Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World (or simply Big George Foreman)[4][a] 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.
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
- Khris Davis as George Foreman[4]
- Jasmine Mathews as Mary Joan[5]
- Sullivan Jones as Muhammad Ali[4]
- Lawrence Gilliard Jr. as Archie Moore[4]
- John Magaro as Desmond[5]
- Sam Trammell as Rev. Virdell Stokes
- Sonja Sohn as Nancy Foreman[5]
- Forest Whitaker as Doc Broadus[4]
- Shein Mompremier as Paula Foreman[5]
- Robert Cicchini as Angelo Dundee
- Matthew Glave as Howard Cosell
- Erica Tazel as Mary Foreman
- Dwayne Barnes as Dick Sadler
- Deion Smith as Roy Foreman
- K Steele as Gloria Foreman
- Carlos Takam as Joe Frazier[6]
- Cedric Boswell as Sonny Liston
- Tom Virtue as Johnny Carson
- Phillip Craddock-Haney as Jonas Cepulis
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.[7] Khris Davis was cast as Foreman,[8] Forest Whitaker as Doc Broadus, and Sullivan Jones as Muhammad Ali.[5] Michael K. Williams was originally cast as Doc Broadus (Foreman's trainer and mentor), but died before production began.[9][10]
Filming
Under the working title Heart of a Lion, principal photography was set to begin in late 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.[11] Filming took place from February to March 2022 in New Orleans.[12]
Release
The film was originally scheduled to be released on September 16, 2022 but was pushed to March 24, 2023.[9] It was pushed back again and was released on April 28, 2023, by Sony Pictures Releasing.[4] The film was released digitally on May 16, with a Blu-ray and DVD release to follow on June 27.[13]
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]
The film has grossed $5.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $604,430 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $6 million.[3]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 43% of 49 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.9/10. 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]
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