As Coyote Ugly turns 20, the stars say they’re ready for a sequel

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

COYOTE UGLY turned 20 yesterday and the film, which was a huge hit at the time of its release on top of selling a multi-platinum selling soundtrack, has never generated a sequel. Now that two decades have passed since the film was released, the original team is eager to get a sequel off the ground. 

The cast and filmmakers were recently interviewed by "Variety" to celebrate the film's 20th anniversary and during the conversation, one of its stars, Tyra Banks, who played Zoe in the film, revealed a very strong desire to make a sequel and has even had brainstorming sessions that she has shared with the film's producer, Jerry Bruckheimer:

"I've had a passion to do a sequel to Coyote Ugly for some time now. I've even reached out to Jerry Bruckheimer and the team and the original writer and they've had some jam sessions on what it could possibly be. I feel like we need to do some type of rallying cry to social media, you know, kind of like a petition to get people to sign to make the sequel. I actually really want to produce it. We have been really wanting to do that and even had a form of a treatment with the original writer. And even Diane Warren, who did the original music with LeAnn Rimes, is super passionate about this."

COYOTE UGLY was based on around the famed bar of the same name but most of its story centers on Violet Sanford (Piper Perabo) who makes her way to New York City to pursue her career in the music business. Her aspirations become a bit sidelined due to her notoriety at her job at Coyote Ugly, a gig she got in order to pay her rent and get proper music equipment to launch her songwriting career. The film also stars Maria Bello, Bridget Moynahan, Izabella Miko, John Goodman, and Adam Garcia. Piper Perabo's movie career essentially began with COYOTE UGLY and she's also in for a sequel but she says the story would definitely need to evolve:

"When Tyra and I were DMing, I was like, 'We have to really think about it', because obviously we're all 20 years older and we have to rethink the story. Like, 'Who owns the bar? What are we all doing? Do we all still know each other? And what's it about?' Because that movie in 2000, that was a really different moment, that was the sort of stiletto-feminism and women's rights and we're maybe in the third wave of feminism now and things have evolved and I would want the movie to reflect that evolution." 

The director of film, David McNally, revealed that he and Jerry Bruckheimer have been working on the possibility of a sequel on some level but because Disney ultimately owns the rights, it makes things a bit complicated:

"Yeah, we've been trying to get something going. We'll continue to do that. We haven't had much luck yet but you never know. Disney owns it. They have a kind of a different brand. There's no Touchstone Pictures anymore. It's all Disney. So they make the different types of films."

Critics were not into the bar antics at COYOTE UGLY, gracing the film with a very rotten score of 23% on Rotten Tomatoes. That didn't stop moviegoers from embracing it as it went on to gross $113.9 million on a $45 million budget. $60.7 million of that came from the domestic box office and the film has since gone on to have a bigger life after being discovered by new fans over the years on DVD, Blu-ray. and TV airings. The film's soundtrack even took advantage of the era when people actually still bought soundtrack albums and became a success in its own right. Thanks to the gold-selling single "Can't Fight the Moonlight" by LeAnn Rimes and a slew of other throwback jams from the '70s, '80s, and '90s, the soundtrack has gone to sell over 4 million copies. Too much time has probably gone by for a sequel to actually work but I'm sure there's still room for the ladies of COYOTE UGLY to still sling some drinks one more time. 

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