“Nickel Boys” will be released by Amazon MGM Studios in mid-December

EXCLUSIVE: After a successful world premiere at Telluride and an opening night at NYFF with critical reviews at 80% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon is acquiring MGM Orion/Plan B Nickel Boys later in December.

The feature film, directed and co-written by RaMell Ross and based on Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, was originally scheduled to be released in NYC on October 25th and in LA on November 1st. Now Nickel Boys will debut in NYC on December 13th and in LA on December 20th.

This is a similar platform launch to Amazon’s Oscar-winning MGM American fiction which opened on December 15 and ultimately grossed $21 million in the United States. In addition, A24 Area of ​​interest launched in mid-December and expanded throughout January following multiple awards and nominations.

The move gives Nickel Boys ample opportunity to be discovered not only during awards season but also by moviegoers. The special area is quite well attended in November with A24 aircraft Strange and Warner Bros. Juror #2.

Additionally, Amazon MGM is making 35MM copies of the film, which are being processed for December release dates.

Nickel Boys chronicles the powerful friendship between two young black teenagers as they overcome the harrowing trials of a Florida reform school together. In the film, a bright, aspiring black teenager overcomes the horrors of the Jim Crow South and makes a split decision that redefines the course of his life. Shortly before graduating from college, he is instead sentenced to prison in a notorious reformatory. There he meets a soul mate and forms an alliance, but with unforeseeable consequences.

Joslyn Barnes also co-wrote the film.

Producers are Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, David Levine and Barnes. EPs include Brad Pitt, Gabby Shepard, Emily Wolfe, Kenneth Yu and Chadwick Prichard. Alex Somers and Scott Alario wrote the original music. “PG-13” stars Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger, Daveed Diggs and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor.