Studios battle over sexy spring break movies

Posted Monday, April 14, 2003 at 5:47 PM Central

by John Couture

There's a good chance that you haven't heard of The Real Cancun or The Quest, and why should you? Up until last week, both of these movies were slated for a late Summer, early Fall release.

Both movies are similar attempts to exploit the reality TV genre on the big screen. New Line's The Real Cancun is from the same people that bring you the Real World on MTV, and the premise is basically the same set in Cancun during Spring Break, although they claim that the movie will include all the nudity and swearing that the MPAA will allow for an R rating. Universal's The Quest follows five real dudes and three real ladies from a real college as they make their way to Cabo San Lucas Mexico looking for the thing that is Spring Break.

Both movies just finished filming last month in Mexico (they were both initially set to film in Cancun, but apparently, the studios were afraid that the casts would intermingle or something). But, the real surprise came when Universal moved The Quest up to a May 9th theatrical release, only six weeks after principal photography finished. Not to be outdone, New Line moved The Real Cancun up to April 25th, less than a month after principal photography.

Now, the ball is in Universal's court...