Plans to release Rob Reiner‘s final film “Spinal Tap at Stonehenge: The Final Finale” are on pause after the director’s death Sunday.
Bleecker Street acquired U.S. distribution rights to the concert performance film directed by Reiner in October. No release date had been set, but the company had initially set plans for an IMAX release in 2026. But in light of Reiner’s death, plans to release the film are on hold for now, according to sources.
Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer all reprise their roles as the fictional members of the fictional heavy metal band Spinal Tap. Together, they put on a once-in-a-lifetime concert marking the first-ever rock show filmed at Stonehenge, the historic English heritage site forever linked to Spinal Tap’s iconic song of the same name. Shania Twain, Eric Clapton and Josh Groban all make guest appearances.
Earlier this year, the original “This Is Spinal Tap” was reissued in a special remastered 41st anniversary edition via Bleecker Street and Fathom Entertainment. The sequel “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” was also released in theaters in September.
At the time of the original film’s re-release, Reiner spoke with Variety about Spinal Tap and how it evolved from “The TV Show.” He said, “’The TV Show’ was a satire of various things on television. You saw me in a chair, flipping with a remote from one channel to the next: sitcoms, commercials, telethons, and one thing we did was a takeoff on a late-night rock show called “The Midnight Special” that was hosted by [legendary radio DJ] Wolfman Jack. There, you see Spinal Tap for the first time, performing this song “Rock n’ Roll Nightmare,” and it’s like an MTV video [before MTV]. If you look, you’ll see Russ Kunkel, a great drummer who played with Linda Ronstadt and Jackson Browne, is in it, and [singer-songwriter] Loudon Wainwright is the keyboard player. And during the making of that, when we had downtime, they started improvising as these British characters and they were really funny. And I said, Geez, could we find something else for these guys to do?’”
Before his death, Reiner was attached to produce and develop projects including “Airtight,” “El Fuego Caliente,” a new “Fawlty Towers” TV series, “Travel Writing” and “Whiskey River.”
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From Variety US