The film earned three nominations at the 93rd Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor for Odom, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Song ("Speak Now").

At the Copacabana in New York City, soul singer Sam Cooke suffers through a performance in front of a cold, all-white audience.

Returning home to Georgia, NFL player Jim Brown is received by family friend Mr. Carlton on a vast plantation.

That night, Brown is a ringside commentator and Cooke and Malcolm X are in the crowd as Clay upsets Liston, making him the world heavyweight champion.

As they argue, it becomes clear that Malcolm's antagonism of Cooke is motivated, at least in part, by the activist's stress over his own life, especially his harassment by the FBI and fears about his schism with Elijah Muhammad.

In the aftermath of the night, Clay officially changes his name to Muhammad Ali, while Malcolm's life is thrown into chaos as he suffers the consequences of his split with the Nation of Islam; his house is firebombed, but he completes his autobiography.

[7] In January 2020, King announced the casting of Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, Leslie Odom Jr., and Lance Reddick in the lead roles.

[24][25] The film premiered on December 25, only exclusively at the Landmark Theatre at Merrick Park in Miami,[26] before further expanding to select nationwide theaters on January 8, 2021, the week prior to its streaming release.

The website's critics consensus reads: "A hauntingly powerful reflection on larger-than-life figures, One Night in Miami finds Regina King in command of her craft in her feature directorial debut.

[31] Kate Erbland of IndieWire gave the film an "A−" and said that "Yes, One Night in Miami often looks like the play it's based on, but King and her stars make the most of any stage-y limitations, and the filmmaker frequently turns her eye to well-assembled overhead shots and a graceful use of mirrors to keep her many characters in the frame all at once.

"[32] Owen Gleiberman of Variety praised the characters and the film's parallels to modern day, writing: "One Night in Miami is a casually entrancing debate about power on the part of those who have won it but are still figuring out what to do with it.