It’s been a great week for Melissa McCarthy — and we aren’t just talking about the fact that she had her biggest opening weekend numbers ever for “Ghostbusters.” McCarthy led the all-female reboot to $46 million at the North American box office. The “Spy” star also received an award and got a release date for “Life of the Party,” her upcoming project with husband and frequent collaborator Ben Falcone.
McCarthy was honored with the Gilda Radner Award for Innovation in Comedy at Gilda’s Club in NYC. The award is named after late comedian and original “SNL” cast member Gilda Radner. McCarthy’s “Ghostbusters” co-star — and former “SNL” star — Kristen Wiig attended the event, where McCarthy said that although she herself “didn’t do any stand-up,” she was “touched” by Radner: McCarthy would sneak out of bed as a child to watch Radner perform on “SNL.” Check out pictures of the event over at Playbill.
The release date for the Oscar nominee’s “Life of the Party” has been announced. Gillian Jacobs (“Love,” “Community”) co-stars in the college-set comedy alongside McCarthy, who penned the script with Falcone. Falcone will direct. Yahoo! News reports that the film is “being described in the vein of Rodney Dangerfield’s ‘Back to School.’” You can catch “Life of the Party” in theaters May 11, 2018. Falcone directed McCarthy in this year’s “The Boss” and 2014’s “Tammy.”
2018 is a long time to wait for “Life of the Party” — hopefully “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” hits theaters before then. The dark comedy sees McCarthy teaming up with “The Diary of a Teenage Girl” writer-director Marielle Heller.