Nickel Boys
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	RaMell Ross
Screenplay by	RaMell Ross Joslyn Barnes
Based on	The Nickel Boys byColson Whitehead
Produced by	Dede Gardner Jeremy Kleiner David Levine Joslyn Barnes
Starring	Ethan Herisse Brandon Wilson Hamish Linklater Fred Hechinger Daveed Diggs Jimmie Fails Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor
Cinematography	Jomo Fray
Edited by	Nicholas Monsour
Music by	Alex Somers Scott Alario
Production companies	Orion Pictures Plan B Entertainment Anonymous Content Louverture Films
Distributed by	Amazon MGM Studios
Release dates	August 30, 2024 (2024-8-30) (Telluride) December 13, 2024 (2024-12-13) (United States)
Running time	140 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$23.2 million
Box office	$3.2 million[2][3]

Nickel Boys is a 2024 Americanhistorical drama film based on the 2019 novelThe Nickel Boys byColson Whitehead. It was directed byRaMell Ross, who wrote the screenplay withJoslyn Barnes. Starring Ethan Herisse,Brandon Wilson,Hamish Linklater,Fred Hechinger,Daveed Diggs,Jimmie Fails, andAunjanue Ellis-Taylor, the story follows two African-American boys, Elwood (Herisse) and Turner (Wilson), who are sent to an abusive reform school in 1960sFlorida. The film is inspired by theDozier School for Boys, a now-closed Florida reform school notorious for its abusive treatment of students.

The film was shot from afirst-person point-of-view, with filming taking place in Louisiana in late 2022. It premiered at the51st Telluride Film Festival on August 30, 2024, and had a limited theatrical release byAmazon MGM Studios on December 13, 2024. It was named one of the top 10 films of 2024 by theAmerican Film Institute^[4] and received numerous accolades, including the award forBest Cinematography at the40th Independent Spirit Awards, aBest Motion Picture – Drama nomination at the82nd Golden Globe Awards and two nominations at the97th Academy Awards forBest Picture andBest Adapted Screenplay.

In 1962Jim Crow-eraTallahassee, Florida, young African-American Elwood Curtis appears destined for great things in the classroom. His Black teacher encourages him to think for himself, rejecting Southern textbooks' slanted view of history. However, Elwood is raised by his doting grandmother, whose father died in a prison cell under suspicious circumstances, and who worries that White society will retaliate against him if he participates in the growingCivil Rights Movement, which he does. Images ofMartin Luther King,Sidney Poitier, and other civil rights icons are shown, and appear throughout the film, along with other montages, such as images of the U.S. space program.

One day, Elwood is accepted into a tuition-free accelerated study program at aHBCU. While hitchhiking to campus, he is picked up by a man driving a stolen car. The police catch the man and convict Elwood of being his accomplice. Because Elwood is underage, he is sent to theNickel Academy, areform school.

Nickel is internally segregated; White students enjoy comfortable accommodations and personal attention from staff, while Black students are housed in shabby facilities, and the school makes little attempt to educate them. Although Spencer, the White superintendent, tells the Black students that they can be released for good behavior, in practice they cannot leave until they turn eighteen, as the school makes money hiring them out asconvict labor. (Spencer's wife shows Elwood some kindness, donatingPride and Prejudice and other books to the boys and allowing him to use her house's pool, but Elwood had to do free labor for her.) It is implied that some students are sexually abused.

Elwood bonds with Turner, another quiet student. However, while Elwood is inspired by the non-violent and democratic ideals of the Civil Rights Movement, Turner is cynical, expects only mistreatment from society, and urges Elwood to keep his head down. Elwood is bullied and beaten by another student, but the administrators do not help him: instead, they savagely beat both students. Elwood's grandmother tries to visit him at Nickel but, on arrival, is not allowed to see him. She also scrimps and saves to hire a lawyer to appeal his conviction, but the lawyer runs away with her money, devastating Elwood. Spencer bets on Nickel's annual Black-White boxing match, but quietly executes a Black student who either refused or forgot totake a dive that Spencer told him to take.

In flashforwards to 1988, the adult Elwood lives in New York City, where he runs his own moving business, and a former classmate, Chickie Pete, comes to him to remember old times and to ask him for work. Elwood does not appear to be in contact with Turner. In 2018, he is badly shaken after learning that many unmarked graves have been discovered at the old Nickel campus, and does research. Forensic evidence reveals that most of the dead students were Black.

Back in the 1960s, Elwood, fed up with his mistreatment, takes his carefully kept diary of Nickel abuses and convinces a reluctant Turner to deliver it to a government inspector as an exposé. However, nothing happens, and the administrators retaliate by torturing Elwood in the schoolsweatbox. Turner learns that the school plans to kill Elwood and comes to rescue him. They attempt an escape, running away together on bicycles. However, pursued by a car from Nickel, they are quickly caught. Turner escapes into the woods, but Elwood is shot and killed.

A montage shows that Turner safely reached Tallahassee, where he delivered the news of Elwood's death to his grandmother. He then moved North and took on Elwood's name. He marries Millie, builds a stable life, and tries to honor Elwood's legacy by embracing some of his ideals. When the government begins investigating the school, Turner decides to testify about his experiences.

• Ethan Herisse as Elwood, a boy who is sent to reform school after being unjustly convicted for helping steal a car
  • Ethan Cole Sharp as young Elwood
  • Daveed Diggs as adult Elwood, a businessman in New York City
• Brandon Wilson as Turner, Elwood's friend at Nickel Academy
• Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as Hattie, Elwood's grandmother
• Hamish Linklater as Spencer, Nickel Academy's corrupt superintendent
• Fred Hechinger as Harper, a school employee who helps oversee Nickel'sconvict labor program
• Jimmie Fails as Mr. Hill, Elwood's encouraging high school teacher

Director and co-writerRaMell Ross (left) and co-writer/co-producerJoslyn Barnes (right).

The adaptation ofColson Whitehead's 2019 novel,The Nickel Boys, into a feature film was reported in October 2022.RaMell Ross signed on to direct, making it his narrative feature directorial debut.^[5]Joslyn Barnes co-wrote and produced and Whitehead served as executive producer.Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Ethan Herisse,Fred Hechinger,Hamish Linklater, andBrandon Wilson were cast in the lead roles.^[6]

On a production budget of $23.2 million,principal photography took place in Louisiana from October to December 2022.^[7][8] Shooting locations were inLaPlace,New Orleans,Hammond andPonchatoula. The office building of theLafourche Parish District Attorney was used as a filming location inThibodaux in early December.^[9]

In a unique filmmaking approach for viewers to see the plot unfold directly through the eyes of the two protagonists, the film was shot in from thefirst-person point-of-view with a1.33:1 aspect ratio. This creative choice was compared heavily to a similar approach employed byRobert Montgomery for his 1947 film noirLady in the Lake.^{[10][11][12][13]} Ross explained this process in an interview:

"The film is conceived as all one-ers. In one scene, we shot everything from Elwood's perspective, and then everything from Turner's—one from the first hour, and then the other for the second. Very rarely did we shoot both perspectives on a scene, though, because of the way it was written and scripted. We don’t always go back and forth. So it's shot like a traditional film, except the other character is not there. They're just asked to look at a specific point in the camera. Typically, the other actor is behind the camera, reading the lines and being the support to make the other person feel like they're actually engaged with something relatively real. Because they're all one-ers, though, the choreography is quite difficult."^[14]

Nickel Boys had its world premiere at the51st Telluride Film Festival on August 30, 2024.^[15] It was the opening film at the62nd New York Film Festival atAlice Tully Hall on September 27, 2024.

The film was originally set to have a limited theatrical release inNew York City on October 25, 2024 andLos Angeles on November 1, before streaming onPrime Video on an unspecified date.^[16] However, the film's release was pushed further, with the film now premiered in New York City on December 13 and in Los Angeles on December 20;Amazon MGM Studios is additionally preparing prints on35mm film for the updated release.^[17] It was released byCurzon Film in the United Kingdom on January 3, 2025.^[18]

As of March 12, 2025^[update], the film has grossed $2.9 million in the United States and $356,592 in other territories for a worldwide total of $3.2 million.^[2][19]

The film began a limited release in the United States in December 2024, with a gradual rollout during awards season. In its first weekend, it earned $54,794 from two theaters in New York City (theAngelika Film Center andAMC Lincoln Square), for a per-screen average of $27,397.^[20][21][22] It opened in Los Angeles the following week, expanding to five theaters and earning $62,865 in its sophomore weekend and $34,145 in its third.^[23][24][25] It made $144,948 in its fourth weekend after adding 13 screens nationwide and grossed $119,911 playing in 26 theaters in its fifth.^[26][27][28] During the four-dayMLK weekend, the film expanded to 240 theaters and made $386,191 to cross the $1 million mark stateside.^[29][30] Its three-day per-screen average of $1,246 was on the lower end of fellow awards-season films.^[31][32] After obtaining two Oscar nominations, it moved to 540 screens in its seventh weekend, earning $348,060 and pushing its nationwide cume past $1.5 million.^[33][34][35] Internationally, the film earned $356,592 from the United Kingdom, where it played for three weeks in January 2025.^[36]

On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 91% of 201 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.4/10. The website's consensus reads: "Director RaMell Ross' stylistically radical approach to adapting Colson Whitehead's searing novel will be jarring for some, butNickel Boys' sense of immersion achieves the jaw-dropping effect of walking in another's shoes."^[37]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 91 out of 100, based on 49 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".^[38]Sight & Sound put the film as their tenth pick on their list of the best 50 movies of 2024.^[5]

Lovia Gyarkye ofThe Hollywood Reporter praised the film and cast performances. She highlighted the unique visual style, cinematography, and Ross's artistic portrayal of the novel's story.^[39] Pete Hammond writing forDeadline Hollywood criticized the "overlong" runtime and Ross's use of first person POV-style shooting of one character talking to another that is not seen on camera and only heard. He wrote, "It is a dangling conversation approach that goes quickly from being intriguing to being annoying, pointing to artifice rather than serving the story", and added, "I hope it doesn't prevent some audiences from getting the larger point that we should be talking about".^[40] Maureen Lee Lenker ofEntertainment Weekly felt a disconnection with Elwood and Turner by the POV approach, explaining, "Both Wilson and Herisse give subtle, affecting performances but the first-person approach means they are often not on camera. Their performances are largely experiential, which makes it difficult to connect with their work on an emotional level".^[41]

Carla Renata writing forTheWrap applaudedAlex Somers and Scott Alario's music score, casting and performances. She expressed: "This may sound like another Black trauma porn motion picture sanctioned by Hollywood to exploit Black history for financial gain. Thankfully, through the lens of Ross, this narrative doesn't fall into that trap we have seen for decades. Ross [...] brings his unique cinematic sensibility, allowing audiences to experience this type of story from a sensory perspective".^[42]IndieWire's David Ehrlich gave the film an "A" grade, emphasizing the film's visual style and storytelling technique.^[10] David Canfield ofVanity Fair wrote the film's "avant-garde approach is cannily balanced by its moral urgency and aesthetic rigor. Like last year'sThe Zone of Interest, it all but reinvents the language for movies about a particular, dark historical chapter, and seems primed to spark conversations about both its content and its form".^[14]

FilmmakerBarry Jenkins named it one of his favorite films of 2024, saying "This is medium-defining work — aesthetically, spiritually — a rich and overwhelming cinema where the camera is always curious and what it finds is always arresting. In a time where there are more ways to make a film than ever (and yet less variation in the look, the feel, the shape of those films than in any other point in the medium’s history) RaMell has given us a new way of seeing. It is a thing to make one both humbled… and filled with gratitude."^[43] Other filmmakers, includingJoanna Arnow,Edward Berger,Coralie Fargeat,Hannah Fidell,Kitty Green,Max Hechtman,Don Hertzfeldt,Nicole Holofcener,Laura Poitras andDenis Villeneuve also praised the film.^{[44][45][46][47]}

The February 2025 issue ofNew York Magazine listsNickel Boys alongsideCitizen Kane,Sunset Boulevard,Dr. Strangelove,Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,The Conversation,Nashville,Taxi Driver,The Elephant Man,Pulp Fiction,In the Bedroom,There Will Be Blood,Roma,Tár andKillers of the Flower Moon as "The Best Movies That Lost Best Picture at the Oscars."^[48]

• Official website
• Nickel Boys atIMDb 
• Official ScreenplayArchived January 5, 2025, at theWayback Machine

• 2024 films
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• Orion Pictures films
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• Films produced by Dede Gardner
• Films shot in Louisiana
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• Films about racism in the United States
• Films set in 1962
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