How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days’ Sequel Is Happening — Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey Eyed to Return

According to Variety, which first reported the news, Paramount has set up the sequel, and it is currently in the early stages of development.

Hudson is producing alongside Stacey Sher, whose credits include Pulp Fiction, Erin Brockovich, Gattaca, Vanilla Sky and Django Unchained.

There is currently no announced director, screenwriter, release date or plot.

In fact, finding the writer appears to be the next major step. That matters because the eventual approach to the story will help determine whether the original stars officially come aboard.

So this isn't a movie that's about to start shooting. It's a project that has moved from nostalgic wish-list territory into genuine studio development.

That's the question everybody is going to ask, and for now the answer is: that's the plan, but it isn't confirmed.

Variety reports that Paramount and the filmmakers intend for Hudson and McConaughey to reprise their roles as Andie Anderson and Benjamin Barry.

PEOPLE subsequently reported the same basic position: filmmakers hope the pair will return, but those decisions will depend on the writers brought onto the project.

Hudson's position is a little more concrete behind the camera because she's already involved as a producer.

We don't yet have formal acting announcements for either star.

And frankly, it's difficult to imagine a How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days sequel without them. The entire original movie lives or dies on Hudson and McConaughey's chemistry — watching two people who believe they're manipulating each other slowly realise they've fallen into something real.

If it feels like Hollywood has suddenly rediscovered your old DVD shelf, you're not imagining things.

Studios have increasingly returned to successful films from the late 1990s and 2000s, and Variety specifically places How to Lose a Guy alongside the current wave of legacy follow-ups.

And this particular movie has never really disappeared.

Released in 2003 and directed by Donald Petrie, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days paired Hudson's Andie, a magazine writer attempting to make a man dump her for an article, with McConaughey's Ben, an advertising executive who has made a bet that he can make a woman fall in love with him.

Neither knows what the other is doing.

What follows is a wonderfully ridiculous escalation of bad behaviour, relationship warfare, a traumatised love fern and eventually genuine romance.

The film earned roughly $177 million worldwide from a reported $50 million budget and went on to enjoy a particularly long life beyond cinemas.

For a generation that grew up during the DVD boom, it became one of those films that seemed permanently within reach.

Perhaps the most encouraging part of the sequel news is that neither Hudson nor McConaughey appears embarrassed by the movie that helped define that period of their careers.

Quite the opposite.

The pair reunited online for the original film's 20th anniversary in 2023 and discussed the chemistry that made Andie and Ben work.

More recently, McConaughey described How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days as probably his favourite romantic comedy and revealed it remains his most lucrative movie in terms of residual payments.

Hudson has similarly acknowledged how new generations continue discovering the movie.

That affection matters.

A sequel made simply because somebody noticed a recognisable title in Paramount's catalogue isn't particularly exciting. A sequel involving the people who understand why audiences still care about the original at least has a fighting chance.

No plot details are confirmed, and because Paramount hasn't even hired the screenwriter yet, treat anything claiming to reveal the sequel's story with considerable suspicion.

But that blank page might actually be the interesting part.

Andie and Ben were young professionals navigating magazine publishing, advertising and dating in 2003. More than two decades later, practically every part of that world has changed.

Magazines have changed. Advertising has changed. Dating has definitely changed.

Putting those same characters into the era of dating apps, influencers, algorithms and relationships conducted half through a phone screen gives the filmmakers plenty to play with without simply repeating the original premise.

The trick will be finding a reason to revisit Andie and Ben rather than inventing another ten-day gimmick because audiences recognise the title.

There is something particularly fitting about How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days joining Hollywood's current nostalgia cycle.

Not every beloved movie from the 2000s was a superhero film or the beginning of a billion-dollar franchise.

Some were simply movies people watched over and over again.

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is one of them.

It's the kind of film that survived through DVD collections, television repeats, streaming and people recommending it to the next generation. Its continued popularity isn't based on complicated mythology or the promise of another cinematic universe.

It's based on two movie stars being enormously watchable together.

If Paramount can get Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey back in the same room — and give them a screenplay worthy of the original — we might happily rewind this one more time.

For now, though, the love fern stays on standby.