Harmony Korine’s edgy Spring Breakers starring James Franco, Ashley Benson, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, and Rachel Korine will be partying on Blu-ray and DVD beginning July 9.

Spring Breakers was made on the cheap for $5 million in Panama City Beach, Florida and has gone to earn $13.8 million domestically to date. The film is rated fresh at Rotten Tomatoes with a 65% score and should be a hit on Blu-ray and DVD considering the theatrical release never expanded much further beyond 1,100 locations.

Spring Breakers comes to Blu-ray in 2.35:1 1080p video and 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. Extras include:

• Breaking it Down: Behind Spring Breakers – A Behind-the-Scenes 3-Part Documentary
1. Part 1 – Film Makers: Spring Breakers
2. Part 2 – Breaking Convention
3. Part 3 – Spring Breakers Forever
• Deleted Scene/Outtakes
• Harmony’s Ear Candy featurette – An Insightful Look at the Music of Spring Breakers
• Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Harmony Korine
• VICE featurettes – An Inside Look at the ATL Twins and Real Life Partying in Panama City Beach
• Theatrical Trailer/TV Spots

The Spring Breakers Blu-ray cover art above is as it should be with the young ladies looking raucous and Franco looking dope, the same key art as the main theatrical one-sheet movie poster.

Click here to pre-order Spring Breakers on Blu-ray for $19.59 at Amazon.com, 30% off the $27.99 list price.

In my review of “Spring Breakers” for The Suffolk Voice, I referred to it as our generation’s version of “Easy Rider.” It has the potential, like Dennis Hopper’s initial directorial masterpiece, to transform the way that this generation views movies altogether.

It could also change the way that films are financed so that auteurs are given more freedom, and so that people like Harmony Korine are given the resources that they need in order to make unhinged masterpieces like this.

However, Korine has never been one to be exempt from directorial freedom. The writer of “Kids” has made a handful of movies since 1996 that can, in the simplest way, described as experimental. They include “Gummo,” “Julien Donkey-Boy,” “Mister Lonely,” and most recently “Trash Humpers” – none of them receiving wide distribution. “Spring Breakers” has already grossed more than all of Korine’s other films COMBINED, in part due to the fact that it has a highly recognizable cast – including a role played by “Pretty Little Liars’” Ashley Benson.

The Suffolk Voice recently got the chance to interview Korine and Benson about “Spring Breakers.” The interview was completed over the phone with The Suffolk Voice along with other members of the press.

Harmony Korine: Hello, Ashley?

Ashley Benson: Hey Harm!

Harmony Korine: What’s up?

Ashley Benson: I don’t even know what we’re doing…

Harmony Korine: Me neither. Is anyone else here?

Press: How does music influence your writing and vision of films? Does it serve as a guiding force?

Harmony Korine: Music is a huge part; sound is a huge part; energy is a huge part. I listen to music constantly. Sound is half of what a film is. I definitely pay attention to it.

Press: Ashley, you’re known for your role in “Pretty Little Liars” – most of your audience knows you from that role… So why the huge jump to this?

Ashley Benson: I don’t know, I’ve been on that show for 4 years now and I feel as if people see me a certain way because of it. I wanted to do a film that was different than anything I’d ever done. I read Harmony’s script and I liked it. I wanted the chance to work with Harmony and James [Franco] and do something different.

Q: This film really starts off showing spring break as something like a wet dream, but it progressively evolves into more of a nightmare. Do you see spring break as a wet dream or a nightmare, or both?

Harmony Korine: A wet dream… Damn, wet dream… You know, I see it as it is in the movie. I guess if you want to say some of it’s a wet dream that’s okay, but it is what the movie is. It’s how it plays out. There are emotions, images, ambiguities, strangeness, and horrors all kind of mixed up and dancing together – kind of a cultural mash-up or interpretation of all these feelings.

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It’s a tough decision, but Rachel Korine, Ashley Benson and Selena Gomez reveal their Movie Award picks for “Best Musical Moment” on Rated MTV, airing Friday at 3:30 p.m. ET.

If you’ve been anxiously anticipating the release of Spring Breakers—in theaters today, starring Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens and James Franco—you might be interested to know that there are now stylish souvenirs up for grabs.

Opening Ceremony has unveiled a playful clothing and accessories range inspired by the racy flick and designed by stylist Heidi Bivens, just in time for beachside hijinks, wild bar-hopping and other mischevious activities the young kids entertain themselves with these days.

Given that Gomez, Hudgens and their costars are scantily clad in bikinis throughout the movie, it should come to no surprise that there are, of course, a few colorful teeny, tiny two-pieces offered in the collection, as well as screen-printed tanks, tees, hoodies, bandanas and rubber wristbands (emblazoned with “Spring Break 4Ever Bitches”) available for purchase.

“Pretty Little Liars” star Ashley Benson makes the jump to film in the most attention-grabbing way she can: alongside Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens as coeds gone bad in Harmony Korine’s “Spring Breakers.” The film finds the girls’ characters knocking over a diner to fund a wild week in Florida, ending up in jail and bedding down with a crazed, gun-toting, drug-slinging amateur rapper named Alien (James Franco), all in a kaleidoscope of American culture taken to the brink. Not surprisingly, it’s courted some very strong reactions. And you know what? Benson likes that you may hate this movie.

I’ve talked to some people who didn’t get this movie.
I don’t think a lot of people do, actually.

There’s a lot of noise surrounding it, about the content and the Disney backgrounds of your co-stars. When you’re at the center of this kind of storm, how do you deal with it?
I don’t really listen to it. Harmony just wanted people to be left with a feeling, and if they’re horrified that’s amazing. If they loved it that’s even better. So I like when people hate the movie because it’s like, wow, we really affected you and you’re really disturbed, and that’s great. Because it is a disturbing movie, but it’s also a beautiful movie. So whether you like it or not I’m just happy that people are seeing it and it’s being talked about, because it’s being talked about whether it’s negatively or positively. If they’re talking about it, that’s great.

How much of the “pop poem” nature of this, as Korine describes it, was clear from the get-go?
Honestly, I was kind of thrown into it at the very last minute — like two weeks before we started shooting. When I was reading this script, I viewed it as, “Oh my God, this is such a gritty, raw, organic, edgy script, and I have to be a part of this.” And my character was so different and just didn’t give a sh— ever, about whatever she did. You know what I mean? She was just, like, so ballsy, and I’ve never played anything like that. And I told my agent when I was looking for a movie I wanted to play a tough girl who deals with drugs, who deals with violence — and then this script came out of nowhere and I was just like, “Oh my God! I have to get this role!”

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The sexy star of the bikini outlaw flick reveals behind-the-scenes secrets.

Opening this weekend, Spring Breakers tells the story of four college girls who go on the ultimate spring break adventure. (And by “ultimate,” we mean lots of guns, drugs, sex, and crime.) The film stars two former Disney good girls—Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens—as well as former Pretty Little Liars star Ashley Benson. So what really went down while they were shooting this naughty movie? Here’s what Ashley told us.

The girls actually bonded.
“When we got to Florida, Harmony Korine, the director, really harped on the four of us being with each other all day every day. So we got a whole week of just rehearsing and hanging out. All of us got along so well, and Vanessa and I were born a few days apart, so we’re quite similar.”

They didn’t stick to the script.
“We got to improv a lot, which I’d never done, and I don’t think the other girls had either. It was my first time being able to do and say what I wanted. Every take was different: some lasted 10 minutes, some lasted one minute, and some had no talking at all. It wasn’t your average memorize-every-single-word-and-if-you-miss-a-word-you-have-to-start-over experience, and that’s what made it so awesome.”

Fans snuck on the set.
“Word got around that we were filming, and every day we would have people by the set waiting. They’d say they were working on the movie, or that they were extras, so they could get on set. We finally buckled down security, and no one was allowed anywhere. It was crazy!”

James Franco stayed in character.
“The first time I met him, he was in costume. He came out of his trailer and had cornrows, tattoos everywhere, and gold teeth, so we met James as his character, Alien, rather than James himself. Alien has an accent, and he kept it whether we were filming or not. It was really funny; the whole time we only knew him as that character. He did a lot of research for the role…”

Shooting fake guns was really scary.
“This sounds horrible, but there’s something about holding a gun. Obviously the ones that we had were fake, but you still feel like there’s so much power in your hands. I never knew what that was like, and it’s actually really scary, because when you have one, you just become a different person. I’d never shot a gun before, and you can see in the movie that I back up because I was so scared to shoot it. I thought it was going to blow back in my face and burn me.”

Spring Breakers opens Friday, March 22.

It’s one thing to obsess over Spring Breakers from afar, over the internet, or from that perfect seat halfway toward the back of the movie theater. But it’s a totally different situation (and obviously a WAY better one) to obsess over the new Harmony Korine film with one of the stars herself!

Yep, we’re talking about Ashley Benson, who invited us to come visit her at the Faviana HQ in New York City—she’s the face of the special occasion dress brand—and dish on allllll stuff fashion.

In between talking about prom (we’ll have more on that later…stay tuned!), Ashley filled us in on what it was really like filming Spring Breakers down in Florida with Selena, Vanessa, Rachel and James. She also gave us the lowdown on how RELIEVED she was to sport shorts and sneakers on the regular (comfiest costumes ever?!), her favorite premiere outfits, and how she and the rest of the cast always discuss their red carpet ensembles beforehand.

Oh, and another thing: although Ashley seems like a great girl on Instagram and in other press interviews, she’s even cooler and nicer in person. But don’t just take our word for it…see for yourself in our exclusive chat!

Opening in theaters on March 22nd comedy/crime drama from writer and director Harmony Korine (Gummo) called Spring Breakers. The film stars an eclectic of actors including Selena Gomez (Hotel Transylvania), Vanessa Hudgens (Sucker Punch), Ashley Benson (TV’s Pretty Little Liars), Rachel Korine (Trash Humpers), and Academy Award-nominee James Franco (Oz the Great and Powerful).

IAR’s Managing Editor Jami Philbrick recently had a chance to sit down with Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, and Rachel Korine to talk about their controversial work on Spring Breakers. The young actresses discussed their new film, why Selena Gomez is so tired, the controlled chaos on set, acting with real college kids on spring break, the craziest thing they saw happen while they were shooting, why Gomez wanted to be a part of this project and play against type, if Vanessa Hudgens expected it would cause such a controversy when she agreed to do the movie, what it’s like for Rachel Korine to work with her husband director Harmony Korine, if James Franco is really crazy, why he stayed in character throughout production even when they weren’t shooting, and the fact that the actresses don’t feel like they ever met the real James Franco.

To watch our exclusive interview with Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, and Rachel Korine about Spring Breakers please click on the video player above.

Emmy winner Jake Hamilton sits down to talk with the stars of SPRING BREAKERS — Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson and Rachel Korine — only on Jake’s Takes!