It doesn't seem like the much-hyped rollout for Travis Scott's new album, Utopia, has gone entirely to plan. Everything from the record's high-profile debut at the Pyramids to its accompanying A24 movie has suffered from stop-start launches and sudden turnarounds.
The confusing antics aren't atypical for a hyped album — remember Kanye "Ye" West's exhausting Donda premieres? — admittedly, but that doesn't make 'em any less baffling.
Case in point, Travis Scott published a poster for his Utopia movie, Circus Maximus on July 25. In tiny text towards the bottom, you can see a "Produced by A24" credit that's apparently bogus.
It's especially bizarre because Scott really was working with A24 on a then-enigmatic Utopia script, or so he said back in August 2021.
At the time, industry trade Variety announced that Scott's Cactus Jack imprint had signed a production deal with A24 as part of a multi-movie deal.
Scott's Circus Maximus poster reveals the A24 credit, the film's name, Utopia branding, and a release date (July 27) that precedes July 28, the date that Scott was set to premiere Utopia in front of Giza's Great Pyramids. Even that event is kind of a mess, but more on that later.
Anyways, following the poster reveal, it was widely reported that Scott's Circus Maximus movie would see theatrical release, boasting the talents of multiple well-regarded art directors, including Harmony Korine (Gummo), Gaspar Noé (Enter the Void), and Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive). Scott himself was given the top credit, though.
Despite the "Produced By A24" credit on the poster and Cactus Jack's reported A24 deal, however, the buzzy production company is reportedly not involved with Circus Maximus at all, according to what A24 itself said in a statement.
So, who actually helped fund and create Scott's Utopia movie? Will anyone correct Circus Maximus' poster gaffe? Who's putting it in theaters?
Sounds like no one will know until they see the movie IRL, which they can do at one of several hundred American AMC theaters listed on Scott's Utopia website (fans can also buy tickets in advance).
Scott's A24 flap smacks of the recent Drake-Vogue drama, wherein the Canadian rapper attached himself to an established brand for the sake of borrowing inherent prestige, though there was no actual partnership.
It's not impossible to imagine that A24 actually had something to do with Scott's movie earlier in the production cycle and that the pair apparently separated early enough that A24 has nothing to do with Circus Maximus as it stands. That's all speculation, though.
As mentioned earlier, Travis Scott's buzzy Utopia launch party in front of the Pyramids of Giza is its own separate incident.
Scott's event was announced in mid-July, then apparently canceled by Egypt itself after Scott was accused of Freemasonry (!?), then it was uncanceled, maybe. Now, it's actually canceled.
Scott's management and promoters previously asserted that the Utopia concert remained underway and Livenation was still selling tickets up until July 26 so it seems like the concert at the Pyramids was a last-minute cancellation.
Not such a Utopia, after all.
