The film stars Charlie Hunnam, Jack O'Connell, Jessica Barden, Jonathan Majors, John Cullum, and Nick Mullen.

At night, the pair participate in underground boxing matches, often squatting at a dilapidated house in the slums of Fall River, Massachusetts with their whippet Ash.

He proposes that they pay off the debt by completing a task: to drive a young girl named Sky to Reno, Nevada before having Lion compete at an underground prizefight called "Jungleland" in San Francisco's Chinatown.

While searching through Sky's wallet, Stanley finds out her real name is Mary McGinty and that her estranged, strictly religious family lives in Gary, Indiana.

After insulting and demeaning her daughter for the "sinful" path she's taken, Sky's mother, Pam, angrily forces them to leave.

A furious Stanley reminds Lion of all the sacrifices that he has made in order to help his brother, but he retorts by revealing his arthritis and difficulty moving his hands along with remembering events due to all the fighting he has done.

Their outburst gets them kicked out of the restaurant when Ash begins to bark incessantly and Stanley gets punched by an irate customer and having the SUV towed.

Principal photography on the film began on August 27, 2018, in Taunton, Fall River and New Bedford, Massachusetts; Pawtucket, Rhode Island; Buffalo, New York; Gary, Indiana; Reno, Nevada and San Francisco, California.

The site's critics consensus reads: "Thanks to muscular work from director/co-writer Max Winkler and his stars, Jungleland punches above its weight in a crowded genre.