| The Bikeriders | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Jeff Nichols |
| Written by | Jeff Nichols |
| Based on | The Bikeriders byDanny Lyon |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Adam Stone |
| Edited by | Julie Monroe |
| Music by | David Wingo |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 116 minutes[4] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $30–40 million[5][6] |
| Box office | $36.3 million[7][8] |
The Bikeriders is a 2023 Americancrime drama film written and directed byJeff Nichols, and starringJodie Comer,Austin Butler,Tom Hardy,Michael Shannon,Mike Faist,Boyd Holbrook,Damon Herriman,Beau Knapp,Emory Cohen,Karl Glusman,Toby Wallace, andNorman Reedus. Its plot, inspired by thephoto book of the same title byDanny Lyon, depicts the lives of the Vandals Motorcycle Club, a fictional version of theOutlaws Motorcycle Club.
The Bikeriders premiered at the50th Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2023, and was released in the United States on June 21, 2024. Originally scheduled to be released theatrically in the United States on December 1, 2023, by20th Century Studios, the release was delayed due to the2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Ultimately,Focus Features acquired the film rights from producerNew Regency. The film received a positive reception and grossed $36 million worldwide.
In 1965, Kathy Bauer meets Benny Cross, a hotheaded member of theChicago-based Vandals Motorcycle Club, and marries him just five weeks later. Photography studentDanny Lyon travels with and interviews the Vandals. He learns from Kathy that the founder, Johnny Davis, was inspired to create the club after watchingMarlon Brando inThe Wild One. Johnny's leadership is challenged when he rebuffs a Vandal's suggestion that new chapters be allowed to form. They engage in a fistfight which Johnny wins. He reestablishes his authority but grants permission to expand the club anyway. New chapters begin to form across theMidwest.
In 1969, Benny is attacked by two men in a bar for wearing hiscolors. His foot is nearly severed by a shovel during the altercation. Johnny forces the owner to provide the names of the men and orders his men to burn down the bar. While Benny is recovering from surgery, Johnny pressures him to come to amotorcycle rally before he is fully healed, to Kathy's objection. Johnny offers Benny leadership of the club when he eventually steps down, but Benny rejects it.
A 20-year-old delinquent known as "the Kid" asks Johnny to allow him and his motorcycle club to join the Vandals. Johnny initially dismisses them but decides to test the Kid by allowing only him to join. When he expresses his willingness to abandon his friends, Johnny rejects him. The Kid attacks Johnny with a knife, but Johnny beats him and warns him not to come back.
In 1975, Lyon interviews Kathy about the fate of the Vandals. She explains that Johnny became despondent after the death of his lieutenant Brucie in a vehicular accident, and the club grew increasingly violent after drug-addictedVietnam War veterans joined the ranks. At a party, longtime member Cockroach is beaten by new members when he drunkenly expresses a desire to leave the club to become a motorcycle cop. Kathy is nearly gang-raped while Benny is busy; she is narrowly rescued by Johnny. Furious, Kathy demands Benny quit the Vandals. Instead, he leaves her for several days.
Cockroach, scared for his life, asks Johnny to help him. To allow Cockroach to safely leave the club, Johnny and Benny stage a break-in, where they shoot him non-fatally in the leg. Afterwards Johnny confides in Benny the club has become wild and violent and he can't control it anymore. Disturbed by the increasing violence of the club and again rejecting Johnny's offer of leadership, Benny quits and leaves Chicago for parts unknown.
The Kid, now a member of the VandalsMilwaukee chapter, challenges Johnny to a knife fight for leadership of the Vandals. In a parking lot, Johnny confronts the Kid who pulls a handgun and kills him. Kathy relays to Lyon that after the Kid took over the Vandals, they became a largecriminal gang involved indrug trafficking and murder. The original members either fell in line, left to obtain legitimate jobs, or died.
Benny returns home after learning of Johnny's death and Kathy comforts him. He and Kathy relocate toFlorida, where Benny works as a mechanic and has stopped riding motorcycles. Kathy tells Lyon that they are happy, and Benny doesn't miss the biker lifestyle. She looks out the window at Benny, who smiles as the sounds of motorcycles are heard.
The Bikeriders is named afterDanny Lyon's photo book of the same title, which filmmakerJeff Nichols read for the first time in 2003. The story's Vandals MC is inspired by the book's detailing of theOutlaws Motorcycle Club. Lyon is portrayed in the film byMike Faist.[9] Since 2004, Nichols had mentioned the project toMichael Shannon, who has starred in all his films, on the set of each collaboration; while making the short filmLong Way Back Home in 2018, Shannon quipped that he had "been talking about that damn idea for so long."[10][11] By 2022, Nichols wrote the screenplay from his original story idea.New Regency agreed to produce the film in May 2022. The project was officially announced with Nichols attached as director in August 2022, withJodie Comer,Austin Butler, andTom Hardy on board to star.[12]
Nichols cast Comer after sitting on two awards panels that honored her performance on the one-person Broadway showPrima Facie and after hearing good things about her fromAdam Driver, who co-starred with her inThe Last Duel (2021). He met with Hardy for the first time at his London residence, admitting to leaving the meeting "kind of punch drunk" before seeing a performance of Comer's inPrima Facie at theHarold Pinter Theatre in theWest End.[9] The rest of the ensemble came on board soon after.[13][14][15]Principal photography began in Cincinnati, Ohio, in October 2022 and concluded in December.[16][17] Several actors, except Shannon and a few others, learned how to ride a motorcycle for the film;[18] Butler mentioned a motorcycle accident on set: "We were doing a night shoot and hit a patch of wet leaves and I went down, but I thankfully landed on my feet."[19] Adam Stone was the cinematographer, and during post-production,David Wingo composed the score.[20]
The Bikeriders premiered as the opening film of the50th Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2023.[21][5] It was originally scheduled to be theatrically released on December 1, 2023, by20th Century Studios, to make time for awards season, but it was taken off the release schedule in July due to theSAG-AFTRA strike (July–November 2023), which prevented the cast from promoting the film.[22] Industry sources also citedRenaissance: A Film by Beyoncé opening on the same day and New Regency'sThe Creator (2023) performing poorly in theaters during the strike as reasons for the delay. Following this, on November 20 that year, New Regency was reportedly shopping the film to rival studios and streamers for release instead.[23] Two days later,Focus Features acquired the distribution rights, with its parentUniversal Pictures distributing internationally.[24] New Regency chose Focus Features because of their previous collaboration onThe Northman, which became profitable despite box office disappointment.[25]
In December 2023, Focus Features scheduled the film for a theatrical release in the United States on June 21, 2024.[26] Regarding the film's promotion,Deadline Hollywood noted that afterThe Bikeriders transferred from 20th Century Studios (owned byDisney) to Focus, the original marketing campaign centered around Comer was altered to focus on Butler and Hardy; opening weekend audiences leaned male. Focus covered half of the film's $30–40 million production cost and was reportedly "on the hook" for print and advertising (P&A) expenses.[6]
As of August 25, 2024[update],The Bikeriders has grossed $21.7 million in the United States and Canada, and $14.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $36.3 million.[7][8]
In the United States and Canada,The Bikeriders was released alongsideThe Exorcism andThelma, and was projected to gross $8–10 million from 2,665 theaters in its opening weekend. It ended up debuting to $9.7 million, finishing in third behind holdoversInside Out 2 andBad Boys: Ride or Die.[6] In its second and third weekends the film made $3.3 million and $1.3 million, respectively.[27][28]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 80% of 274 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's consensus reads: "Fueled by a charismatic cast and the gritty authenticity of writer-director Jeff Nichols' approach,The Bikeriders offers a conventional yet impactful look at motorcycle culture."[29]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 70 out of 100, based on 53 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[30] Audiences surveyed byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled byPostTrak gave it a 73% positive score.[6]
