Matthew McConaughey's 'White Boy Rick' Set for Fall Awards Release in Theaters

The movie is switching release dates with fellow Studio 8 film 'Alpha.'

Jeff Robinov's Studio 8 has pushed back the release of White Boy Rick by one month to mid-September — the beginning of the fall awards season.

The drama, which stars Matthew McConaughey and newcomer Richie Merritt, will open in select theaters Sept. 14 before expanding nationwide a week later on Sept. 21.

White Boy Rick had been set to open Aug. 17, marking the first release from Studio 8, which has a distribution deal with Sony. Set in 1980s Detroit at the height of the crack epidemic, the movie is based on the real-life story of Rick Wershe (Merritt), a teenage police undercover informant who became a drug dealer. McConaughey plays his father.

White Boy Rick is switching places with Alpha, another Studio 8 film, directed by Albert Hughes. Alpha relocates from Sept. 14 to Aug. 17. The dates changes were announced Tuesday by Sony.

The move means that White Boy Rick, directed by Yann Damange and co-starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Bel Powley, could play at the fall film festivals.

Alpha is described as an epic adventure set in the last Ice Age. The story follows a young man on his first hunt who finds an unlikely ally in a lone wolf when injured and left for dead.