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Judd Apatow in an Instagram conversation with SNL’s Pete Davidson announced that they’re summer comedy,originally slated to hit theaters on June 19, will now go on VOD on June 12.
The comedy based on Davidson’s life, directed by Apatow and co-written by Davidson, Apatow and former SNL scribe David Sirus was expected to make its world premiere at SXSW with further play at the Tribeca Film Festival, but both events were canceled.
In the below video, Davidson is asking Apatow about the status of the movie. Both say they haven’t heard from Universal about the movie’s status. Davidson then suggests a VOD release. Apatow then phones Universal and tells the SNL guy “They’re into it…but don’t tell anyone.”
We had been hearing whispers among the distribution community that King of Staten Island would potentially be moved, but no one was expecting this. Another budget comedy bites the dust at least from a theatrical release standpoint in heading to homes. King of Staten Island follows such movies as My Spy (which is going to Amazon), American Pickle (which is headed to HBO Max), Lovebirds (to Netflix) which are all skipping theatrical and heading to streaming. Warner Bros. announced last week that they’re releasing Scoob! directly to PVOD.
While theaters have talked about ramping up their openings in late June for a full July debut, heading to Warner Bros. Christopher Nolan movie Tenet on July 17, Lionsgate’s thriller Fatale and Uni’s King of Staten Island were left dangling on the calendar on June 19; the hope on paper being proper mid-sized, non global day and date fare that could get exhibition started with moviegoers expected to crawl back to the theaters. That’s clearly not the case now, and exhibitors are going to need good, solid fresh product before they open. King of Staten Island would have been great start.
Universal recently experimented with having Dreamworks Animation’s Trolls World Tour relegated to PVOD over Easter weekend with the the closing of theaters during the COVID-19 pandemic; the movie reportedly made $40M-$50M in its first weekend.
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