C’mon, people – at least it will probably end up better than Havana Nights.

Late last night the news broke that Lionsgate studios had given the green light to a remake of the 1987 Patrick Swayze / Jennifer Grey film Dirty Dancing. The film, in some people’s opinion, serves as one of the ultimate romantic tales in cinema. To some, not so much.

But to each his own. It is impossible to deny the popularity and cultural impact of the film. It has the distinction of being one of the most profitable films of all time, grossing $214 million worldwide after costing only $6 million to make. Its mark on pop culture is massive – I mean, how often do you her “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” or “Nobody puts baby in a corner.”

The director for the new project is Kenny Ortega, who served as the choreographer on the original 1987 film. After that he went on to direct Newsies, Hocus Pocus and more recently helmed the High School Musical films.

To Ortega, it’s about discovering the next Swayze –

“The opportunity to direct Dirty Dancing is like returning home for me…. Patrick Swayze set the bar for men dancing in the movies as Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire did before him. I believe everywhere you look there is evidence that the talent is out there and I can’t wait to begin the process of discovering the next breakout triple-threats.”

If Ortega “can’t wait,” it seems that the Twitterverse can. Although not as vitriolic as the hatred behind the Brett Favre comeback idea, this is one of the bigger backlashes I’ve seen in a while –

I’m not going to say that the outrage is a little more prominent from the female Twitter population, but let’s just say that this is one of the only Tweets I’ve seen from a male Twitter user in the last few minutes –

All chick-flick jokes aside, what do you think about the remake? Could it succeed if the casting goes right? Who would you want to see in the iconic roles? MTV just posted an open letter to Kenny Ortega asking him to cast Ryan Gosling in the Swayze role.

I just hope that Ortega brings some dark realism into the film like Christopher Nolan has done with the Batman reboot.

[Image Courtesy IMDB]