The Rivals of Amziah King movie is one of the most unusual Hollywood releases of 2026: a neo-Western black comedy about a banjo-strumming beekeeper, a stolen truckload of honey, and a young woman’s fight to save the family business she has just inherited. Matthew McConaughey plays the beekeeper at its centre, Kurt Russell plays the rich businessman standing in his way, and newcomer Angelina LookingGlass steals the second half of the film as the foster daughter who refuses to let the family legacy die.
Image Credit: Black Bear Pictures — Official Trailer via YouTube
Directed by Andrew Patterson, the filmmaker behind the acclaimed sci-fi mystery The Vast of Night, The Rivals of Amziah King movie premiered at the South by Southwest festival in March 2025 to a standing ovation, then reached cinemas in the United States in August 2026. Now, in November 2026, it is still reaching new audiences: the film arrives in Spanish cinemas on 13 November and in Italian cinemas on 19 November. Here is everything you need to know about the cast, the story, the reviews, and where you can watch it.
The Rivals of Amziah King movie story: honey, bluegrass and revenge
The Rivals of Amziah King movie is set in rural Oklahoma, where Amziah King is a pillar of his small community. He keeps bees, plays bluegrass with his friends at the community centre, and gives away honey from his sizeable hives. Life is warm, funny and musical — until an OSBI agent named Sunderland asks Amziah to identify a truckload of stolen honey, and the film’s gentle opening starts to darken.
Amziah’s former employee Remmick arrives with his friend Colmar to help, but a honey extractor accident turns violent, and Amziah — who has a heart condition — is rushed to hospital. While he recovers, he reunites with Kateri, his former foster daughter, who has just lost her mother. He offers her a job caring for his honeybee farm, and the two spend a chaotic day removing a swarm of bees from an elementary school as she falls in love with the bees, the bluegrass and the tight-knit community around him.
Then the film takes its big turn. Amziah’s hives are stolen, and the shock kills him. His lawyer and bandmate Rippy tells Kateri she has inherited the struggling honey business — along with its debts. She refuses to sell. Instead, she sets out to find the thieves and keep Amziah’s legacy alive, and her search leads her to a thieving beekeeper working for Dob McCoy, a powerful local businessman who has grown rich by taking advantage of his neighbours.
That is the film’s clever trick: it starts as a warm, music-filled comedy about a community, then becomes a dark crime thriller about revenge, loyalty and who owns the land’s sweetness. Critics have praised exactly that gear-change, calling the film sprawling, unpredictable and genre-blurring.
The Rivals of Amziah King movie cast: McConaughey, Kurt Russell and a breakout debut
The Rivals of Amziah King movie is built around three performances. Matthew McConaughey plays Amziah King, the beekeeper and bluegrass musician whose charm holds the whole community together. It is the role that brought McConaughey back to leading film roles, and he plays it with the easy warmth that made him a star, plus a weariness that fits a man whose heart is literally failing him.
Kurt Russell plays Dob McCoy, the wealthy businessman behind the honey thefts. Russell arrives late in the film, but his presence changes everything: Dob is the film’s smiling villain, a man who buys up his neighbours’ livelihoods and calls it business. The clash between McConaughey’s open-hearted Amziah and Russell’s cold-eyed Dob is the engine of the story.
Angelina LookingGlass plays Kateri, Amziah’s former foster daughter, and hers is the performance critics keep singling out. LookingGlass, an Oglala Lakota, Navajo, Seneca, Kiowa and Comanche actress, was chosen for the role over more than 200 other candidates. The film belongs to her in its second half, as Kateri goes from grieving daughter to determined avenger who decides she will become the new queen bee of the local honey trade.
The supporting cast is just as strong. Jake Horowitz plays Remmick, Scott Shepherd plays Jimmy, Rob Morgan plays Rippy, Tony Revolori plays Colmar, Owen Teague plays Pirate, Cole Sprouse plays Oat, and Bruce Davis plays OSBI Agent Sunderland. Behind the camera, Patterson writes and directs, Miguel I. Littin-Menz handles the cinematography, and the bluegrass-heavy score comes from Erick Alexander, Jared Bulmer and Ben Hardesty. The film is produced by Black Bear Pictures and Heyday Films, with David Heyman and Teddy Schwarzman among its producers.
Why critics love The Rivals of Amziah King movie
The Rivals of Amziah King movie has earned some of the best reviews of any Hollywood film released in 2026. On Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of 110 critics’ reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.1 out of 10. The site’s consensus calls it “a sprawling, unpredictable, and genre-blurring epic, anchored by Matthew McConaughey’s charm and Angelina LookingGlass’s striking debut.” On Metacritic, the film scores 74 out of 100 from 22 critics, which the site rates as “generally favorable.”
The A.V. Club called it a “honey-drenched musical romp,” and that phrase captures the film’s odd magic: it is funny, musical and sweet for its first hour, then suddenly dangerous. Reviewers have compared its mix of rural drama, dark comedy and thriller to films like Fargo, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Hell or High Water — stories where ordinary people in small towns are pushed into extraordinary crimes.
The praise matters because the film was a gamble. It is 131 minutes long, it changes genre halfway through, and it asks its audience to care deeply about bees. That it works at all is a tribute to Patterson’s direction and to a cast that commits fully to the film’s strange world.
The Rivals of Amziah King movie release date: where and when to watch
The Rivals of Amziah King movie has had a long journey to cinemas. It had its world premiere at South by Southwest on 10 March 2025, where it received a standing ovation. Black Bear Pictures then released it in limited theatres in the United States on 14 August 2026, going wide on 21 August 2026. It arrived on digital and video-on-demand platforms in the United States on 15 September 2026.
In November 2026, the film is still opening in new countries. It arrives in Spanish cinemas on 13 November 2026 and in Italian cinemas on 19 November 2026. The film was also released in the United Arab Emirates and the Netherlands in August 2026. An India theatrical release has not been announced yet, and no Indian streaming (OTT) date has been announced either — so Indian viewers should watch for an official announcement before expecting it on a local platform.
At the box office, the film has collected around $3.7 million worldwide so far. That is a modest total, but the film was a limited release aimed at critics and festival audiences rather than a wide blockbuster opening, and its strong reviews have kept it in the conversation long after its American release.
Fjord, another 2026 festival favourite, is also reaching UK cinemas on 13 November — see our Fjord release-date guide.
5 thrilling facts about The Rivals of Amziah King movie
1. Denzel Washington was almost the star. Before McConaughey signed on, Denzel Washington met with Patterson about playing Amziah King. Washington wanted more creative control than Patterson was comfortable giving, so the role went to McConaughey instead. Patterson had been developing the film since 2020.
2. It was filmed during the Hollywood strikes. The Rivals of Amziah King movie was shot in Alabama in 2023, right in the middle of the SAG-AFTRA strike. The production received an interim agreement from the actors’ union, which allowed filming to continue, and the shoot wrapped in August 2023 — three years before the film reached American cinemas.
3. Angelina LookingGlass beat 200 rivals for her role. The filmmakers auditioned more than 200 actresses for Kateri before choosing LookingGlass. Her performance — her feature-film breakthrough — is now the most praised part of the movie, with critics calling her debut “striking.”
4. The producers made their own cut — and it lost. During a long post-production, Patterson clashed with his producers over the shape of the film. The producers oversaw an alternate cut of the movie, but it tested lower with audiences than Patterson’s version, and his vision ultimately won out.
5. It is a film about bees that is really about community. Beneath the honey heist and the revenge plot, The Rivals of Amziah King movie is about chosen family: a beekeeper who takes in a grieving young woman, a band of musicians who stand by each other, and a community that refuses to let a rich outsider buy it out. The bees are the plot — the people are the point.
Frequently asked questions
When is The Rivals of Amziah King movie releasing in cinemas?
The film released in the United States on 14 August 2026 and on digital platforms on 15 September 2026. It reaches Spanish cinemas on 13 November 2026 and Italian cinemas on 19 November 2026. An India release date has not been announced yet.
Who stars in The Rivals of Amziah King movie?
Matthew McConaughey stars as beekeeper Amziah King, Kurt Russell plays businessman Dob McCoy, and Angelina LookingGlass plays Kateri. The supporting cast includes Jake Horowitz, Scott Shepherd, Rob Morgan, Tony Revolori, Owen Teague and Cole Sprouse.
What is The Rivals of Amziah King movie about?
It follows a beekeeper and bluegrass musician in rural Oklahoma whose hives are stolen. After his death, his foster daughter Kateri inherits his struggling honey business and sets out to find the thieves, turning a warm comedy into a dark crime thriller.
Is The Rivals of Amziah King movie based on a true story?
No. It is an original story written and directed by Andrew Patterson. The film is fiction, though its world of small-town beekeepers, bluegrass music and rural Oklahoma life is drawn from real American country culture.
Where can I watch The Rivals of Amziah King movie online?
In the United States it is available on digital and video-on-demand platforms since 15 September 2026. No Indian OTT platform or date has been announced yet.
What is the runtime of The Rivals of Amziah King movie?
The film runs for 131 minutes, which is 2 hours and 11 minutes.
The Rivals of Amziah King movie is that rare Hollywood film that trusts its audience: it starts sweet, turns dark, and lets a newcomer carry its ending. With McConaughey and Russell at their best, an 88% Rotten Tomatoes score, and new cinema releases still rolling out in November 2026, it is well worth seeking out — whether on the big screen in Spain and Italy this month, or on digital platforms where it is already available.
Image Credit: Black Bear Pictures — Official Trailer via YouTube
