[11] Once Korine developed the story's backbone, which takes place around the American spring break period, he traveled to Florida to write the screenplay.

[12] Spring Breakers was released on March 22, 2013, in the United States by A24 and grossed $31 million worldwide, making it a resounding success considering the small budget.

It received generally positive reviews from critics with praise for the acting and Debie's cinematography especially, with some also calling it a potential cult classic.

[17] Critics and scholars have read deeper meaning in the plot, commenting on its reflection of modern-day superficiality and the younger generation's self-destructive obsession with highly stylized, disposable pop culture media and sensory ephemera.

College students Brit, Candy, and Cotty often spend their time partying while their friend Faith attends a religious youth group.

Desperate to make the trip, Brit and Candy, after getting high on cocaine, don ski masks and rob a local restaurant using hammers and realistic-looking squirt guns.

Alien then takes the girls to his mansion, where he flaunts his drug money and cache of weapons, describing his life as the "American Dream".

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 follow in Faith's footsteps, returning home.

During the assault and its aftermath, 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.

According to Harmony Korine, he wrote the film partially to make up for his own spring breaks, as he had been fully devoted to skateboarding, and therefore missed out on what he saw as opportunities for hedonistic pursuits.

[4] 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.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Spring Breakers blends stinging social commentary with bikini cheesecake and a bravura James Franco performance.

[13] 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.

"[43] 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.

[45] 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.

[51] 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.

[52] In France, the magazine Les Cahiers du cinéma featured Spring Breakers on their March 2013's cover,[53] and placed it second on their December 2013 Top Ten chart.

"[60] After much back-and-forth between both camps about the issue, Riff Raff announced in July 2013 that he was suing the creators of Spring Breakers for $10 million for "sampling" his life without his permission or a proper producer credit.

[65] According to Rolling Stone, the film presents "a kind of girl-power camaraderie that could almost be called feminist," a result of the director's intent to "do the most radical work, but put it out in the most commercial way (...) to infiltrate the mainstream".

When a pre-med student on spring break loses her top, drinks to the point of passing out, and grabs a willing lugnut by the ears for six hours of anonymous fun, is she setting the woman's movement back 40 years, or taking charge of her life like any man would do at that age?

A sequel, under the name of Spring Breakers: The Second Coming, was announced on May 6, 2014, to have been written by Irvine Welsh and directed by Jonas Åkerlund.