Jennifer’s Body got its due credit in recent years after botched marketing targeted the wrong audience in the early aughts, causing the film to be met with major critical and commercial backlash. Now, over 15 years later, it is finally getting a well-deserved reappraisal. It was a feminist-revenge-meets-queer-love story ahead of its time, yet audiences and critics alike failed to understand or appreciate it. Since its release in 2009, it has become the horror cult classic it was always destined to be, especially among the LGBTQ community (serving as a queer awakening for lesbian and bisexual women everywhere).
Female-written and directed by Diablo Cody and Karyn Kusama, respectively, Jennifer’s Body follows high school cheerleader Jennifer Check (Megan Fox), who becomes a succubus after a sacrifice-gone-wrong and begins killing and eating boys at her school while her best friend Needy Lesnicki (Amanda Seyfried) is trying to save her and simultaneously prevent her from taking any more victims. But the real throughline of Jennifer’s Body is the tumultuous friendship-turned-romance between two queer women, which is all at once beautiful, toxic, loving, and ultimately tragic.
With all that being said, especially given its cult following today, it’s hard to believe that, thanks to initial mixed reviews upon its release, Jennifer’s Body still holds a shockingly low 47% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes. With a production budget reported around $16 million, it was considered a failure at the time of its release in September 2009, earning approximately $6.8 million at the North American box office on its opening weekend and going on to earn only $16.2 million domestically and roughly $31.6 million worldwide.
Jennifer’s Body 2 Announcement: Who Confirmed the Sequel?
It’s been teased that a Jennifer’s Body sequel may someday be coming down the horror pipeline with writer Diablo Cody and director Karyn Kusama expressing their interest in making a Jennifer’s Body 2 over the years, with even Amanda Seyfried and Megan Fox jumping in to add fuel to the fire (what more do you need?!) Well, now, our sapphic dreams are finally coming true with Dread Central reporting yesterday that Diablo Cody announced during a Q&A panel over the weekend (the Storytelling 360: State of the Story panel in Los Angeles, to be exact) that Jennifer’s Body 2 is being written as we speak. This echoes what Karyn Kusama told Deadline back in October, but makes it official: “I know [Diablo Cody’s] working on [Jennifer’s Body 2] right now, and I’m very excited to hear what comes of it. I know some of the bones of it, so I’m not going to give anything away, but it sounds fun and crazy like the first film. And I have no doubt that Diablo will do something absolutely incredible with it.”
I know some of the bones of it, so I’m not going to give anything away, but it sounds fun and crazy like the first film. And I have no doubt that Diablo will do something absolutely incredible with it.
– Karyn Kusama, Deadline
Will Megan Fox Return as Jennifer Check in Jennifer’s Body 2?
The question on everyone’s minds is whether both Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried will return for the Jennifer’s Body sequel? Dread Central confirms Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried are indeed interested in reprising their roles. How could the project move forward without them? After all, there is no Jennifer’s Body without Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried, whose chemistry is the heart and soul of the film.
We will be waiting with bated breath as more news surrounding Jennifer’s Body 2 unfolds, so stay tuned for more updates!