Boots Riley’s New Film Is Said To Be About Female Shoplifters & Will Be Released Via NEON

Boots Riley is an interesting man. Maybe it’s because of his musical background or just his own clear idea of his creative journey, but he definitely marches to the beat of his own drum. After making one of the most stylish directorial debuts of the past 10 years with “Sorry to Bother You,” he didn’t turn that success into a golden ticket to make a blockbuster or another high-profile film. Instead, he decided to direct a limited series on Prime Video, the criminally underrated “I’m a Virgo.” And since then, we haven’t really heard much from him about what’s next. 

READ MORE: Boots Riley Criticizes David Fincher’s “Distorted Worldview” & Disagrees With His “Confused Take” On The WGA Strike

Well, apparently, Boots Riley is ready to get back into feature filmmaking with an untitled film he’s releasing with NEON. This news is courtesy of writer Kyle Buchanan, who snagged the information after speaking with Riley at a Golden Globes party last night. He also found out the film is actually going to follow a ring of female shoplifters, and filming will begin this spring. Obviously, considering his previous work with ‘Sorry’ and ‘Virgo,’ we have to imagine his feature will be another somewhat trippy, surrealist adventure. 

READ MORE: ‘I’m A Virgo’ Review: Boots Riley’s Absurdist Coming-Of-Age Series Is A Giant Delight

It’s not crazy to hear that Riley is working on a film and is expected to start filming soon. After prolonged SAG and WGA strikes, a lot of filmmakers went understandably quiet. Well, “quiet” is never the right word to describe Riley, as he is one of the most outspoken filmmakers in Hollywood right now, regularly offering up controversial opinions about folks like David Fincher and Quentin Tarantino, for example. But we’re starting to see quite a few directors get projects prepped to go for early 2024. 

Obviously, it’s far too soon to know when we might see the untitled film. If spring is when production is set to begin, there’s a slight chance he could sneak it in before the end of the year. However, most likely, we can expect the film to debut in early 2025, perhaps at one of the festivals like Sundance or SXSW. We’ll just have to wait and see.