Matthew McConaughey movie filmed in Alabama finally has a trailer

“Get ready, my little chickadee. Bees only swarm when they are getting ready for a fight.” That’s Matthew McConaughey, fixin’ to engage in a honey war in “The Rivals of Amziah King.” A bad guy played by Kurt Russell has stolen his hives and his livelihood, and with the help of a young protege (Angelina LookingGlass), Amziah King is out for righteous revenge. It’s the premise for an offbeat thriller directed by Andrew Patterson, filmed in Alabama in summer 2023. Movie fans got their first good look at “Amziah King” on Monday, when the official trailer for the movie was released by Black Bear Pictures. In the film, set for an August release, McConaughey portrays a free-spirited beekeeper in Oklahoma who makes music with his pals, reunites with his foster daughter and runs into trouble with an unscrupulous adversary in the honey business. “I would be careful poking around in this business,” McConaughey says in the trailer as Amziah. “It is not full of kind people.” LookingGlass’ character, Kateri, seems up to the challenge, however, vowing to recover the stolen honey — apparently a rare variety of white clover — and teach Russell’s character a lesson. “Someone loaded up everything he built and took it all away,” LookingGlass says in the trailer. “I’m going to find them, and I’m going to take it all back.” “Amziah King” also has an official movie poster, featuring the three main characters and bearing the slogan, “Ain’t No One All Bad or All Good.” The cast also includes Cole Sprouse, Scott Shepherd, Rob Morgan, Tony Revolori and more. Alabama stood in for Oklahoma in the film, providing scenic locales during its running time of two hours and 10 minutes. Locations included J&J Grocery & Deli in Bessemer, the Pell City Steak House Restaurant, the Green Valley neighborhood of Hoover, the Frosty Mug in Jasper and the former location of Jean’s on the River in Cordova. The Frosty Mug makes a brief appearance in the trailer at the .50 mark, as Amziah and his buddies engage in a jam session and a police officer shows up to ask the beekeeper some questions. Background actors and extras from Alabama were involved in the filming, which took place from June through early August 2023. These roles ranged in age from children to seniors, and included truck drivers, nurses, jail guards, church attendees, elementary school pupils and more. McConaughey had help wrangling bees during the filming from Adam Hickman of Irondale’s Foxhound Bee Company, who served as an adviser for the movie. “The Rivals of Amziah King” will have a limited theatrical release on Aug. 14 and expand on Aug. 21, according to a report by Deadline. That means the movie will screen in a small number of theaters — typically, less than 600 theaters — in major cities to build anticipation for its arrival in other cities. It’s unclear when “The Rivals of Amziah King” will screen in Alabama, but it’s likely to be after the limited release on Aug. 14. There’s also no word on when the movie will be available on streaming services. “The Rivals of Amziah King” had its world premiere in March 2025 at the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival in Austin, Texas, but “got no immediate buyers” for distribution, according to a report by Deadline. The movie also screened in Berlin, but was “a hard sell overseas,” the report said. However, Black Bear decided to launch its own distribution arm, and will release “The Rivals of Amziah King” and several other movies this year. McConaughey, who was spotted with a mandolin on set in Alabama, touted the musical aspect of the movie at SXSW. “It is kind of a musical,” McConaughey said. “I didn’t know it was gonna be such a musical until I saw it. But there was music in the language, and we do have some performances that actually are musical, but there’s music in the language always.” McConaughey also mentioned the movie in a January interview linked to his bestselling book “Poems & Prayers.” There’s a poem called “Birmingham” in the book, inspired by the actor’s experiences in Alabama. “I found Birmingham on a film I did, ‘Rivals of Amziah,’ and I did not know that that place existed in the state of Alabama. And it did, and we fell in love with it and met a lot of great people there,” McConaughey said during the Jan. 7 episode of “Where Everybody Knows Your Name,” a podcast hosted by Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson. “The Rivals of Amziah King” earned a standing ovation from the audience at its premiere at SXSW and currently has a score of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 31 reviews. “A crowd-pleasing wonder, a new classic of the American South that hums with earnest adoration for the people of this region, what they do, and how they celebrate life,” Brian Tallerico said on RogerEbert.com. “‘Amziah King’ is not what you expect: a film that floats in and out of music and storytelling like a great country album.”