The much-awaited major motion picture starring the two members of Outkast is scheduled to be released in theatres on August 25, 2006.

“Idlewild,” which was partially filmed in Wilmington and Burgaw, is part musical part historical. Outkast began filming the movie in the fall of 2004 and wrapped production later that year. Johnny Griffin of the Wilmington Regional Film Commission said the film “was originally made for HBO,” but filmmakers thought the movie could become a major motion picture and “had to find someone to handle a theatrical release.” He said that Universal eventually picked up the film, and that one of the reasons for the delay was because they were trying to find a company that wanted to do a theatrical release of the movie.

The film is set in the fictional town of Idlewild, Georgia in the 1930’s and follows the story of a speakeasy club manager and singer, Rooster, played by Antwan Patton (Big Boi), and the clubs Jazz pianist and manager’s childhood friend, Percival, played by Andre Benjamin (Andre 3000). Griffin said although it is about “two guys that are musicians, its more of a drama.”

The music in the film has a definite jazz feel with typical Outkast rhymes. The new Outkast album “Idlewild” serves as part of the films soundtrack, and Outkast’s Big Boi said in an interview with MTV that, “The movie’s set in the 1930s, so there’s a lot of piano playing, a lot of ragtime, Cab Calloway, Jelly Roll [Morton]. A lot of different stuff on the album, it’s a very mature album, it’s rapping and everything else. You’ve got to expect what you always expect from Outkast, and that’s the unexpected.”

While some of the tracks from the new album have been leaked to illegal music downloading Web sites, the official release date, initially planned for Feb. 14, 2006, is now unknown.