Matthew McConaughey Returns to Theaters in ‘The Rivals of Amziah King’ Trailer

Matthew McConaughey is back on the big screen after nearly seven years away. The first trailer for The Rivals of Amziah King gives the actor a rural Oklahoma role centered on bluegrass, bees and a fight to protect his family and business.

The indie film, which premiered at the 2025 South by Southwest Film Festival, is due out on Aug. 14. It also stars Kurt Russell, Cole Sprouse, Angelina LookingGlass and Jake Horowitz, with Andrew Patterson, best known for The Vast of Night, writing and directing.

According to the official synopsis, the story takes place in the “deep backwoods” and follows Amziah, played by McConaughey, as a “charismatic and musically gifted” leader of a bluegrass-playing band of misfits who also runs the town’s top honey-making operation. The character is forced to defend what he has built when attacks threaten both his family and his business.

When Amziah’s estranged foster daughter, played by LookingGlass, returns, he sees a chance to rebuild their relationship and form a family business, the synopsis says. That hope is quickly complicated by the fact that “the honey game is ruthless,” and his rivals are ready to take everything away.

The two-minute trailer frames a tension between McConaughey and Russell, with scenes of reunion, band rehearsals and preparations for a major honey harvest. The conflict sharpens when Amziah’s prized crop is stolen, prompting LookingGlass’ character to promise revenge and a trip to recover the “liquid gold.”

McConaughey has stayed active on screen in recent years, including the 2025 Apple TV+ film The Lost Bus, which dramatized the 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California. But he had not appeared in a movie theater release since Guy Ritchie’s 2019 drama The Gentlemen, in which he played a fictional pot mogul.