Focus Features will release “The Bikeriders” worldwide in 2024, picking up the New Regency project from 20th Century Studios. Focus will distribute the film in North America, with Universal Pictures International to handle the remainder of the globe. Current plans call for a 2024 theatrical release, which would make the film ineligible for the current awards season.
Jeff Nichols wrote and directed the crime thriller, which follows a motorcycle club in 1960s Chicago and stars Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon and Jodie Comer.
While initially set for release on Dec. 1, Disney pulled “The Bikeriders” from the release schedule on Oct. 17 due to the actors’ strike. New Regency then went looking for a different distributor.
Focus released Nichols’ 2016 drama “Loving.”
“We are delighted to add such a riveting project to next year’s strong slate of films. We look forward to once again working alongside New Regency and reuniting with the multi-talented Jeff Nichols on another one of his visionary projects,” Focus Features Chairman Peter Kujawski said in a statement. “This film exemplifies our commitment to collaborate with the industry’s best filmmakers and production partners, and we can’t wait to build upon its early success to draw audiences into this poignant film bolstered by powerful performances from an incredible cast.”
“We are excited to team up again with our Focus Features partners and look forward to another successful collaboration,” Yariv Milchan, Chairman and CEO of New Regency, said. “And we couldn’t be prouder of The Bikeriders, Jeff Nichols and all the talent he has brought together to create this truly exceptional film.”
Nichols previously told TheWrap that “The Bikeriders” was inspired by classic photographs, and the filmmaker aimed to capture a feeling.
“What I’m talking about is a moment in time in the trajectory of that club and this fictional club that I created, this idea that you can have a subculture that is really actually fierce and defined by style and music and something as concrete as building machines and motorcycles,” he said. “And it lives in this beautiful kind of unstructured place for this period of time. And then, it’s gone.”
