King Richard is a 2021 American biographical sports drama film directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green and written by Zach Baylin.

It premiered at the 48th Telluride Film Festival on September 2, 2021, and was theatrically released on November 19, 2021, by Warner Bros. Pictures and on the HBO Max streaming service.

Richard Williams lives in Compton, California, with his wife Brandy, his three step-daughters Tunde, Isha and Lyndrea, and his two daughters, Venus and Serena.

Rick urges them to accept, but the family collectively agrees to decline, believing that once Venus begins to play she will attract more lucrative offers.

As the family leaves the stadium, a large crowd of supporters is waiting to cheer her on, and Rick tells Richard that several major shoe companies are anxious to meet with Venus.

[13] In February, Liev Schreiber and Susie Abromeit (uncredited in the final film) joined the cast;[14][15] and in March, Dylan McDermott, Katrina Begin and Judith Chapman.

[19] In October 2020, Tony Goldwyn joined the cast, replacing Schreiber, who dropped out due to a scheduling conflict as a result of the pandemic.

When production concluded, he reportedly gave his co-stars "a nice bonus" via checks, due to the decision to release the film in theatres and on HBO Max simultaneously, on top of the compensation already received from the studio.

He produced the musical score mostly through the help of a prepared piano, understanding how Venus and Serena changed the game of tennis, and used nails, ping pong balls and several other objects to use it as a percussive instrument along with drums.

By the end of its run, it was also screened at film festivals in London,[30] Chicago,[31] Savannah,[32] Miami,[33] Indianapolis,[34] Denver,[35] Middleburg,[36] Philadelphia,[37] Sydney,[38] Toruń,[39] and Morelia.

[42][43] Samba TV reported to Deadline Hollywood that the film was streamed by 707,000 U.S. households on HBO Max in its first 3 days of release on the platform.

[2][3] In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and was projected to gross $8–10 million from 3,250 theaters in its opening weekend.

"[54] While praising Will Smith's performance, Arantxa Sánchez expressed dissatisfaction at her portrayal as an antagonist in the film, stating that the real events had been different and that she had not taken the toilet break shown.

The website's consensus reads: "King Richard transcends sport biopic formulas with refreshingly nuanced storytelling – and a towering performance from Will Smith in the title role.

"[59] Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal criticized the film's length, but said that it was "a sports movie that transcends itself without losing track of itself.

"[61] Clarisse Loughrey of The Independent also praised Smith's performance, writing: "It's one of those impressive fusions between actor and character, which all comes across so effortlessly onscreen, but gives King Richard the lifeblood it needs to triumph as a film.

"[62] K. Austin Collins of Rolling Stone wrote: "The movie's brightest-burning idea, and it is sincerely moving, is that Richard, for his flaws, does what he does on behalf of the young black women he's raising.

"[65] Kyle Smith of National Review wrote that the film "makes the sororal tennis champs seem almost incidental to their own rise to greatness.

Club gave the film a grade of C+, writing that it "keeps enough of Richard's messy past off screen to feel like a hagiography with a few concessions, rather than a true warts-and-all portrait.