Broadway's Tim Federle to Helm Sister Act 3, Starring Whoopi Goldberg

Hallelujah! A third installment of the Sister Act movies is in development, and Deadline reports that Broadway alum and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series writer and executive producer Tim Federle will direct. Sister Act 3 will star EGOT'er Whoopi Goldberg and feature a script by Madhuri Shekar, a Juilliard alum and the 2020 winner of the Lanford Wilson Playwriting Award. Goldberg, Tyler Perry and Tom Leonardis are producers on the film.

The original movie starred Goldberg as Deloris, a nightclub singer who is forced to go into a hiding as a nun at a a convent and ends up turning the convent choir into a soulful chorus—until its sudden popularity jeopardizes her identity. The sequel was released in 1993. A Broadway musical of the film arrived on Broadway in 2011, earning Tony nominations for Best Musical and for Patina Miller and Victoria Clark's performances. Plot details for Sister Act 3 have yet to be revealed.

Federle already has a relationship with Disney after helping reboot High School Musical with the GLAAD-award winning High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, which has been renewed for a third season. He also co-wrote the screenplay for the animated film Ferdinand, which was a 2018 Golden Globe Award and Academy Award nominee for Best Animated Film. In 2017, he published the self-help book Life is Like a Musical: How to Live, Love, and Lead Like a Star. His other books include Better Nate Than Ever, Five, Six, Seven, Nate!, Summer Days and Summer Nights, The Great American Whatever, Nate Expectations, Tequila Mockingbird: Cocktails with a Literary Twist, Hickory Daiquiri Dock: Cocktails with a Nursery Rhyme Twist and Gone with the Gin: Cocktails with a Hollywood Twist. Federle wrote the book to Broadway's Tuck Everlasting. As a performer, his Broadway credits include the 2003 revival of Gypsy, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Little Mermaid and Billy Elliot: The Musical.