Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie

Multiple celebrity cameo appearances in the film were announced over the course of filming.[3][4][7][8][9][10][11] In April 2016, Fox and the BBC confirmed a list of 60 cameos, most of which had not yet been announced, that would be featured in the film.[12][13] They include:

Approximately 90 drag queens appeared in the film,[14] including Daniel Lismore, The Vivienne and Charlie Hides.

Saunders wrote and starred in Absolutely Fabulous, a British television sitcom for the BBC, which originally ran for three series from 1992 to 1995, with intermittent additional series and specials until 2012.[15][16] Absolutely Fabulous features the champagne-fueled duo of "international PR guru" Edina Monsoon (Saunders) and "sex-crazed magazine editor" Patsy Stone (Lumley).[15] Additional characters include Edina's overly serious daughter Saffron (Sawalha), her daffy mother (Whitfield) and her even daffier assistant Bubble (Horrocks).[17]

Saunders planned to begin writing a film version of the series in 2012 and confirmed that she had begun the writing process in 2014.

Deadline Hollywood broke the story in November 2011 that Saunders planned to begin writing a film version of the series in 2012.[15] The film would begin with Edina and Patsy waking up hungover after a party on an oligarch's yacht, with everyone else gone and the boat somewhere the middle of the ocean.[15][18] Saunders later said that she hoped to shoot the film on the French Riviera.[19] In March 2012, Saunders confirmed that she was working on the script.[20] She said of the plot: "Eddy and Patsy are looking for what they imagine glamorous life should be. They're constantly searching for that perfect place to sit or that perfect pair of sunglasses. It's Shangri-La and it just might be round the next corner. In the meantime, they decide to take Saffy's daughter off her—she calls her Jane, I call her Lola—but then they lose her."[20]

Calling herself the "worst procrastinator in the world",[21] Saunders said in January 2014: "Yes, well I have to do it now because I've threatened to a lot ... And then she [Lumley] kept announcing it and saying, "Yes, she's going to do it," and then Dawn French on our radio show at Christmas said, "I bet £100,000 that you don't write it," so now I have to write it, otherwise I have to pay her £100,000 ... Once you've had a bit of success, the last thing you want to do is go and make a flop. So the biggest fear in me is that it won't be good enough. I'm really nervous about it."[21]

In April 2014, Saunders again confirmed on BBC Breakfast that she was in the process of writing the film.[22] In April 2015, Saunders explained her delay with the script, saying, "I think that's why I didn't do it for a while ... I thought, 'Wouldn't it be awful if it was awful.'"[23] She then quipped, "but we're all so old, and Joanna [Lumley] said to me, 'Do it before we die!' We're all on the brink."[23] Saunders also noted, "[The film] involves all the main characters and virtually everyone that's ever been in the series—all those characters".[23] Lumley confirmed in July 2015 that the film's script was finished and that production would begin in October.[24] She said of the project, "We are all there, the same old gang ... It is going to be ravishingly funny! Very gorgeous ... and completely fabulous!"[24]

In August 2015, Deadline Hollywood reported that "all of the original main cast" were confirmed, with Fox Searchlight Pictures in negotiations to co-finance and co-produce the film with BBC Films, and to handle worldwide distribution.[25] It was also announced that Mandie Fletcher would direct, with Jon Plowman and Damian Jones as producers and Saunders, French and Maureen Vincent as executive producers.[25] Deadline Hollywood later reported that Christine Langan, Steve Milne, Christian Eisenbeiss and Nichola Martin were also executive producing, with DanTram Nguyen, Vice President of Production and Katie Goodson-Thomas, Director of Production overseeing the project for Fox Searchlight Pictures.[26]

Principal photography began on 12 October 2015 in South of France.[25][27] The BBC and Fox Searchlight subsequently released a promotional image of Saunders and Lumley in character on a yacht.[26] Along with Sawalha, Whitfield and Horrocks,[3] Kathy Burke was confirmed to be reprising her role as Magda,[5] and Kate Moss, Emma Bunton and Lulu would appear in guest roles as themselves, as they had in the TV series.[3] The cameo appearances of Harry Styles, Kelly Hoppen and Kim Kardashian were also announced as filming began.[3] Multiple other celebrity cameos were announced during production,[3][4][7][8][9][10][11] culminating with a 60-name list released in April 2016.[12][13] Deadline Hollywood's Ali Jaafar wrote of the film's plot in October 2015: "Edina and Patsy are still oozing glitz and glamour, living the high life they are accustomed to; shopping, drinking and clubbing their way around London’s trendiest hotspots. Blamed for a major incident at an uber fashionable launch party, they become entangled in a media storm and are relentlessly pursued by the paparazzi. Fleeing penniless to the glamorous playground of the super-rich, the French Riviera, they hatch a plan to make their escape permanent and live the high life forevermore!"[26]

In December 2015, the film sparked controversy and accusations of racism when it was announced that Caucasian comedian Janette Tough would be playing a Japanese character named Huki Muki.[28][29] Korean-American comedian Margaret Cho accused the film of "yellowface", which she described as "when white people portray Asian people. And unfortunately it's happening in this film."[28] Upon release of the film it became apparent that the character was not, in fact, Japanese but Scottish. When asked about the controversy, Saunders replied that "the whole film is about people being what they're not, Huki Muki is a brand, she is the designer and she looks a bit Japanese, but the moment she opens her mouth she's from Glasgow. There's no yellow makeup..."[30]

On 10 June 2016, Australian singer Kylie Minogue released a cover version of the series' theme song "This Wheel's on Fire" as the official theme for the film.[31] The soundtrack, which also includes songs from Paloma Faith (whose "Ready for the Good Life" appears in the film's trailer), La Roux, Jason Derulo, Eartha Kitt, Nancy Sinatra, Santigold and others, was released on 1 July 2016 via Rhino Records.[32][33] It debuted at number 38 on the ARIA Albums Chart in Australia on 6 August.[34]

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie had its world premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on 29 June 2016.[35][36] The film was released theatrically in the United Kingdom on 1 July 2016 by 20th Century Fox,[37][38] and was subsequently released in the UK on DVD and Blu-ray on 5 December 2016.[39] In the United States, it was released in select theaters on 22 July 2016 by Fox Searchlight Pictures.[40]

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie has grossed $39.2 million worldwide, including $19.5 million in the United Kingdom, $4.7 million in the United States and $6.2 million in Australia.[2]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 58% based on 149 reviews; the average rating is 5.52/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie picks up pretty much where its source material left off, delivering an adaptation that, as fans of this British export might say, does what it says on the tin."[41] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 59 out of 100 based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[42]