‘Happy Death Day’ Sequel Gets Official Title

Happy Death Day seemed to look like a cheap knock-off of Groundhog Day but was the surprise horror hit last year. Now, Blumhouse and Universal Pictures are gearing up for another round. Jessica Rothe will reprise her role in the newly titled Happy Death Day 2U, which is scheduled for a Valentine’ Day 2019 release.

Christopher Landon is returning as writer and director with Jason Blum back as producer. Angela Mancuso, John Baldecchi, and Samson Muckle (Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse) are executive producers on the film. 

Not much is known about the anticipated sequel, although a synopsis of the film has said that Rothe will find that “dying over and over again was surprisingly easier than what lies ahead.”

The first filmed centered around young co-ed Tree (Rothe) who is brutally murdered on her birthday. Things get crazy when she reawakens and is forced to relive the same events ala “Groundhog Day.” After the shock wears off, she goes on a mission to find her killer and avoid her gruesome fate. Happy Death Day also starred Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine and Rachel Matthews with Suraj Sharma and Steve Zissis joining the cast for the sequel.

“Chris has done this incredible thing where the sequel,” Rothe said in an interview earlier this year with Collider,“ the way he described it to me, elevates the movie from being a horror movie – and I wouldn’t even say it’s just a horror movie because it’s a horror, comedy, rom-com drama – into a Back to the Future type of genre film where the sequel joins us right from where we left off, it explains a lot of things in the first one that didn’t get explained, and it elevates everything. I was really pleased to know that we weren’t just gonna be pushing all the buttons that people loved the first time, over and over again, ‘cause I think that gets old. I’m really excited to see if it comes to fruition and, if it does, what the final product looks like.”

The original film grossed over $122 million worldwide with a budget reportedly worth $4.8 million.