The Step Up franchise is headed to YouTube!
On Thursday (June 23rd), YouTube and Lionsgate announced at the annual Vidcon conference their plans to continue the dance drama as the first original scripted series on YouTube Red (a subscription streaming service).
“I’ve been a fan of the Step Up movies for years and always believed the films would translate into an awesome original series,” says Susanne Daniels, YouTube’s Global Head of Original Content. “Dance is a hugely successful global category on YouTube, so I’m excited to have a series rooted in such an enormously popular genre on our platform.”
Step Up – which starred Channing Tatum and his now-wife Jenna Dewan Tatum –launched in 2006 and generated four sequels, accumulating a total of $650 million at the box office worldwide. The pair will return to executive produce the series along with Adam Shankman, Jennifer Gibgot and Meredith Milton, who were all producers of the original films.
“The Step Up franchise has been a significant and joy-filled part of all of our lives for over a decade, and introduced the world to Channing and Jenna, who we are so excited to be collaborating with on this show,” say executive producers Shankman, Gibgot and Milton. “This original series is a natural extension of our creative passion, and we cannot wait to inspire a whole new audience with our partners at YouTube Red, which has always been an organic online home for many dancers, and a vital part of the dance community.”
Lionsgate Television Group chairman Kevin Beggs also added in a statement, “After five exciting and successful movies, we’re proud to partner with YouTube Red, a major new force on the programming landscape, to adapt the films into an adrenaline-filled original drama series driven by its non-stop energy, spectacular dancing and A-list creative talent.”
The series will debut in early 2017.
