Amazon Studios has released the trailer for Regina King’s terrific directorial debut One Night in Miami… Based off the award-winning play of the same name, the film imagines a night where Muhammed Ali (Eli Goree), Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.), and Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge) talked about the future of Black people in America and their significant roles in shaping that future.

I caught the film back in September during the Toronto International Film Festival, and while you can see its stage origins (most of the action takes place in a hotel room), the film transcends those origins thanks to King’s subtle and thoughtful direction combined with the excellent performances of her four lead actors. In my review, I wrote:

Each of these actors is never attempting an impression, but rather inhabit their famous figure, and it makes for a far more personal and introspective story about what Black people will do with their power. I was riveted by an exchange between Cooke and Malcolm X about whether it’s better to use music for cultural power or economic power. What does it mean to be a cultural icon if your checks are being signed by white people? What obligations do these men have when it’s hard enough just to do your job of being the best boxer or the best singer or the best running back? There aren’t easy answers, and the conflict of trying to find those answers gives One Night in Miami… its glorious spark.

I’m excited for more people to see this film, and they won’t have to wait long to do so.

Check out the trailer below. One Night in Miami… arrives in select theaters on December 25th before hitting Amazon Prime Video on January 15th.

Here’s the official synopsis for One Night in Miami…:

On one incredible night in 1964, four icons of sports, music, and activism gathered to celebrate one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. When underdog Cassius Clay, soon to be called Muhammad Ali, (Eli Goree), defeats heavy weight champion Sonny Liston at the Miami Convention Hall, Clay memorialized the event with three of his friends: Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) and Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge).

Based on the award-winning play of the same name, and directed by Regina King, One Night In Miami... is a fictional account inspired by the historic night these four formidable figures spent together. It looks at the struggles these men faced and the vital role they each played in the civil rights movement and cultural upheaval of the 1960s. More than 40 years later, their conversations on racial injustice, religion, and personal responsibility still resonate.