The King of Staten Island becomes the latest film to vacate its release date due to COVID-19. This was to be expected, considering it was one of the last films remaining on the June calendar but it has been announced today that the Pete Davidson film will skip a theatrical run and head straight to VOD on June 12.
The film was slated to open on June 19 but the film, directed by Judd Apatow and co-written by Davidson, Apatow, and former SNL scribe David Sirus, made the shift to VOD vid an announcement on Apatow’s Instagram page. This isn’t the first time COVID-19 affected the release of The King of Staten Island. The film was expected to make its world premiere at SXSW with further play at the Tribeca Film Festival. Both events were canceled because of the coronavirus lockdown.
In King of Staten Island, which is loosely based on Davidson’s life, the comedian plays Scott, who has been a case of arrested development ever since his firefighter father died when he was 7. 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) heads off to college, Scott is still living with his exhausted ER nurse mother (Marisa Tomei) and spends his days smoking weed, hanging with the guys—Oscar (Ricky Velez), Igor (Moises Arias) and Richie (Lou Wilson)—and secretly hooking up with his childhood friend Kelsey (Bel Powley). But when his mother starts dating a loudmouth firefighter named Ray (Bill Burr), 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. The film also stars Steve Buscemi as Papa, a veteran firefighter who takes Scott under his wing, and Pamela Adlon as Ray’s ex-wife, Gina.
Word on the street was that The King of Staten Island would be moved on the release calendar, giving it a shot at some box office potential. This isn’t necessarily a small film but it was a middle of the road budgeted film that could allow for the VOD window. The film follows such movies as My Spy (which is going to Amazon), American Pickle (which is headed to HBO Max), Lovebirds (to Netflix) in skipping theatrical, and heading to streaming. Warner Bros announced last week that they’re releasing Scoob! directly to PVOD.
