It is produced by Cliff Curtis, Ainsley Gardiner and Emanuel Michael and financed by the New Zealand Film Commission.

In New Zealand, the film eclipsed previous records for a first week's box office takings for local production.

[4] The soundtrack to Boy features New Zealand artists such as The Phoenix Foundation, who previously provided music for Waititi's film Eagle vs Shark.

In 1984, 11-year-old Boy is living in Waihau Bay, in the Tairawhiti (Gisborne) region of New Zealand, on a small farm with his grandmother, younger brother Rocky, and several cousins.

Boy spends his time dreaming of Michael Jackson, hanging out with his friends Dallas and Dynasty (both siblings), trying to impress Chardonnay, a girl at his school, talking to his pet goat, and making up wild stories about his absent father, Alamein.

It seems at first that Alamein has finally come back to be in his sons' lives, but it's soon revealed that he is actually there to find a bag of money that he had buried on the farm before being incarcerated for robbery.

He cuts his son's hair to look like Michael Jackson (badly), and the two go on drives in Alamein's car and get revenge on Boy's school bullies by threatening them with a machete.

Boy brings Alamein marijuana to sell from a crop grown by Dallas and Dynasty's father, a member of a local gang.

Excited, Boy hides the moneybag in his goat's pen, then takes his father's Crazy Horses jacket and proudly treats his friends to ice blocks and lollies.

The film ends with a mid-credits sequence of all the major characters dancing in a routine that is a mixture of haka and Michael Jackson's Thriller.

Waititi gave him an audition and after reviewing the film clips, Rolleston was offered the role two days before shooting began.

[10] It was theatrically released on 25 March 2010 in New Zealand,[11] and screened at the Antipodean Film Festival in Saint Tropez, France, in October 2010.

Its critics consensus reads, "Boy possesses the offbeat charm associated with New Zealand film but is also fully capable of drawing the viewer in emotionally.

[17] The film grossed nearly $900,000 in its first seven days, beating Alice in Wonderland and homegrown pictures Whale Rider and The World's Fastest Indian.

[3] Boy became the highest grossing New Zealand film to date in the country, surpassing The World's Fastest Indian which held the position for five years.