Despite being a relatively big critical hit at the Telluride Film Festival, with many Oscar pundits saying it had plenty of Oscar potential, Disney will not release filmmaker Jeff Nichols’ acclaimed biker drama, “The Bikeriders.” The film was meant to be released by Disney/20th Century Studios, but now, New Regency has been shopping it to other studios and streamers, according to several of the trades.
Update: Deadline says Focus Features has picked up the movie, and honestly, it’s a brilliant fit and the exact kind of movie they’re good at releasing, marketing and shepherding to audiences well.
Last month, “The Bikeriders” was delayed indefinitely amid the actors’ strike. The film was supposed to open on December 1st, 2023, which fell on the same weekend when “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé” would hit theaters, but the culprit at the time seemed to be the strikes and no actors available to promote the movie. With the strikes gone, it appears that 20th Century Studios may have lost its nerve on its prospects.
Starring Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, and Jodie Comer—all of whom were said to be the ones that could’ve broken into the Oscars race— the pic follows the rise of a fictional 1960s Midwestern motorcycle club through the lives of its members. The movie also stars Michael Shannon, Boyd Holbrook, Paul Sparks, Norman Reedus, Mike Faist, Emory Cohen, Damon Herriman, Beau Knapp, and Karl Glusman.
A source told Indiewire that 20th Century/Disney was not prepared to offer the adult-skewing film the proper awards push that the filmmakers and New Regency believe “The Bikeriders” merits, which may mean the two companies are at odds about its full awards-season potential.
Either way, the news is depressing as major studios seemingly continue to shy away from anything that’s non-I.P. and genre films. 20th Century Studios was apparently supposed to be Disney’s extension of drama, and one could think the film could be moved to Searchlight Films, 20th Century’s indie division, but apparently not.
Disney/20th Century Studios released New Regency’s Gareth Edwards’ sci-fi action movie “The Creator” starring John David Washington earlier this fall. Still, the $80 million costing production only earned $40.7 million stateside and $104 million worldwide.
Hopefully, New Regency finds a home for the film and one that is truly in support of it.