On a second honeymoon

Sione, Albert, Leilani, Tania and the gang have been doing their own thing for five years, but they will soon find themselves on the big screen again in a sequel to Sione's Wedding.

The film will start shooting next month, and the original cast, including David Fane, Oscar Kightley, Madeleine Sami, Robbie Magasiva and Teuila Blakely are all on board to resume their roles.

Simon Bennett (Spies and Lies, Outrageous Fortune) takes over from Chris Graham as the director. This is Bennett's first feature film.

Kightley, who co-wrote both the original and this sequel with Outrageous Fortune's James Griffin, says the follow-up has been in the pipeline for some time, and it's exciting to see the wheels in motion.

"I thought it was pretty awesome just to do one. I never dreamed it would be possible to do a sequel," he says.

"We had no idea the first film would do so well. I knew it would do well, based on the strength of the script, but people loved it so much."

The climate would seem right for another local comedy at the moment - three local romantic comedies have been released this year and Taika Waititi's Boy is currently New Zealand's most popular local film. "I think the fact that our new most popular film is a comedy shows us that people like to go to movies that make them actually enjoy the experience.

"I don't know if New Zealanders are any more or less romantically inclined than other people but I do think that we enjoy having a laugh."

Producer John Barnett of South Pacific Pictures says the success of the first film was encouragement enough to roll out another.

"From the time we released the film I thought, 'gosh, we have got to make a sequel'."

Sione's Wedding was New Zealand's third-highest grossing film before it was surpassed by The World's Fastest Indian and Boy. Now it holds fifth place on the table.

Barnett points out that since the film's release in 2006, many of the Sione's Wedding cast have been busy building their profiles on shows like bro'Town, Naked Samoans, Shortland Street, comedies like the Jaquie Brown Diaries and Super City, and in local films.

"Everyone's back, it's five years on, are the boys any wiser? We are going to find out," he teases.

The film is due for release on January 19 next year.

Previous New Zealand "wedding" hits

* Sione's Wedding (2006): $4,075,000

* Second Hand Wedding (2008): $1,642,508

- TimeOut