Amazon Studios Will Release Nicolas Winding Refn's THE NEON DEMON Theatrically in Summer 2016
Nicolas Winding Refn, the visionary director of the Pusher trilogy and Drive, has been working on a new film called The Neon Demon for just over a year now, and the project has now found a home. Variety reports that Amazon Studios will release the film theatrically next summer before becoming available for Amazon Prime members, although no official date has been set at this time.
The film follows a young aspiring model who moves to Los Angeles and becomes consumed by a group of beauty-obsessed women who will do whatever it takes to have what she has. It stars Elle Fanning, Christina Hendricks, Keanu Reeves, and Jena Malone.
“One morning I woke and realized I was both surrounded and dominated by women," Refn said, describing the genesis of the project. "Strangely, a sudden urge was planted in me to make a horror film about vicious beauty.”
This is one of the first films acquired by the newly-launched branch of Amazon, along with Kristen Wiig's Desired Moments and Spike Lee's Chi-Raq. It sounds like a good fit for the company, and even though I wasn't a fan of Refn's Only God Forgives, I'm definitely intrigued at seeing what he does with his first film set in Los Angeles since Drive.