 Carrie Fisher almost played Sandy in Grease The Independent Retrieved June 25 2021 Falcone Dana Rose January 27 2016 Grease 10 things you didn t know about the 1978 hit film Entertainment Weekly Retrieved October 27 2021 a href Template Cite magazine html title Template Cite magazine cite magazine a CS1 maint url status link a b c d e f g h 7 Grease Facts You May Not Have Known Erlewine Michael 1997 All music guide to country the ISBN 9780879304751 Archived from the original on April 27 2021 Retrieved August 13 2010 a b c Callahan Michael January 26 2016 How Grease Beat the Odds and Became the Biggest Movie Musical of the 20th Century Vanity Fair Retrieved June 4 2021 Henry Winkler on Barry The French Dispatch and some of his missed career chances Newsweek October 15 2021 Robins Wayne September 3 2013 Frankie Valli Q amp A Looking Back at 50 Years of The Four Seasons Billboard Retrieved October 12 2019 a b Gliatto Tom and O Neill Anne Marie Grease Is the Word Twenty Years Later the Stars Are Still True to Their School Archived September 30 2018 at the Wayback Machine People April 13 1998 Accessed September 13 2011 Itzkoff Dave May 21 2005 The Afterlife of a Porn Star New York Magazine New York Media LLC Archived from the original on October 1 2011 Retrieved May 8 2011 Hofler Robert 2010 Party Animals A Hollywood Tale of Sex Drugs and Rock n Roll Starring the Fabulous Allan Carr Da Capo Press p 66 ISBN 978 0 306 81655 0 Film locations for Grease 1978 Movie locations com Archived from the original on November 16 2012 Retrieved October 30 2012 Grease Filming Locations part 1 Seeing stars com Archived from the original on October 21 2011 Retrieved October 9 2011 Grease Scenesteal com Archived from the original on March 9 2011 Retrieved August 16 2010 Famed Animator John David Wilson Dies at 93 The Hollywood Reporter July 2013 Retrieved July 3 2013 Stupid Question Archives stupidquestion net October 26 2000 Archived from the original on November 30 2007 Retrieved August 16 2010 DVD Savant GREASE and the Curse of Product Placement Dvdtalk com August 18 1998 Archived from the original on October 26 2009 Retrieved August 16 2010 Alexander Bryan May 21 2018 Danny and Sandy finally get their movie ending Grease kiss 40 years after it was cut USA Today Archived from the original on May 22 2018 Retrieved May 23 2018 Week June 16 18 1978 Archived from the original on July 5 2015 Retrieved February 10 2013 Weekend Records Through the Years Box Office Mojo Archived from the original on March 7 2018 Retrieved March 24 2018 Jaws 2 Grease Get Hot Rival Cheap Detective Variety June 28 1978 p 6 Superman adds more records to his collection Daily Variety January 3 1979 p 1 a b Par s Biggest Ever Saturation Due For Grease Re Release Daily Variety May 9 1979 p 4 a b c Grease 4 500 000 In 1 248 Situations For Re Re Runs Variety May 23 1979 p 27 Frederick Robert B January 3 1979 Travolta s Grease Smasheroo Encounters 2d Variety p 17 Grease Big In U K Variety September 27 1978 p 18 BFI Statistical Yearbook PDF 2012 ed London British Film Institute 2013 pp 22 Archived PDF from the original on December 28 2013 Retrieved July 11 2022 Ark Tops Grease Variety October 7 1981 p 6 a b Aladdin Is Actually The Second Most Successful Musical Ever Forbes Archived from the original on June 19 2019 Retrieved June 19 2019 Musical Box Office Mojo Archived from the original on July 6 2019 Retrieved July 6 2019 Grease Returning to AMC Theatres for Charity in Honor of Olivia Newton John Variety Retrieved August 18 2022 https facebook com events s grease special screening 1469003503521816 user generated source a b Grease Reviews Metacritic Archived from the original on September 22 2010 Retrieved August 16 2010 Greatest Films of 1978 Filmsite org Archived from the original on December 10 2005 Retrieved August 16 2010 The 10 Best Movies of 1978 Film com June 1 2007 Archived from the original on July 1 2010 Retrieved August 16 2010 Most Popular Feature Films Released in 1978 IMDb Archived from the original on April 20 2012 Retrieved April 27 2012 The Best Movies of 1978 by Rank Films101 Archived from the original on March 22 2016 Retrieved August 16 2010 Canby Vincent June 16 1978 A Slick Version of Grease Fantasy of the 50s The New York Times Archived from the original on April 27 2021 Retrieved December 20 2010 Siskel Gene June 16 1978 Travolta cuts through flaws in suburbanized Grease Chicago Tribune Section 3 p 1 Film Reviews Grease Variety June 7 1978 28 Champlin Charles June 16 1978 50s as Seen Through Grease Chicago Tribune Part IV p 30 Arnold Gary June 17 1978 Grease Grin and Grimace The Washington Post B5 Ansen David June 12 1978 Greasy Kid Stuff Newsweek 92 Grease movie review amp film summary 1998 RogerEbert com March 27 1998 Archived from the original on December 2 2019 Retrieved January 31 2020 Grease review Travolta and Newton John s summer lovin still a blast The Guardian April 18 2018 Archived from the original on February 19 2020 Retrieved January 31 2020 100 Greatest Musicals Channel 4 Film Channel4 com Archived from the original on May 19 2009 Retrieved March 29 2017 Grease 1978 Rotten Tomatoes Fandango Media Archived from the original on October 10 2014 Retrieved September 1 2021 Entertainment Weekly s The 50 Best High School Movies Filmsite org AMC Networks Archived from the original on November 12 2010 Retrieved July 27 2010 Entertainment Weekly s 50 Best High School Movies 25 1 Amazon Archived from the original on October 21 2010 Retrieved July 27 2010 Grease 40th Anniversary Edition 4K Ultra HD Blu ray Ultra HD Review High Def Digest ultrahd highdefdigest com Archived from the original on May 4 2018 Retrieved May 4 2018 The 51st Academy Awards 1979 Nominees and Winners Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Archived from the original on October 17 2014 Retrieved October 31 2011 Grease Golden Globes HFPA Retrieved August 12 2021 2006 Satellite Awards Satellite Awards Retrieved August 24 2021 Wanna Sing A Long with Grease With Lyrics Screencrave com May 21 2010 Archived from the original on May 22 2010 Retrieved August 16 2010 Grease Sing A Long trailer cuts cigarette from iconic scene Smoking was not removed from the film itself Archived June 27 2015 at the Wayback Machine Ocala com June 4 2010 Grease Sing A Long Trailers Videos and Reviews ComingSoon net Movie Database Comingsoon net July 8 2010 Archived from the original on June 11 2010 Retrieved August 16 2010 Grease Sing A Long 2010 Trailer amp Official Movie Site Greasemovie com Archived from the original on May 10 2015 Retrieved August 16 2010 Topel Fred May 15 2020 Grease Sing A Long airing June 7 on CBS UPI Archived from the original on May 15 2020 Retrieved May 15 2020 VH1 s Behind the Music Grease Grease IMDb IMDb Archived from the original on February 6 2017 Retrieved July 1 2018 Myers Justin June 14 2018 The UK s biggest selling singles of all time Official Charts Company Archived from the original on June 24 2018 Retrieved April 26 2021 Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Retrieved April 27 2012 Getlen Larry July 4 2010 Tales of Ancient Grease New York Post Archived from the original on May 5 2012 Retrieved April 27 2012 Venevision estrena Somos tu y yo un nuevo dia inspirada en Grease Archived from the original on June 22 2017 Retrieved July 30 2016 De regreso a los anos 50 con el musical Grease Archived from the original on October 5 2015 Retrieved July 30 2016 About Grease Live Fox Archived from the original on November 24 2018 Retrieved November 24 2018 Petski Denise October 15 2019 Grease Spinoff Series Rydell High Ordered By HBO Max Deadline Hollywood Archived from the original on April 17 2020 Retrieved September 4 2020 Andreeva Nellie April 10 2020 Grease Rydell High Annabel Oakes To Write amp EP HBO Max Spinoff Series Deadline Hollywood Archived from the original on April 13 2020 Retrieved September 4 2020 Hermanns Grant October 14 2020 Grease Prequel Series Shifting Gears from HBO Max to Paramount ComingSoon net Archived from the original on October 23 2020 Retrieved October 14 2020 Mitovich Matt Webb January 31 2022 Grease Prequel Series Sets Cast With Jackie Hoffman as Vice Principal TVLine Retrieved January 31 2022 External links Edit Wikiquote has quotations related to Grease film Grease at IMDb Grease at the TCM Movie Database Grease at AllMovie Grease at Box Office Mojo Grease at Rotten Tomatoes Grease at Metacritic Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Grease film amp oldid 1135688209, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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