Disney announces 'How to Be a Princess' sequel in development

Anne Hathaway is excited about the fan reaction to the third installment in the How to Be a Princess franchise. It has been in development for some time now, and the actress, who has starred in two films, shared her thoughts on the upcoming project. "We (with the audience) feel the same way, and I understand that it's probably very frustrating," she told People. "It's a process that requires patience, so everyone needs to feel like they're part of the movie business right now to understand that some things really take a long time."

In November, it was reported that Aadrita Mukherjee would write the screenplay for the next Disney adaptation. Hathaway herself hasn't been cast in the lead role yet, but told ET in October that she'd "bet" on a third film and added, "If there was any way to get Julie Andrews, I think we'd definitely make the movie then. We'd go over there, set up a green screen, and just film everything." However, Andrews herself has already stated that she will not return to the role of Clarissa Rinaldi. "I guess we know it (the third part) might not happen," the 87-year-old actress told Access Hollywood. “We discussed it right after the release of the second sequel, but how many years have passed since then? And I got a lot older, and Princess Annie, or the Queen, got a lot older. I'm not sure what will come of all this."

The first film, How to Become a Princess, was released in 2001 directed by Garry Marshall and starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews. The screenplay was based on Meg Cabot's popular book series The Princess Diaries, with Mia Thermopolis (Hathaway) at the center of the story. A young San Francisco resident, she discovers that she is the likely heir to the throne of Genovia.