Big George Foreman

Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World (or simply Big George Foreman)[5][lower-alpha 1] is a 2023 American biographical sports drama film directed by George Tillman Jr. The film focuses on the life of world heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman, played by Khris Davis. It also stars Jasmine Mathews, John Magaro, Sullivan Jones, Lawrence Gilliard Jr., Sonja Sohn and Forest Whitaker.

Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World
Theatrical release poster
Directed byGeorge Tillman Jr.
Screenplay by
  • Frank Baldwin
  • George Tillman Jr.
Story by
  • Dan Gordon
  • Frank Baldwin
  • George Tillman Jr.
Produced byDavid Zelon
Starring
Cinematography
Edited by
  • Alex Blatt
  • Craig Hayes
Music byMarcelo Zarvos
Production
companies
Distributed bySony Pictures Releasing
Release date
  • April 28, 2023 (2023-04-28)
Running time
129 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$32 million[2]
Box office$5.9 million[3][4]

Premise

Overcoming a childhood marked by poverty to become one of the most promising young boxers in the world, George Foreman suffers a near-death experience in the ring and vows never to fight again after deciding to become a Baptist minister and preacher. Years later, with bankruptcy looming over his struggling gym, he gets back in touch with his former trainer and becomes the oldest boxer in history to win the heavyweight championship.

Cast

Production

A biographical film based on George Foreman's career was reported in 2021. It was directed by George Tillman Jr. from a screenplay by Tillman and Frank Baldwin, which is adapted from a screen story written by Tillman, Baldwin, and Dan Gordon.[8] Khris Davis was cast as Foreman,[9] Forest Whitaker as Doc Broadus, and Sullivan Jones as Muhammad Ali.[6] Michael K. Williams was originally cast as Doc Broadus (Foreman's trainer and mentor), but died before production began.[10][11]

Filming

Under the working title Heart of a Lion, principal photography was set to begin in the autumn of 2021 in New Orleans, Louisiana, but was halted by the landfall of Hurricane Ida. Production was set to resume filming in Shreveport by that November but was shut down until early 2022 for an unreported reason.[12] Filming took place from February to March 2022 in New Orleans.[13]

Release

The film was originally scheduled to be released on September 16, 2022 but was pushed to March 24, 2023.[10] It was pushed back again and was released on April 28, 2023, by Sony Pictures Releasing.[5]

Reception

Box office

In the United States and Canada, Big George Foreman was released alongside Sisu and Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret., and was projected to gross around $5 million from 3,054 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $1 million on its first day, including $250,000 from Thursday night previews. The film went on to debut to $2.9 million, finishing 11th at the box office.[2]

As of May 14, 2023, the film has grossed $5.3 million domestically and $586,403 overseas, for a worldwide total of $5.9 million.[3]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 47% of 45 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5/10. The website's consensus reads: "Big George Foreman had a classic sports story to work with; unfortunately, the sluggishly ordinary way it's told here is more Tomato Can than Heavyweight Champion."[14] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 45 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[15] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled by PostTrak gave it an 86% positive score.[2]

Notes
  1. The title as given onscreen is Big George Foreman with "Based on a true story" underneath.

References
  1. "Big George Foreman". Irish Film Classification Office. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  2. D'Alessandro, Anthony (April 30, 2023). "'Super Mario Bros' Swallowing Up 'Margaret', 'George Foreman' & More – Box Office". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 30, 2023.
  3. "Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World - Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved May 14, 2023.
  4. "Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 14, 2023.
  5. Panaligan, E. J. (February 1, 2023). "Big George Foreman Trailer Follows the Life of the Boxer, Minister and Grill Entrepreneur". Variety. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  6. Grobar, Matt (February 24, 2022). "Sony's George Foreman Biopic Adds Jasmine Mathews, Sonja Sohn, John Magaro & Shein Mompremier". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  7. Gleiberman, Owen (April 27, 2023). "Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World Review: It's Conventional but Delivers". Variety. Retrieved April 29, 2023.
  8. "Production Notes". Sony Pictures. February 1, 2023. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  9. N'Duka, Amanda (May 27, 2021). "Khris Davis To Play George Foreman In The Sony Biopic From Director George Tillman Jr". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 3, 2023.
  10. Gonzalez, Umberto (November 5, 2021). "George Foreman Biopic Set for March 2023 at Sony". Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  11. DeVore, Britta (February 1, 2023). "Big George Foreman Trailer: Khris Davis Is Going for the Knock Out". Collider. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  12. Brandon; Michael (October 7, 2021). "The George Foreman Movie Filming in Shreveport Has Been Shut Down". K945. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  13. "In Production". Film New Orleans. Archived from the original on March 17, 2022. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  14. "Big George Foreman". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  15. "Big George Foreman". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved May 4, 2023.
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