Amazon MGM Studios and Orion Pictures have announced the theatrical release date for “Nickel Boys,” the much-anticipated film adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Scheduled for October 25, the limited theatrical release will coincide with other major releases such as Sony’s “Venom: The Last Dance” and Cinedigm’s “Terrifier 3.”
Directed and co-adapted by RaMell Ross, “Nickel Boys” follows the profound friendship between two young Black men navigating the challenges of a Florida reform school. The cast includes Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger, and Daveed Diggs.
Nickel Boys marks a reunion for Ellis and Herisse who starred in Ava Duvernay’s 2019 based-on-a-true-story film When They See Us as playing mother and son.
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Based on the true story of a Florida reform school that damaged the lives of thousands of children over more than a century, its protagonist is Elwood Curtis, a Black boy growing up in 1960s Tallahassee who is unfairly sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy, then finding himself trapped in a grotesque chamber of horrors. His only salvation is his friendship with fellow “delinquent” Turner, which deepens despite Turner’s conviction that Elwood is hopelessly naive, that the world is crooked, and that the only way to survive is to scheme and avoid trouble. As life at the Academy becomes ever more perilous, the tension between Elwood’s ideals and Turner’s skepticism leads to a decision whose repercussions will echo down the decades.
Ross penned the screenplay with Joslyn Barnes of Louverture Films. The production team comprises industry heavyweights such as Plan B’s Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, David Levine, and Joslyn Barnes. Anonymous Content and Louverture Films are also involved in bringing this powerful narrative to audiences.
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“Nickel Boys” comes on the heels of Amazon MGM Studios’ successful American Fiction, which grossed over $21 million following its Audience Award win at TIFF. The film also earned Cord Jefferson an Adapted Screenplay Oscar and garnered nominations for Best Picture, Original Score, Best Actor (Jeffrey Wright), and Supporting Actor (Sterling K. Brown).
The Nickel Boys is Whitehead’s 2020 novel and his second Pultizer-prize winning book following 2016’s The Underground Railroad.