Leave it to Universal to drop another bombshell on an otherwise quiet Monday in the film world. The studio just announced via press release that Judd Apatow’s The King of Staten Island — which, if you’ll recall, was slated to be the opening night film at this year’s canceled SXSW — will now bypass theaters entirely and hit video-on-demand services and streaming on June 12.
This decision follows last month’s industry-shaking move to push most of the studio’s in-theaters content to digital, along with Trolls World Tour, which apparently paid off for them (though we’ll never actually know if that’s the case). It’s another pragmatic choice from a studio that’s becoming known for it in this present moment, and we’ll have to see what they’re planning on doing with the other titles on their release calendar. Outside of their Focus releases, their next major release will be on July 10, with The Forever Purge, but that feels like it could be next on the chopping block.
Here’s a synopsis:
“Scott (Pete Davidson) has been a case of arrested development ever since his firefighter father died when he was seven. He’s now reached his mid-20s having achieved little, chasing a dream of becoming a tattoo artist that seems far out of reach. As his ambitious younger sister (Maude Apatow, HBO’s ‘Euphoria’) heads off to college, Scott is still living with his exhausted ER nurse mother (Oscar winner Marisa Tomei) and spends his days smoking weed, hanging with the guys — Oscar (Ricky Velez, ‘Master of None’), Igor (Moises Arias, ‘Five Feet Apart’) and Richie (Lou Wilson, TV’s The Guest Book) –and secretly hooking up with his childhood friend Kelsey (Bel Powley, Apple TV+’s ‘The Morning Show’). But when his mother starts dating a loudmouth firefighter named Ray (Bill Burr, Netflix’s ‘F Is for Family’), it sets off a chain of events that will force Scott to grapple with his grief and take his first tentative steps toward moving forward in life.”
And here’s the film’s first poster:
The King of Staten Island hits VOD on June 12. Would you be willing to shell out $20 for a Pete Davidson feature? We’re not too sure we would, but hey! People do love SNL, for whatever reason.