Spring Breakers is a 2013 American crime drama film written and directed by Harmony Korine. Starring James Franco, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine, and Gucci Mane, it follows four college-aged girls who go on spring break in St. Petersburg, Florida and descend into a world of drugs, crime, and violence after meeting an eccentric local drug dealer.

Harmony Korine had developed the concept over several years prior to production, with fleeting ideas about the plot and what should transpire. His initial desire was to create a "sensory film" that was more about feeling than action; he placed little importance on narrative or plot, the idea for which came later. Once Korine developed the story's backbone, which takes place around the American spring break period, he traveled to Florida to write the screenplay. Production began in 2012. It is one of Korine's first theatrical works to receive a wide release.

Spring Breakers was released on March 22, 2013, in the United States by A24 and received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for the acting and Debie's cinematography. It grossed $31 million worldwide on a $5 million budget and has been described as a cult classic. The film was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 69th Venice International Film Festival. A sequel is in development.

Plot

College students Brit, Candy, and Cotty often spend their time partying while their friend Faith attends a religious youth group. As their classmates head to spring break, they are stuck behind because they don't have the money to travel. Desperate to make the trip, Brit and Candy get high on cocaine, don ski masks, and rob a local restaurant, using the threat of hammers and realistic-looking squirt guns. They are assisted by Cotty, who drives (and later burns) the getaway car stolen from one of their professors. Cotty, Candy, and Brit divulge the details of their crime to a horrified Faith, who keeps quiet about it.

In St. Petersburg, Florida, the girls attend wild beach parties fueled by alcohol, drugs, and sex. After a particularly wild party, all four are arrested for using narcotics. They spend the night in a holding cell, but are bailed out by Alien, a rapper, drug hustler, and arms dealer. Alien charms Cotty, Candy, and Brit with his money and "bad boy" swagger, but Faith is extremely uncomfortable. Alien takes the girls to a local club frequented by gang members, where Faith becomes even more uneasy. Alien attempts to seduce Faith and convince her to stay with him, using equal parts menace, threats, and tenderness, but Faith leaves, begging the others to come with her. They refuse, and she returns to college alone.

Alien takes the remaining girls to a strip club owned by his rival and childhood best friend, Big Arch, who warns Alien to stop selling drugs in his territory. Alien takes the girls to his mansion, where he flaunts his drug money and cache of weapons, describing his life as the "American Dream". Brit and Candy grab two of his guns and threaten to kill him. Aroused, Alien fellates the guns and declares that he has fallen in love with the girls, claiming that they are his soulmates.

Alien arms the girls with pink ski masks and shotguns and takes them to his pool, where the girls ask him to play something inspiring on the piano. They sing Britney Spears' "Everytime", while a montage plays of them performing several armed robberies. While in Alien's car, they are approached by Big Arch and another member of his gang who threaten them and execute a drive-by shooting, wounding Cotty in the process. Alien promises to retaliate, but a traumatized Cotty comes to her senses and chooses to return to college. Brit and Candy stay behind and have three-way sex with Alien in his pool. The three decide to take revenge on Big Arch. In a flashforward, the two girls call home, promising to work harder and become better people.

In the present, the three take a motorboat to Big Arch's mansion. After they dock at the pier, Alien is immediately shot and killed by one of Big Arch's guards. Brit and Candy carry on, killing the rest of the members before confronting and killing Big Arch. The camera pans over the dead bodies of Big Arch's gang while the girls speak in a voice-over, first heard earlier in the film, describing the beach's beauty and musing that they have discovered who they truly are. Brit and Candy, silent and wearing pensive, ambiguous expressions, drive to college in Big Arch's Lamborghini. A final flashback shows the two girls kissing Alien's dead body before departing.

Cast James Franco as Alien, a rapper, drug hustler, and arms dealer who takes the girls under his wing. Selena Gomez as Faith, who tries to devote her life to Christianity but is also friends with party girls Brit, Candy and Cotty. Vanessa Hudgens as Candy, an irresponsible and uncaring college girl and Brit's best friend. Ashley Benson as Brit, a rebellious and danger-seeking college girl, also Candy's best friend. Rachel Korine as Cotty, a girl who likes to party but is more careful than her friends Candy and Brit. Gucci Mane as Archie, Alien's childhood best friend who has become a rival drug dealer.

Additionally, Heather Morris, Ash Lendzion, and Emma Holzer appear as Faith's friends Bess, Forest, and Heather. Jeff Jarrett portrays a youth pastor, Russell Stuart appears as a DJ, and Houston-area sports writer John McClain appears as a judge.

Production

Casting

According to Harmony Korine, he wrote the film partially to make up for his own spring breaks. As a youth he had been fully devoted to skateboarding, and missed out on what he later saw as opportunities for hedonistic pursuits. Korine has referred to the film as a "beach noir".

The original lineup of lead actresses was announced as Emma Roberts, Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens. Director Korine had purposely collected a group of well-known young actresses with a similar reputation to Roberts in Hollywood. Roberts ultimately dropped out due to discomfort with the film's sexual content, and was replaced by Ashley Benson.

Filming The film was shot in March and April 2012 in and around St. Petersburg, Florida. The exterior shots and some interior shots of the college that Gomez and Benson attend were filmed at New College of Florida. Dormitory and classroom shots were filmed at Ringling College of Art and Design. Korine announced in 2013 he planned to "remix" the film's unused footage and alternate takes into an entirely new cut.

Soundtrack

The film score to Spring Breakers was composed by Cliff Martinez and Skrillex, marking the first scoring assignment for the latter. Skrillex was contacted after Korine sent music supervisor Randall Poster links to the electronica artist's music on YouTube. "I'm accustomed to being the oldest person at a gig," said Poster, "but when I went to see Skrillex at Roseland this year, it was dramatic. There were a lot of kids that looked like they were 15 years old. But I loved it. I truly loved it."

The soundtrack to the film was released on March 19, 2013 by Big Beat Records and Warner Music.

Release A three-minute preview of Spring Breakers was released at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival in May 2012. The entire film premiered at the 69th Venice International Film Festival on September 4, 2012. The film was released in New York and Los Angeles on March 15, 2013. The film was released nationwide on March 22, 2013.

The film had a limited release in the U.K. on April 5, 2013. The movie was also released in France on March 6, 2013 and was scheduled to be released in Australia in early March; however, it was pushed back to a release date of May 4.

Home media Spring Breakers was released digitally on June 25, 2013, and on DVD and Blu-ray on July 9, 2013.

Reception Box office Spring Breakers grossed $14,124,284 in North America and $17,600,000 in other countries for a worldwide total of $31,724,284. In North America, the film opened to #6 in its first weekend with $4,858,944, behind The Croods, Admission, The Call, Oz the Great and Powerful, and Olympus Has Fallen.

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 67% based on 200 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Spring Breakers blends stinging social commentary with bikini cheesecake and a bravura James Franco performance." At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating from film critics, it received a rating score of 63 out of 100 based on 40 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Xan Brooks of The Guardian said the film is Korine's "most fully realised, purely satisfying feature film since Gummo." Emma Seligman of The Huffington Post described the film as "Scarface meets Britney Spears." Oliver Lyttlelton of IndieWire gave the film a B, stating that the film would be a future cult favorite for "midnight moviegoers".

Guy Lodge of Variety gave it a negative review, saying, "this attractively fizzy pic may be a shock to the system for fans of teen queens Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens, but remains pretty toothless titillation by its writer-helmer's standards." David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter noted that James Franco gives one of his more bizarre performances in his unpredictable career, saying "he's a cross between Bo Derek in 10 and Richard Kiel in Moonraker."

Andrew Schenker of Slant Magazine gave the film 3 out of 4 stars. Jamie Dunn of The Skinny gave it 4 out of 5 stars, saying: "If Michael Mann was to take a lot of hallucinogenics and shoot a Girls Gone Wild video, it might look something like this." Richard Roeper of Rogerebert.com gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, praising the character of Alien and the film's sense of humor.

A24 began a campaign in September 2013 in support of a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for Franco's performance. This was preceded by the Hollywood.com website that produced a "For your consideration" poster in support of a nomination for Franco in March 2013. On December 2, 2013, A24 published a YouTube video titled "James Franco - Consider this Sh*t" and also released print advertisements following the "Consider this Sh*t [sic]" theme. Originally, Internet chatter considered the campaign a joke, but A24 emphasized that it was serious.

Spring Breakers has since appeared on various retrospective "best of" lists, including two honoring the best films of the 21st century. In 2016, British film magazine Little White Lies placed the film at number 40 on their list of the 50 best films of the decade (so far). In August of that same year, BBC Magazine conducted a poll on the 21st century's 100 greatest films so far, with Spring Breakers ranking at number 74. In France, the magazine Les Cahiers du cinéma featured Spring Breakers on their March 2013's cover, and placed it second on their December 2013 Top Ten chart. In July 2025, it ranked number 41 on Rolling Stones list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century." It was also one of the films voted for the "Readers' Choice" edition of The New York Times list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century," finishing at number 321.

Top ten lists Spring Breakers appeared on many critics' top ten lists for 2013.

Best of 2013 (not ranked) – Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times 2nd – Nigel M. Smith, Gabe Toro, & Katie Walsh, Indiewire 2nd – Cahiers du cinéma 4th – Ben Kenigsberg, The A.V. Club 6th – David Ehrlich, Film.com 6th – Gregory Ellwood, HitFix 7th – Drew McWeeny, Hitfix 8th – Ty Burr, The Boston Globe 8th – Kristopher Tapley, HitFix 8th – Marlow Stern, The Daily Beast 10th – Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York 10th – A.O. Scott, The New York Times Best of 2013 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

Controversies

Riff Raff controversy