After losing one distributor and gaining another, The Bikeriders finally has a new release date. Jeff Nichols‘ biker epic will roll into theaters June 21, 2024.
The Bikeriders has ridden a rough road the past few months. Originally, it was set to be released on December 1 by Disney, but shifted from that release date to avoid the then-ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. The film was subsequently dropped from Disney‘s slate entirely in November following a challenging financial year for the company, leaving it scrambling to find a new distributor. It found one in the form of Focus Features, who have now set the film for a summer release next year, where it will be nestled between the June 14 release of Inside Out 2 and the still-untitled Bad Boys 4, and the June 28 debut of A Quiet Place: Day One and the first part of Kevin Costner‘s sprawling Horizon saga. With the strikes now resolved, the 2024 release schedule remains in flux, so it remains to be seen what competition The Bikeriders will ultimately encounter at the box office.
What Is ‘The Bikeriders’?
Based on a photo-book by journalist Danny Lyon, The Bikeriders chronicles the rise and fall of a fictional Midwestern biker gang in the 1960s. The film centers around gang member Benny (Austin Butler, fresh off his Oscar-nominated performance in Elvis) and his whirlwind romance with Kathy (Jodie Comer), and their lives throughout the tumultuous 1960s. Benny’s gang begins as a group of well-intentioned outcasts, but as time goes on, it gets involved in drugs, prostitution, and murder. Directed by Jeff Nichols (Midnight Special, Loving), the film boasts a star-studded cast, led by Butler, Comer, Tom Hardy, Norman Reedus, and frequent Nichols collaborator Michael Shannon. Boyd Holbrook (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny), Mike Faist (West Side Story), Damon Herriman (Justified), Toby Wallace (Finestkind), Emory Cohen (The OA), Beau Knapp (The Lost Symbol), Karl Glusman (Reptile), and Happy Anderson (Mindhunter) round out the cast.
Following its premiere at the Telluride Film Festival this year, The Bikeriders has been well-received by critics, with an 85% “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes. However, Collider‘s Emma Kiely was not as enthusiastic in her review, calling the film “a chaotic misfire, full of beautiful faces but no substance”.
via Collider