Much Ado About Nothing Promo PosterJoss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing is, hands down, one of my favourite films of all time. By far one of the finest films I’ve seen all year, Whedon’s micro-budgeted adaptation of Shakespeare’s play debuted at TIFF – you can read our five-star review here – and it didn’t take long for it to secure US distribution.

We saw a beautiful promo poster for the film from the American Film Market earlier in the month, and now Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions have set the film’s release date for Summer 2013. Specifically: 7th June, 2013.

“Shakespeare’s classic comedy gets a contemporary spin in Joss Whedon’s stylized adaptation. Shot in just twelve days using the original text, the story of sparring lovers Beatrice (Amy Acker) and Benedick (Alexis Denisof) offers a dark, sexy and occasionally absurd view of the intricate game that is love.”

Whedon has put together a dream of a cast for the project, led by Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof, with fantastic support coming from Fran Kranz, Clark Gregg, Sean Maher, Jillian Morgese, Ashley Johnson, Tom Lenk, Reed Diamond, and the ever-brilliant Nathan Fillion.

Whedon directs from his own script, shooting the film in an impressively tight twelve days, in his own home.

The release date will see the film going head-to-head with some of the biggest blockbusters of next year – Now You See Me, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, and Isla Fisher; M. Night Shyamalan’s After Earth, starring Will Smith and son Jaden Smith; and Shawn Levy’s The Internship, starring Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, and Will Ferrell.

It’s a very interesting move on the part of the distributors, and it will be interesting to see how the film fares. I’m keeping my fingers tightly crossed for it being a big sleeper hit, because it’s far and away one of the finest films in recent memory, and arguably the finest production of Shakespeare committed to film.

Much Ado About Nothing will be released in the US on 7th June, 2013. As of yet, we’ve not get any word on a UK release date, but here’s to hoping that we’ll see it arrive at a similar time, because I cannot wait to see Whedon’s work again.