“The Rivals of Amziah King” pulled in just over $1 million domestically in its opening weekend, falling short of the summer sleeper hit some had predicted for Matthew McConaughey’s crime drama comeback. Playing on 632 screens, the film averaged $1,625 per location and missed the domestic Top 10 during a slower mid-August frame, trailing releases including the concert film “Katseye: Wild Hearts” and a tenth-anniversary rerelease of “Your Name.”
Director Andrew Patterson, known for “The Vast of Night,” built the film around McConaughey’s first screen role in six years, casting him as a beekeeper and bluegrass musician whose backwoods Oklahoma operation draws outside threats after his estranged foster daughter returns. The film premiered at SXSW in spring 2025 to strong buzz, positioning it as a potential awards contender and a commercial breakout for Patterson. It then spent more than a year without U.S. distribution before producer and financier Black Bear opted to release it under its own distribution arm.
The muted opening adds to a mixed early track record for that distribution business, which has also released the Sydney Sweeney boxing drama “Christy,” a film that brought in under $2 million domestically against a reported $15 million budget. Black Bear’s “Tuner,” starring Leo Woodall, fared better critically and commercially within its limited scope. Industry observers say “Amziah King” is unlikely to expand much beyond its current theater count and will instead need critical momentum and awards attention to build an audience over time, following a pattern closer to “Tuner’s” rollout than a wide release.
Black Bear has one more starry specialty title on the way this year in “Wicker,” an unconventional romance starring Olivia Colman that has already generated online buzz since its Sundance premiere. Whether that momentum translates into stronger box office than “Amziah King” managed remains to be seen, but its arrival will offer another test of how far Black Bear’s newer theatrical strategy can carry films built around awards-caliber talent rather than blockbuster marketing budgets.
