Here to ensure our week starts off on a high note is The King of Staten Island director Judd Apatow and its star, Pete Davidson, with some very exciting news about the forthcoming comedy’s digital release. That’s right: Rather than release the feature theatrically (as it was originally planned) following a premiere at this year’s SXSW, Universal Pictures will be sending the Apatow/Davidson feature to on-demand.
Apatow and Davidson teamed up to create an extremely Apatow-esque video announcement for The King of Staten Island‘s new on-demand release plans. Over the course of three-plus minutes, Apatow and Davidson update one another on how they’re doing while staying at home (the former is doing great and the latter is binging the Look Who’s Talking movie franchise) and check in to see if there are official release plans for The King of Staten Island. After a silly bit where Apatow “calls Universal”, the director tells Davidson their movie will be released on-demand on Friday, June 12. Cue the applause track.
The King of Staten Island will be semi-autobiographical as it draws from Davidson’s life. The plot reads:
“Scott (Davidson) has been in 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 heads off to college, Scott is still living with his exhausted ER nurse mother and spends his days smoking weed, hanging with the guys—Oscar, Igor, and Richie—and secretly hooking up with his childhood friend Kelsey. But when his mother starts dating a loudmouth firefighter named Ray, 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.”
In addition to Davidson, the Apatow feature boasts a killer cast, including Marisa Tomei, Pamela Adlon, Steve Buscemi, Bill Burr, Kevin Corrigan, Bel Powley, Maude Apatow, Moises Arias, and Jimmy Tatro. The King of Staten Island will be available to watch on-demand on June 12. Check out the new poster for the Apatow-directed movie below. For more, take a peek at our round-up of the best comedies on Netflix right now and Davidson’s most recent Saturday Night Live collab with Adam Sandler.
Image via Universal Pictures
