King Knight: February release for Matthew Gray Gubler, Richard Bates Jr. witch comedy

Last Updated on January 12, 2022

Five months have passed since we got our first look at the trailer for director Richard Bates Jr.’s “outsider’s outsider comedy” King Knight (that trailer is embedded above) and learned that the film was going to have its world premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival. Now we know when a wider audience is going to have the chance to watch it: King Knight is getting a theatrical and VOD release on February 17th.

King Knight stars Matthew Gray Gubler and Angela Sarafyan as Thorn and Willow, 

husband-and-wife high priest and priestess of a coven of witches in a small California community. When Willow unearths a secret from Thorn’s past, their lives are thrown into turmoil in this kooky, clever treat.

The leads are surrounded by a “wild cast” that includes Nelson Franklin, Johnny Pemberton, Barbara Crampton, Ray Wise, Andy Milonakis, and the voices of Aubrey Plaza and AnnaLynne McCord. 

Bates and Gubler previously worked together on the films Excision, Suburban Gothic, and Trash Fire – in fact, the only Bates movie that Gubler wasn’t in was Tone-Deaf. When Bates couldn’t secure financing for King Knight, he and Gubler decided to pay for it out of their own pockets and film it at each other’s homes. Bates told Showbiz Cheat Sheet, 

One exciting thing about the budgets I work with, I guess my obsession in making them [is that] I do think every day I could die and I want to leave as much behind that I think matters in one way or another as possible. I’ll go out there and make it. Nothing’s going to stop me. I don’t need as much money as someone else. If I can’t get the perfect amount of money, I’ll find a way to make it for less. I’m not going to not create this thing.”

We’ll get to see the result of their DIY decision next month. Does King Knight look like a movie you’d want to watch when it’s released in February? Let us know by leaving a comment below.