Travis Scott is bringing Utopia to the big screen — with help from some top directors, too. The rapper will premiere the film Circus Maximus as a companion to his new album Utopia, and it features contributions from a film-school syllabus worth of directors: Gaspar Noé, Valdimar Jóhannsson, Nicolas Winding Refn, Harmony Korine, and Kahlil Joseph. “We found utopia around the world,†an excited Scott wrote, in all-caps, alongside the vibey, intense trailer, which he first debuted at Rolling Loud Miami. Circus Maximus will premiere on July 27 at select AMC theaters, hours ahead of Scott releasing his new album Utopia — and performing the album at the Egyptian pyramids, after rumors of that event’s cancellation.
If you’re wondering who’s not involved in this project, try A24. The production company’s logo appears on a poster for Circus Maximus, but A24 told Variety that the company did not produce the film. Vulture has reached out to Scott’s team for clarification. Scott had previously teased a film called Utopia when his Cactus Jack Films confirmed a production deal with A24, making this another confusing wrinkle in Scott’s Utopia rollout.
Circus Maximus isn’t the same thing as Aggro Dr1ft, the new Scott-starring film from director Korine that was also announced today. That one’s premiering at the Venice Film Festival later this summer, and also reportedly stars Spanish actor Jordi Mollá. The Film Stage previously reported that a Korine-directed Scott project, “shot entirely in infrared,†recently had a private screening. The outlet also reported that Scott hadn’t signed off on the project, but that line appears to have been edited out of the story without explanation on July 11, a day after the report was published. It’s unclear if that film is indeed Aggro Dr1ft, never mind if A24 is involved with Aggro Dr1ft or how Aggro Dr1ft relates to Circus Maximus other than Scott and Korine’s team-up.