Will There Ever Be An Eat Pray Love 2?
After falling out of love with her husband and feeling dissatisfied with the trajectory of her life, Elizabeth Gilbert embarked upon a worldwide journey using a publisher's advance to find herself. This was the basis of "Eat, Pray, Love," Gilbert's memoir, which hit store shelves in 2006. In the book, Gilbert detailed how, after her divorce, she spent four months eating in Italy and three months exploring her spirituality in India. As the year came to an end, she found love in Indonesia.
After the book proved to be a success, thanks in part to Oprah Winfrey's admiration for the memoir, Columbia Pictures purchased the rights to Gilbert's globe-trotting spiritual journey. The film, produced by Brad Pitt's Plan B, hit cinemas in 2010 with Julia Roberts playing the lead role of Gilbert. Sticking true to the memoir, the cinematic adaptation saw the writer traveling the world, trying to become a better version of herself as she comes across a colorful cast of characters. Just like in real life, the cinematic version of Gilbert found love in Indonesia, falling for the Brazilian businessman Felipe (Javier Bardem).
Directed by "American Horror Story" scribe Ryan Murphy, the adaptation of Gilbert's life-changing-story was met with acclaim at the box office. The film, which also featured James Franco ("Spider-Man"), Viola Davis ("Suicide Squad"), and Richard Jenkins ("Step Brothers"), went on to gross over $200 million at the worldwide box office (via Box Office Mojo). With such great financial returns, it begs the question: will we see Gilbert return in an "Eat Pray Love" sequel?
Elizabeth Gilbert wrote an Eat Pray Love sequel
After the success of her memoir, Elizabeth Gilbert once again tapped into her personal life to create a follow up. In 2010, the author penned "Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage," a direct sequel to "Eat, Pray, Love." In "Committed," Gilbert detailed how she and Felipe found solace with one another and due to legal circumstances were forced to get married so they could live together in the United States.
However, after the memoir was released, Felipe and Elizabeth divorced (via Daily Mail). "Committed" was successful in its own right but certainly doesn't hold the same cultural weight that "Eat, Pray, Love" established when it first debuted. Like its predecessor, "Committed" was well-received, though some weren't enthusiastic to see the author write a rumination on marriage, especially after penning a memoir that showcased the importance of self-love and independence (via The Guardian).
Ryan Murphy, Julia Roberts, and Columbia Pictures have kept mum on a cinematic continuation of "Eat Pray Love." Why? It's possible that the moment has passed. In recent years, critics have called out Gilbert's attempts at profiting off of other cultures, with Emma Specter of Vogue writing (right before watching the movie's India segment), "I am literally terrified about how much cultural appropriation is about to happen on my TV screen." Of course, reboots and sequels are a dime a dozen these days, so perhaps we'll see Roberts and Bardem once again step into the role as lovers (albeit, with a doomed ending).