Reese Witherspoon Pays Tribute to Legally Blonde, Which Premiered 20 Years Ago Today

Reese Witherspoon reflected on her role in Legally Blonde 20 years to the day the movie premiered in theaters. Released on July 13, 2001, the legal comedy starred Witherspoon as Elle Woods, a blonde sorority girl who earns a degree at Harvard and becomes a very successful lawyer. A tremendous hit at the box office, the movie spawned an ongoing franchise that has another installment currently in the works.

On the 40th anniversary, Reese Witherspoon posted an image of herself as Elle Woods holding the character’s pet dog. There are many fans who may find it hard to believe it’s already been two decades since we first saw Elle, and time has flown just as quickly for Witherspoon herself. In the tweet, the actress stated, “Omigod you guys …. Legally Blonde premiered 20 years ago TODAY! Time flies when you’re busy using legal jargon in your every day life.”

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Omigod you guys ….#LegallyBlonde premiered 20 years ago TODAY! Time flies when you’re busy using legal jargon in your every day life. ???? pic.twitter.com/Kexcr9ckhr

— Reese Witherspoon (@ReeseW) July 13, 2021

Directed by Robert Luketic, Legally Blonde is written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith based on the book by Amanda Brown. Along with Witherspoon, the movie also stars Luke Wilson, Selma Blair, Matthew Davis, Victor Garber, and Jennifer Coolidge. The role earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress along with another nom at the MTV Movie Awards for Best Female Performance. It also scored more than $141 million in profits on a budget of $18 million.

Based on the success of the original, a sequel was developed for a release in 2003. Called Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, the follow-up brings back Witherspoon as Elle Woods with the character switching locations to Washington D.C. to carry out her practice. Wilson and Coolidge also reprised their roles with other cast members including Sally Field, Regina King, Bruce McGill, Dana Ivey, Bob Newhart, and Mary Lynn Rajskub. It was not as critically well-received but was nevertheless a big hit at the box office.

A 2009 sequel, Legally Blondes, served as a soft reboot without Witherspoon returning as Elle Woods. The spinoff instead followed Camilla Rosso and Rebecca Rosso as Elle’s twin cousins, each of whom have a similar style down to the pet dog, with the twins staying in Elle’s home while she’s away. It was released directly to DVD and aired on ABC Family and the Disney Channel.

Witherspoon is now set to make her return to the franchise with Legally Blondes 3. Originally set for a 2020 release before pandemic-related delays, the movie is now on the board for a May 2022 release. Mindy Kaling and Dan Goor will write the screenplay for MGM. Along with reprising her role as Elle Woods, Witherspoon will also produce through her Hello Sunshine studio with original producer Marc Platt. Original star Luke Wilson has also teased a return if the new movie calls for his character.

“Somebody just told me that it was coming up on its 20th anniversary, which I couldn’t believe,” Wilson told ET in May. “I definitely now run into women that were kids when it came out and they tell me, ‘Now I’ve introduced my daughter to the movie.’ So that’s really cool and I’ve never had that happen before, where a movie’s kind of been introduced to another generation by the people who originally saw it.”

The 20th anniversary marks as good a time as any to revisit the original Legally Blonde. If you want to watch the movie, it’s currently streaming on Netflix in the United States. This news comes to us from Reese Witherspoon on Twitter.

Topics: Legally Blonde

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