Today sees the North American release of Edgar Wright‘s The World’s End, the final installment of his Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, which began in 2004 with Shaun of the Dead and continued in 2007 with Hot Fuzz (see our review here). The World’s End tells the tale of five friends who as teenagers attempted an epic pub crawl together, but never made it to the final establishment on their list, The World’s End. The friends eventually drift apart and move away, becoming family men with responsibilities and careers, except for Gary (Simon Pegg), who convinces the group to reconvene some 20 years later for another attempt at “The Golden Mile” drinking marathon. But during their one night/twelve pubs adventure, where each person must drink at least one pint per location, the old friends realize that something is amiss in their hometown of Newton Haven, and that there’s more to this quest than just reuniting and reconciling – the world itself is in danger!

Earlier this month, I received some cool swag in the mail from Focus Features that included a limited edition World’s End-inspired The Golden Mile T-Shirt, along with the recently released Shaun of the Dead/Hot Fuzz Double Feature Blu-ray. Then, earlier this week, there were two more deliveries containing twelve pub glasses, each with the name and logo of one of the pubs along “The Golden Mile,” along with a different quote from the film. A note from the studio says there’s even more items to come soon.

The World’s End
Directed by Edgar Wright
Written by Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg
Starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Martin Freeman
Focus Features
Release Date: August 23, 2012 (U.S.)

“We wanna be free! We wanna be free to do what we wanna do. And we wanna get loaded. And we wanna have a good time. And that’s what we are gonna do. We are gonna have a good time… We are gonna have a party.”

That little speech – abbreviated slightly from its original version – plays a large role in defining the theme of The World’s End, the eagerly-anticipated closing chapter in the “Blood and Ice Cream” (or “Three Flavours Cornetto”) trilogy that director Edgar Wright and his frequent star and co-writer Simon Pegg created a decade ago with the romantic zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead and continued in 2007 with the blazing police action drama spoof Hot Fuzz. The speech was first heard in the 1966 biker movie classic The Wild Angels and was given by Peter Fonda’s character Heavenly Blues. I recognized those lines the moment they were played on the soundtrack.

The World’s End is, I believe, about the futility of trying to recapture your lost youth when you never lost it to begin with. But it is also about how when most of us enter adulthood we take it upon ourselves to abandon our youthful identities completely and replace them with domesticity and responsibility. The five main characters of The World’s End never learned to reconcile the buttoned-down, easy-going side of their personalities with the spirited sense of fun and friendship that defined them as people growing up. The lead character decided to remain a child forever but instead grew into a sad and bedraggled wretch of a human being while his four best friends became hollow shells of what they once were.

Had trouble getting past the shopping cart point on the Mondo website when trying to purchase that Shaun of the Dead poster this morning? Well so did I. And while we are left to see the insane prices that are posted on ebay, Mondo is giving us another chance to obtain a poster from Edgar Wright‘s Cornetto Trilogy, though it won’t be from Tyler Stout or be a Shaun of the Dead poster.

MovieFone has just debuted the poster for The World’s End by Kevin Tong, which goes on sale at an undisclosed time tomorrow. Hit the jump to check out the poster.

In just eleven days, the third entry in Edgar Wright‘s Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy (also known as Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy), The World’s End, hits theaters. And once again, our behind-the-scenes team here at Geeks of Doom HQ has worked to bring our readers a giveaway we know you’ll appreciate.

We’ve partnered with our friends at Focus Features for a very special The World’s End-themed prize pack, which consists of an official The World’s End Pub Crawl T-Shirt, a The World’s End Pint Glass (very appropriate), and a $25 Visa gift card that you can use to see the film!

You can check out all manner of The World’s End images, posters, trailers, info, and links, and see the prizing after the form below.

One (1) winner will receive:

• One (1) The World’s End T-Shirt
• One (1) The World’s End Pint Glass
• One (1) $25 Visa gift card to see the film

The World’s End in theaters August 23, 2013.

Prizing provided by Focus Features; Valued at $48

TO ENTER: There’s just two simple steps:

(1) Subscribe to Geeks of Doom using one or more of the following methods:
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(2) Fill out the entry form here below and submit your entry. (Form is here after the jump.)

Good luck!

In today’s edition of “The Coolest Movie Geek Item Available For Free Online,” Focus Features has released to their official website a fully interactive screenplay for Edgar Wright‘s horror-comedy classic Shaun of the Dead to promote the forthcoming American release of Wright’s latest film The World’s End – the final chapter of the “Three Flavours Cornetto” trilogy that began with Shaun and continued with 2007’s hilarious action spoof Hot Fuzz.

The screenplay is illustrated with behind-the-scenes photos, storyboards, pages from Wright and Pegg’s legendary “flip chart” used to map out the story, and videos available at the click of a mouse. Most of the images can also be enlarged to examine in greater detail.