Neon & Vice Land Matthew McConaughey-Harmony Korine Pic ‘Beach Bum’ – Cannes

Neon and Vice have pre-bought U.S. rights to one of the early Cannes buzz pre-buy titles, the Harmony Korine-directed The Beach Bum. A follow-up to Korine’s sleeper Spring Breakers, the film will star Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey and is set to begin production this fall with a theatrical release planned for 2018.

Pic is an irreverent comedy that follows the misadventures of Moondog (McConaughey), a rebellious and lovable rogue who lives life large. The film will be written and directed by Korine, whose Spring Breakers grossed $31 million worldwide. LeGrisbi Productions’ John Lesher, Anonymous Content’s Steve Golin, Iconoclast’s Charles-Marie Anthonioz, Mourad Belkeddar and Nicolas Lhermitte will produce. The film is executive produced by Tom Quinn and Tim League for Neon and Shane Smith, Eddy Moretti and Danny Gabai for Vice. Rocket Science is handling international sales, after introducing the film in Berlin in February.

Per Neon: “We’ve been huge fans of the singularly talented Harmony Korine for a very long time now. Together with our good friends at Vice we’re tickled to death to launch The Beach Bum, which promises to be a wild, crazy and intoxicating piece of cinema.

Said Vice COO Moretti: “Harmony is like family to me, and to all of us at Vice for over a decade. And finally we can work together creatively on his most ambitious, hilarious, and oddly existential film. And this is just the beginning of making more movie magic with Harmony. We have lots of wonderfully weird things up our sleeves. I’d also like to say that in Tom Quinn and Tim League of Neon, Vice has found a true partnership based on friendship, trust, and common artistic sensibilities. More to come from Vice and Neon as well!”

The deal was negotiated by Neon and CAA on behalf of the filmmakers.