'Breakfast Club' returns to theaters for its 40th anniversary

Get ready to celebrate The Breakfast Club once again in theaters.

In honor of its 40th anniversary, Universal Pictures will return writer-director John Hughes ' groundbreaking coming-of-age film to theaters nationwide on September 7 and again on September 10. The film, set in a suburban Chicago high school, stars Molly Ringwald , Emilio Estevez , Judd Nelson , Ally Sheedy and Anthony Michael Hall as five teens from very different cliques who spend one life-altering Saturday.

First opening in theaters on February 15, 1985, The Breakfast Club became a box office hit and cultural sensation after striking a generational chord with its portrayal of identity and the desire to be seen (read Thr 's original review here). It also helped launch the careers of its Young Ensemble cast, as well as the Brat Pack era.

Hughes encouraged his Breakfast Club actors to improvise and contribute their own ideas, resulting in the film being celebrated for its focus on character, conversation, and vulnerability, versus spectacle. Over the course of their day together, Claire the Princess (Ringwald), Andrew the Jock (Estevez), Brian the Brain (Hall), Allison the Basket Case (Sheedy), and John the Criminal (Nelson) begin to drop their stereotypical public facades and reveal their private struggles.

“ The Breakfast Club is one of the great films about identity, alienation, and connection,” says Jim Orr, president of theatrical distribution for Universal Pictures. “The film’s honesty, humor, and humanity continue to connect with audiences of all ages. We’re honored to bring it back to theaters so a new generation can experience its power on the big screen.”

Breakfast Club 's legacy extends far beyond the screen. Its now-iconic poster was shot by celebrated portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz, while its title track, "Don't You (Forget About Me)" by Simple Minds, became a chart-topping hit. The film's dialogue entered the lexicon, and remains widely quoted and referenced decades later.

In April of this year, the film's five stars publicly united for the first time since the film's release in 1985 by participating in a 40th Anniversary Conversation at the C2E2 Convention in Chicago.

"I'm feeling really emotional, and I moved to have us all together," Ringwald told the crowd, noting that while the rest of the group had previously reunited, it was the first time Estevez had joined them. "We don't have to use the cardboard cutout anymore because he's here. I feel really moved that we're all together."

Estevez joked that he'd also skipped all of his real-life high school reunions, but appearing at the event "was something I finally felt like I needed to do for myself. This one felt special—it's here in Chicago where we made the movie. Obviously, it's the 40th anniversary, and I just felt like it was time. Someone said Molly said, 'Well, well, isn't that like us?' And that broke my heart. And that just made sense, so here I am."

Breakfast Club was the second feature Hughes wrote and directed in quick order following 1984 's Sixteen Candles another Universal teen pic starring Ringwald (Hall co-starring). Hughes would go on to be one of the most prolific and influential filmmakers of the 1980s and 1990s; his body of work included Ferris Bueller's Day Off , Planes, Trains & Automobiles , Uncle Buck , Pretty in Pink and Home Alone .

The 30th ^anniversary celebration of The Breakfast Club included a remastered edition that played in over 400 theaters across North America after its premiere at South by Southwest. A year later, the Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry, citing its cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance.

Hughes, who died in 2009, produced The Breakfast Club with Ned Tanent.

Advance tickets go on sale August 16 for the 40th anniversary re-release.