Kyrie Irving's Uncle Drew film to bypass Australian theaters, headed for Amazon
After much anticipation, it looks like we won't be catching Uncle Drew in cinemas down under.
Melbourne-born Kyrie Irving --who holds both American and Australian citizenships-- has dazzled countless basketball fans with his flashy moves on the NBA hardwood. He has suited up in the old-man persona Uncle Drew across multiple Pepsi commercials previously, popularising the phrase, "Don't reach, young blood!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DnKOc6FISU Irving recently completed filming his first movie under the same moniker, in which Uncle Drew rounds up his old teammates -- featuring ex-NBA stars Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Webber, Reggie Miller, Nate Robinson and ex-WNBA legend Lisa Leslie, along with a bunch of other star cameos-- for the Rucker Classic streetball tournament in Harlem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H2SSvQ8ihA The Boston Celtics point guard shared his excitement with The Ringer's Bill Simmons about his thoughts on starring in a movie. “It was like, ‘Boom, you’re our lead.’ And I was just like, OK! This is a real thing, this is a real thing. It took me a while to really come to terms with, I have a frickin’ movie coming out.”
“Bringing ‘Uncle Drew’ to the big screen has been such a pleasure for us,” said Aziel Rivers, director of Pepsi Marketing, in a statement shared pre-release. “Since its inception, ‘Uncle Drew’ has been a hit with our consumers and basketball fans alike, and we're excited to continue our relationship with the franchise and our close partner, Lionsgate, to share the ‘Uncle Drew’ movie with our audiences.”
Australian basketball fans will have to wait it out however, when it comes to watching Uncle Drew. The film has been released in the United States on 29 June, and made $15.5 million in its opening weekend.
According to Lionsgate, the film will not be showing on Australian cinemas, but will be available on Amazon Prime Video Australia.
Credit to Student Edge's Simon Miraudo for reporting this news first. The Pick and Roll has independently confirmed this with Lionsgate's international publicity team.