Will Smith is the leader of a happy Williams family in a new image from this fall's buzzy biopic King Richard. Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, King Richard stars Smith as Richard Williams, the father of tennis pros Venus and Serena. Picking up when the two legendary athletes are just kids honing their skills, the movie tracks Richard's unwavering determination to make champions out of his daughters. King Richard was one of the movies whose productions were disrupted last year by the coronavirus pandemic; after being shut down early in the year, it resumed in the fall.
King Richard is being positioned as an awards contender for Warner Bros., though its full might on the circuit remains to be seen. It screened at various film festivals throughout the fall and received generally positive reviews, with some criticizing the typical biopic format. However, Smith's performance was lauded as a career-best, making King Richard a must-see. It will arrive in theaters and on HBO Max later this month.
On Monday, USA Today unveiled a movie preview covering the biggest releases for the rest of the year, and it revealed a new image from King Richard. In it, Smith's tennis coach is flanked by smiling members of his family and their friends, hinting at a practice session that's gone well. The image shows Lovecraft Country's Aunjanue Ellis as Brandi Williams, as well as Saniyya Sidney and Demi Singleton as Venus and Serena, respectively. Check it out down below.
King Richard also stars Jon Bernthal and Tony Goldwyn, but as the above image point out, the story is all about the Williams family. Venus and Serena's combined achievements are some of the best across sports history, so it's fitting that they're finally receiving a biopic. Of course, King Richard is more of an origin story for the athletes while being a biopic for their father, but it's clear that the entire movie will be a family drama at its very core. The smiling faces in the above photo might not last very long once the trials and tribulations set in.
Further bolstering King Richard's profile its its soundtrack, which includes a new song from Beyoncé herself. Adult-skewing dramas have had some difficulty breaking through at the box office lately, but King Richard's availability on HBO Max can help it find an audience. Whether this will be enough to net Smith his third Oscar nomination remains to be seen, but the early buzz is so far extremely positive. King Richard just might be the perfect family/sports drama for this holiday season; it'll all depend on how audiences respond to it in the coming weeks.
Source: USA Today
