“The Bikeriders” is vroom vrooming into theaters June 21, 2024, via Focus Features, after Disney removed the Austin Butler vehicle from its slate.
Disney and 20th Century were originally set to open the film on Dec. 1, but its backer, New Regency, opted in October to take the film off of its release calendar. One day after it was announced that Disney dropped the movie, Focus Features swooped in to acquire the rights. Universal Pictures International will handle global distribution.
Sources informed Variety that it was New Regency’s decision — not Disney’s — to seek a new distributor. The production company opted to remove “The Bikeriders” from the Disney calendar due to the actors’ inability to promote the feature, which carries a $40 million production budget, during the SAG-AFTRA strike. The filmmakers intended for “The Bikeriders” to compete for Oscars in 2024, but due to the delay it will contend in 2025.
Directed by Jeff Nichols and inspired by Danny Lyon’s book of photography, “The Bikeriders” follows the Vandals, a midwestern motorcycle club that evolves over the course of a decade into something more sinister. Butler stars alongside Jodie Comer, Tom Hardy and Norman Reedus.
Sarah Green and Brian Kavanaugh-Jones are producing through Tri-State, the company they share with Nichols, alongside New Regency. Fred Berger is executive producing.
The crime epic earned positive reviews out of the Telluride Film Festival, with Variety chief film critic Peter Debruge writing in his review, “It goes a long way to humanize figures who’ve been long misrepresented on film, while giving audiences privileged access to this inner world.”
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