When "The Rivals of Amziah King" premiered at SXSW in spring 2025, director Andrew Patterson's film appeared to have the potential to become both an awards contender and a popular success. It marked Matthew McConaughey's return to the screen after six years and affirmed the director's talent, known for "The Vast of Night".
However, the combination of a saga film with bluegrass music undertones and crime cinema elements, which followed McConaughey as a singing beekeeper, proved difficult to market, especially to international audiences. For that reason, producer and financier Black Bear opted for self-distribution.
This weekend's limited opening, more than a year after its strong world premiere, was respectable but not the surprise success that was expected. With just over 1 million dollars in domestic box office on its opening from 632 theatres, the film did not make the top 10 nationally during a slow mid-August weekend and achieved a per-theatre average of $1,625. It fell behind the concert documentary "Katseye: Wild Hearts" (also in limited release), the Bollywood film "Vishwanath & Sons" (which had even fewer theatres), and the tenth anniversary re-release of the popular anime "Your Name".
"Amziah King" is one of Black Bear's first releases under its distribution arm, which has also released Sydney Sweeney's boxing biopic "Christy" and Daniel Roher's "Tuner" and Guy Ritchie's "In the Grey". "Christy" quickly became a major failure last autumn, earning just under 2 million dollars nationally despite a 15 million dollar budget.
However, "Tuner" proved to be a pleasant surprise. It opened in just four theatres on Memorial Day with a per-theatre average of $26,105. It earned 1.7 million dollars in its second weekend from 452 theatres, less than what "Amziah King" made on its opening. It reached a total of 4.51 million dollars nationally, the kind of specialised release that clearly benefited from word of mouth and certain awards discussion.
Could the same happen with "Amziah King"? It is unlikely the film will expand significantly next weekend and will eventually reach a similar number of theatres as "Tuner", never exceeding 500 cinemas. It will depend on critical reception and awards interest to grow. Although IndieWire's review from SXSW last year was not enthusiastic, the film has a solid rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a premise that definitely stands out.
Growing pains are expected for some of these emerging distributors, as companies like 1-2 Special and Row K attempt to place smaller independent films, many with big stars and commercial premises, in an unforgiving theatrical market. "The Rivals of Amziah King" is not a failure, but it appears it will take more time to find its audience.
