Feb. 9 (UPI) — Channing Tatum says “Magic Mike 3” will be the “Super Bowl of stripper movies.”
The 41-year-old actor teased the film, officially titled “Magic Mike’s Last Dance,” during Tuesday’s episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Tatum plays Mike Lane in the “Magic Mike” franchise, which follows a group of male strippers. The first two films, “Magic Mike” (2012) and “Magic Mike XXL” (2015), grossed nearly $300 million worldwide and inspired the stage show “Magic Mike Live,” which launched in 2017.
On “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” Tatum said he was initially hesitant to make a third movie.
“I wasn’t sure if I wanted to make a third movie. I was like, we kind of did a lot in the first two movies,” the star said. “I was like, look, I’ll make … a third movie if we to one of two things — one, I wanted to make like the Super Bowl of stripper movies.”
“The first movies, we had to kind of stay honest to what that world is and the dancing’s not all that cool in the world and we pushed it a little bit, but I really want to have professional, just perfect, the best dancers in the world going off in this one,” he added. “And secondly, I wanted to have a really strong female central character.”
Tatum confirmed he’s started rehearsals for “Magic Mike’s Last Dance.”
“I don’t know if anyone can try to concept trying to make up those dances,” he said. “We’re in a garage — my choreographer’s garage studio — and people walking down the street are really, really taken aback. It’s like, ‘Daddy, why is that woman sitting on that man’s face?'”
Steven Soderbergh, who directed the first film, will return to direct “Magic Mike’s Last Dance.” The movie will premiere on HBO Max.
Tatum will also star in the new film “Dog,” which opens in theaters Feb. 18. The movie follows an Army Ranger (Tatum) as he travels with his late friend’s dog to the funeral.
