‘Kissing Booth 3’ Shot in Secret, Already in Post-Production and Coming from Netflix in 2021

Ryan Lattanzio
·2 min read

“The Kissing Booth 2,” the second installment in Netflix’s wildly popular franchise, is currently No. 1 on the streamer’s viewing charts. Riding high off the popularity of the new film and the 2018 original, both directed by Vince Marcello, Netflix has given the go-ahead on a third movie. But perhaps the most exciting piece of news, as reported by Deadline, is that “The Kissing Booth 3” has already finished filming after shooting quietly alongside “Kissing Booth 2” last year in South Africa. Marcello is reported to be currently in post-production on the film, which Netflix will launch sometime in 2021. Netflix confirmed the news to IndieWire.

The news was revealed by star and executive producer Joey King during a live-stream fan event hosted on Sunday. The third film will continue to explore the romantic ups and downs of Elle (King), her boyfriend Noah (Jacob Elordi), and her BFF Lee (Joel Courtney). “The Kissing Booth 3” will be set in the summer before Elle heads off to college. She’s been accepted into Harvard and Berkeley. Torn between her boyfriend and her best friend, which will she choose?

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“The Kissing Booth” films are based on the novels by Beth Reekles, directed, written, and produced by Vince Marcello, with Jay Arnold co-writing “The Kissing Booth 2.” In IndieWire’s review of the new film, Kate Erbland writes, “While the first film was rife with sexist rhetoric, casual slut-shaming, and a ‘bad boy’ lead who never met a put-down (or a punch) he didn’t like, its sequel tones down the offensive BS, finding something sweeter and far more enjoyable in the process. Even for audiences not turned off by the regressive attitudes of the original, its oddly aggressive tone was never, well, romantic, a misstep that Marcello now attempts to rectify. And yet the greatest strength of ‘The Kissing Booth 2,’ an overstuffed (clocking in at a whopping 132 minutes) mishmash of genre tropes and tricks, isn’t its many romances; it’s King, who finally gets to spread her wings and her comedic chops.”

“The Kissing Booth 2” is the latest in Netflix’s big foray into romantic comedies, particularly revolving around teens, including the “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” film series. “The Kissing Booth 2” premiered on Netflix July 24.

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