A British-American co-production, the film stars Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez and Elizabeth Debicki in the title roles alongside Cynthia Erivo (in her film debut), Colin Farrell, Brian Tyree Henry, Daniel Kaluuya, Jacki Weaver, Carrie Coon, Robert Duvall, and Liam Neeson in an ensemble supporting cast.

In Chicago, Harry Rawlings and his criminal gang's getaway van is blown up during a police standoff after stealing $2 million from crime boss Jamal Manning.

Jamal threatens Veronica, Harry's widow, demanding compensation, needing the money to finance his campaign for alderman of a South Side ward.

Mulligan doesn't like politics, but is happy to profit from it; his father Tom, the previous alderman, warns him that he will face everlasting shame if he loses to Jamal.

Her suspicion is confirmed when her dog paws vigorously at a closet door, indicating she is very familiar with the person behind it — revealed to be Harry after Veronica storms off without a confrontation.

Returning home, Veronica opens the door to her son Marcus's room and relives the memory of his death: while on the phone with Harry, he was shot by police officers after being pulled over while driving.

Veronica visits the Mulligan mansion under the guise of asking Jack for protection from the Mannings, and is able to case the premises while Belle scans the outdoor security.

The women escape, but Jatemme appears, holds Belle at gunpoint and flees in their van with the money; they follow him in a separate car and ram him from behind, causing him to crash and killing him.

Veronica returns alone to their hideout, where Harry arrives to steal the money, needing $1 million of it to keep Mulligan quiet about his faked death.

[16][17] In May, Garret Dillahunt, Jacki Weaver, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Lukas Haas and Brian Tyree Henry were set to co-star,[18][19][20][21][22] and in June, Carrie Coon was added.

[2] In the United States and Canada, Widows was released alongside Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and Instant Family, and was projected to gross $12–18 million from 2,803 theaters in its opening weekend.

Deadline Hollywood stated that the low debut was because of a "lack of urgency" in the advertising, and that the studio should not have relied on the good reviews alone to sell the film.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Widows rounds up a stellar ensemble for a heist thriller that mixes popcorn entertainment with a message – and marks another artistic leap for director Steve McQueen.

[33] Owen Gleiberman of Variety praised McQueen's direction and Davis's performance and wrote, "The strongest aspect of Widows is the way the movie gets us — and keeps us — rooting for its desperate-living heroines.

The movie engages with topics as complex as sexism, police brutality, and interracial marriage, but it still delivers on the car chases and gunplay.