Update: The film has been confirmed to open on March 5th, 2013, so set your calendars accordingly.
Sorry, James Franco –– it looks like the rumors of an Oscar-qualifying run for your lovable gangster turn in Harmony Korine‘s Spring Breakers won’t be happening. Instead, according to a press release, Megan Ellison‘s company, Annapurna Pictures, have teamed with A24 to release the film in the timely slot of spring 2013, with reportedly “heavy promotion around spring break.” Makes sense.
We adored the film at its Toronto International Film Festival premiere (full review here), saying while it “isn’t necessarily a moralistic film condemning anything, but rather a tone poem on the emotions of youthful idiocy. It penetrates the evil and melancholy lurking under pop surfaces to a point of terror and unbridled entertainment.” We even lobbed praise at Franco (who is joined by Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens, among others) saying he “plays up his dopey stoner attitude and comic timing for one side, his natural charm and surprising intensity for the other.” Check out the press release below, as we await for a more concrete release and trailer.
NEW YORK (November 15, 2012) – The highly anticipated SPRING BREAKERS will receive a Spring 2013 nationwide theatrical release courtesy of A24 and Annapurna Pictures. The film stars Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, and Rachel Korine as four college coeds willing to do anything to have their dream Spring Break. Film also features rap star Gucci Mane, introduces the ATL Twins, and has an incredible scene-stealing turn by Academy-Award nominee, James Franco. The film is written and directed by acclaimed provocateur Harmony Korine (KIDS, GUMMO) and prominently features an original score by Cliff Martinez and Skrillex.
The film had its worldwide premiere at the 2012 Venice Film Festival, followed by a North American Premiere at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival where Time Out New York’s Josh Rothkopf described it as “Devastatingly fun…DayGlo Miami Vice Shoot-outs melded with Girls Gone Wild skankitude and a leering, instantly quotable turn by a grill-toothed James Franco as a wanksta potentate…” The companies plan a Spring 2013 release with heavy promotion around spring break.
“Leave it to Harmony to create one of the most anticipated movies of the social media generation,” says A24. “His film is at once incredibly mainstream and wildly subversive. We couldn’t imagine a better partner on this film than Annapurna and Megan Ellison, one of the most daring producers working in film today.”
Film is produced by Chris Hanley, Jordan Gertner, David Zander and Charles-Marie Anthonioz. Annapurna’s Megan Ellison serves as Executive Producer on the film.
Presented by A24, Annapurna Pictures and HERO, who developed and financed the film in collaboration with MUSE Productions, SPRING BREAKERS tells the story of four sexy college girls as they plan to fund their spring break getaway by robbing a fast food joint. But that’s only the beginning… At a motel room rager, fun reaches its legal limit and the girls are arrested and taken to jail. Hungover and clad only in bikinis, the girls appear before a judge but are bailed out unexpectedly by Alien (James Franco), an infamous local thug and amateur rapper who takes them under his wing and leads them on the wildest Spring Break trip in history. `Rough on the outside but with a soft soul on the inside, Alien wins over the hearts and dreams of the young SpringBreakers, and leads them on a Spring Break they never could have imagined.