‘Another Simple Favor’ To Open The 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival

Paul Feig’s Another Simple Favor, starring Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively, will be opening the 2025 SXSW Film and TV festival on March 7 in Austin, Texas. This anticipated sequel to the 2018 film, A Simple Favor, has joined the lineup of headliners at the 32nd edition of the festival, running from March 7-15. 

Lively and Kendrick return as Emily Nelson and Stephanie Smothers in Another Simple Favor, which will see the two reunite in Italy for Emily’s glamorous wedding to a businessman, and it wouldn’t be a proper sequel without a touch of betrayal and murder. The film’s cast also features Andrew Rannells, Bashir Salahuddin, Elizabeth Perkins, Michele Morrone, Alex Newell, Henry Golding, and Allison Janney. 

“I’ve avoided making sequels to any of my films, but these characters were just too much fun not to revisit,” Feig said in a statement, as per Deadline. “I couldn’t be more thrilled to be back at my favorite festival in the world where we successfully launched Bridesmaids and Spy, and I cannot begin to say how honored I am to have our film opening it all.” 

After initially watching the film, the VP of Film & TV at SXSW, Claudette Godfrey, immediately knew it had to be featured in the festival. “When we saw this film last fall, we instantly knew it had to open SXSW — it gave us that electric feeling we live for as programmers,” she said. 

While the premiere for Another Simple Favor draws near amid Lively’s ongoing legal battle with It Ends with Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni, there have been circulating rumors that the dispute has caused a delay in the film’s release. However, last month Feig took to X to shut the rumors down by saying, “This is total BS. Sorry. The movie is finished and coming out soon. Don’t believe anything you read on social media these days.”  

The festival is set to also feature other headlining films alongside Another Simple Favor, such as The Accountant 2 (Ben Affleck), Ash (Eiza González), Death of a Unicorn (Jenna Ortega), Drop (Meghann Fahy), and Holland (Nicole Kidman). According to SXSW’s official site, this event serves as the “much anticipated preview of innovative productions, emerging talent, and behind-the-scenes creatives destined for cinematic greatness.”

Another Simple Favor will be available to stream on Amazon MGM’s Prime on May 1.