If you’re feeling a little warm under the collar, there’s a good chance it’s due to the absolute heat coming off the trailer for Channing Tatum’s third—and apparently final—turn as good-hearted ecdysiast (that’s “stripper” to you and me) Mike Lane. Get your tipping dollars ready because Magic Mike’s Last Dance is gyrating into cinemas on February 9, 2023.
Has it really been 10 whole years since we first met Mike in 23012’s Steven Soderbergh-directed Magic Mike? Soderbergh sat out 2015’s Magic Mike XXL, with frequent collaborator Gregory Jacobs taking up the directing reins for the road trip sequel, but he’s back in the saddle for this one.
We find our boy Mike back in Florida and down in the dumps, working bartending gigs instead of shaking his money maker. However, a chance encounter with a wealthy socialite (Salma Hayek Pinault) soon has him jetting off to London to put on the show of a lifetime. It’s Magic Mike’s last shot at greatness—can this most erotic of exotic dancers stick the landing?
Well, yes, probably: these are defiantly feel-good films, after all. The Magic Mike flicks are celebrations of not just sexuality, but specifically female sexuality—they celebrate the sensual in a way that few films do, and it’s hard not to appreciate these joyous explosions of eroticism no matter what the angle of your dangle is. Heck, the scene in Magic Mike XXL in which Joe Manganiello cheers up a bored service station attendant with an impromptu in-store strip tease is one the sexiest and funniest moments in film history.
Manganiello is not returning for this one, it seems, and specific plot and further casting details are being kept under wraps. But it’s clear from the trailer that fans of Mike’s earlier exploits are going to find a lot of fun here.
