One icon, several years of embattled production, a revolving door of planned release dates, and two teaser trailers later, the long-delayed Tupac Shakur biopic All Eyez On Me has landed a distributor.
Lionsgate and Morgan Creek Entertainment announced Tuesday the film will hit theaters nationwide on June 16 — what would have been the late rapper’s 46th birthday — via the former’s Summit Entertainment label.
Starring newcomer Demetrius Shipp, Jr. in the lead role, All Eyez On Me — a title lifted from Shakur’s fourth studio album, released seven months before his death in 1996 — charts the life and legacy of the hip-hop legend, including his work as an actor, poet and activist, as well as his “prolific, controversial time at Death Row Records” and eventual incarceration, according to a press release.
Across his abbreviated career, Shakur sold more than 75 million records worldwide, including the No. 1-charting singles “California Love” and “How Do U Want It.” He is set to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 7.