The drama is finally over. Focus Features is officially releasing “The Bikeriders” and has set a June 21, 2024, release date for the 1960s-set biker gang drama from filmmaker Jeff Nichols.
Starring the excellent trio of Jodie Comer (“Killing Eve,” “The Last Duel”), Austin Butler (“Elvis”) and Tom Hardy (“Mad Max: Fury Road,” “The Revenant”), “The Bikeriders” was the rare drama to make its world premiere only at the rather exclusive Telluride Film Festival, bypassing TIFF, NYFF, and Venice. Regardless, critics raved over the film, pushing it into the Oscar race as a potential player.
But Disney and 20th Century Studios, the distributors, apparently had doubts and didn’t know how to market a smaller specialty film of that more modest size. Eventually, they decided not to release the movie, but New Regency, the producers shopped it around and found a more fitting home for it at Focus Features, which is known for these kinds of prestige dramas.
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The Playlist’s Gregory Ellwood wrote in his review, “Nichols has crafted a highly entertaining period piece on a legendary biker club that is at times sexy, funny, and filled with fisticuffs.”
The cast, most of whom did their own riding on an array of period-correct bikes, also includes Michael Shannon (“Bullet Train”), Mike Faist (“West Side Story”), Boyd Holbrook (“Logan”), and Norman Reedus (“The Walking Dead”). The film is written and directed by Jeff Nicols, a filmmaker known for moving humanist dramas like “Loving,” “Mud,” and the more sci-fi-tinged thriller “Midnight Special.” “The Bikeriders” follows the rise of a Midwestern motorcycle club through the lives of its members.
Here’s the long-form synopsis
“The Bikeriders” is a furious drama following the rise of a fictional 1960s Midwestern motorcycle club through the lives of its members. Inspired by Danny Lyon’s iconic book of photography, “The Bikeriders” immerses you in the look, feel, and sounds of the bare-knuckled, grease-covered subculture of ’60s motorcycle riders. Kathy (Comer), a strong-willed member of the Vandals who’s married to a wild, reckless bikerider named Benny (Butler), recounts the Vandals’ evolution over the course of a decade, beginning as a local club of outsiders united by good times, rumbling bikes, and respect for their strong, steady leader Johnny (Hardy). Over the years, Kathy tries her best to navigate her husband’s untamed nature and his allegiance to Johnny, with whom she feels she must compete for Benny’s attention. As life in the Vandals gets more dangerous, and the club threatens to become a more sinister gang, Kathy, Benny, and Johnny are forced to make choices about their loyalty to the club and to each other.
“The Bikeriders” is now set for a June 21, 2024 release. And the irony of it all? “The Bikeriders” will now face off that weekend against “A Quiet Place: Day One,” a spin-off film that Nichols himself was supposed to direct initially but eventually parted ways with the studio, describing the project as “not a good fit” for him.
