''Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World'' (or simply ''Big George Foreman'') is a 2023 American

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curric ...

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

on the life of world heavyweight boxing champion

George Foreman George Edward Foreman (January 10, 1949 – March 21, 2025) was an American professional boxer, businessman, minister, and author. In boxing, he competed between 1967 and 1997, and was nicknamed "Big George". He was a two-time world heavyweig ...

, played by

Khris Davis Khristopher Adrian Davis (born December 21, 1987), nicknamed “Khrush”, is an American former professional baseball left fielder and designated hitter. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee Brewers, Oakland Athletics and ...

. It was directed by

George Tillman Jr. George Tillman Jr. (born January 26, 1969) is an American filmmaker. Tillman directed the films ''Soul Food'' (1997) and '' Men of Honor'' (2000). He is also the producer of '' Soul Food: The Series'' on television and the four films in the ' ...

and also stars Jasmine Mathews,

John Magaro John Robert Magaro (born February 16, 1983) is an American actor. He has acted in the films '' Not Fade Away'' (2012), '' The Big Short'' (2015), '' Carol'' (2015), ''Overlord'' (2018), '' First Cow'' (2019), '' Showing Up'' (2022), ''The Mistre ...

, Sullivan Jones,

Lawrence Gilliard Jr. Lawrence Gilliard Jr. (born September 22, 1971) is an American actor who has appeared in films, television series, and theatre. He portrayed D'Angelo Barksdale on the HBO drama series ''The Wire'', a role which earned him critical acclaim. He is ...

Sonja Sohn Sonja Denise Plack (' Williams), known professionally as Sonja Sohn, (born May 9, 1964) is an American actress, filmmaker, and activist, best known for portraying Baltimore detective Kima Greggs in the HBO drama ''The Wire'' (2002–2008). Sh ...

and

Forest Whitaker Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor, filmmaker, and activist. His accolades include an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Best Actor Award at the ...

. Development on ''Big George Foreman'' began in 2021 and after several production delays, filming took place on a budget of $32 million from February to March 2022 in New Orleans. The film was released theatrically by

Sony Pictures Releasing Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group (formerly known as the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group until 2013, and abbreviated as SPMPG) is a division of Sony Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment to manage its motion picture operatio ...

on April 28, 2023, and grossed $6 million.

Plot

A young

lives in poverty in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

with his siblings and his religious mother Nancy. Foreman, however, is riddled with anger issues and violent outbursts. As a young adult, Foreman barely evades arrest for mugging and decides to join the

Job Corps Job Corps is a program administered by the United States Department of Labor that offers free education and vocational training to young people ages 16 to 24.

as a last-ditch effort to turn his life around. There, he befriends his roommate Desmond Baker, though his violent outbursts nearly get him expelled. However, the Job Corps' chairman Doc Broadus, a boxing trainer, encourages Foreman to take up boxing and channel his rage into the sport instead of fighting. Foreman proves to be gifted in the sport and after one year of boxing, he wins the gold medal for the United States against Jonas Čepulis at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

. He moves to

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

to train, where former champions Dick Sadler and

Archie Moore Archie Moore (born Archibald Lee Wright; December 13, 1913 – December 9, 1998) was an American professional Boxing, boxer and the longest reigning World Light Heavyweight Champion of all time (1952 – 1962). He had one of the longest profe ...

join his team as trainers, and he meets journalist Paula, whom he starts a relationship with and eventually marries. Doc, Paula and Desmond are by his side as Foreman's career flourishes, ultimately winning a

fight Combat (French language, French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent Conflict (process), conflict between multiple combatants with the intent to harm the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed (Hand-to-hand combat, not usin ...

against

Joe Frazier Joseph William Frazier (January 12, 1944November 7, 2011) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1965 to 1981. Nicknamed "Smokin' Joe", he is widely regarded as one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time. He was known for ...

in 1973 and becoming the heavyweight champion. Following his win, Foreman hires Desmond to handle his finances. Foreman's career enables him to live lavishly, however he regularly cheats on Paula with other women and he is dismissive over his mother's attribution of his successes as blessings from God. Foreman is heavily taunted by

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and social activist. A global cultural icon, widely known by the nickname "The Greatest", he is often regarded as the gr ...

, whom he fights at

The Rumble in the Jungle George Foreman vs. Muhammad Ali, billed as ''The Rumble in the Jungle'', was a heavyweight championship boxing match on October 30, 1974, at the 20th of May Stadium in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo), between undefeated ...

in 1974, where he loses due to Ali's

rope-a-dope The rope-a-dope is a boxing Boxing#Boxing styles, fighting technique in which one contender leans against the ropes of the boxing ring to draw non-injuring offensive punches in an effort to tire their opponent out and, while they are on the rope ...

strategy. Foreman fires Sadler and Moore, and Paula divorces Foreman due to his infidelity. Following an embarrassing Foreman vs. Five match where he is further mocked by Ali, he is called to the hospital where his sister Mary's newborn baby is in poor health. Witnessing his family praying for the baby, Foreman goes outside and angrily prays to God for a sign, offering himself instead of the baby's life. The baby is miraculously saved, and Mary names her son after her brother. After losing to Jimmy Young in 1977, Foreman suffers from

heatstroke Heat stroke or heatstroke, also known as sun-stroke, is a severe heat illness that results in a body temperature greater than , along with red skin, headache, dizziness, and confusion. Sweating is generally present in exertional heatstroke, ...

and collapses from exhaustion, having a

near-death experience A near-death experience (NDE) is a profound personal experience associated with death or impending death, which researchers describe as having similar characteristics. When positive, which the great majority are, such experiences may encompa ...

where he finds himself in a place of nothingness and says that he finally believes before waking up. He becomes a devout Christian and disavows boxing to become a full-time preacher, much to the delight of Nancy and the disappointment of Doc. He makes amends with Ali and Paula for his past behavior towards them. At church, he meets and pursues a relationship with fellow believer Mary Joan Martelly. Years later, Foreman has married Mary Joan and started a family with her. He is a preacher at the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, and opened a youth community center to help troubled youth. However, in 1985, he realizes the center is in danger of being closed down after finding out he is in debt due to Desmond mishandling his funds. Nancy tells him that despite losing everything, all he needs is already inside him, and he decides to forgive Desmond after confronting him. Foreman's attempts to capitalize on his earlier fame is not enough to save the center. He reluctantly decides to return to boxing to earn money, and with Mary Joan and Doc's encouragement, he trains to get back in shape and decides to start his career again from the bottom. Rejecting his prior rage for a more positive outlook, Foreman manages to win several fights and enters a

match A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matc ...

against

Evander Holyfield Evander Holyfield (born October 19, 1962) is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2011. He reigned as the undisputed championship (boxing), undisputed champion in the cruiserweight (boxing), cruiserweight division ...

. Although he loses to Holyfield, the payments from the fight - as well as a profitable deal involving grills - are enough to pay his debts and reopen the center. He works his way up to a

against reigning champion

Michael Moorer Michael Lee Moorer (born November 12, 1967) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2008. He won a world championship on four occasions in two weight classes, having held the WBO light heavyweight title from 1988 t ...

, which he wins and regains his title as heavyweight champion of the world. Foreman reflects that he had to be knocked down to the bottom to realize everything he was searching for was already there. An epilogue shares that Foreman had become close friends with Ali; Doc was inducted in the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1998; and Foreman continues to preach at his church and run his youth center in Houston.

Cast

Production

A biographical film based on

's career was reported in 2021.

was hired to direct from a screenplay by he co-wrote with Frank Baldwin, which is adapted from a screen story written by Tillman, Baldwin, and Dan Gordon.

was cast as Foreman,

as Doc Broadus, and Sullivan Jones as

Michael K. Williams Michael Kenneth Williams (November 22, 1966 – September 6, 2021) was an American actor. He rose to fame for his acclaimed portrayals of Omar Little on the HBO drama series ''The Wire'' (2002–2008) and List of Boardwalk Empire characters, Alb ...

was originally cast as Doc Broadus (Foreman's trainer and mentor), but died before production began.

Filming

Under the working title ''Heart of a Lion'',

principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

was set to begin in late 2021 in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, Louisiana, but was halted by the landfall of

Hurricane Ida Hurricane Ida was a deadly and extremely destructive tropical cyclone in 2021 that became the second-most damaging and intense hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. state of Louisiana on record, behind Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In terms of m ...

. Production was set to resume filming in

Shreveport Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, third-most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, Lo ...

by that November but was shut down until early 2022 for an unreported reason. Filming took place from February to March 2022 in New Orleans.

Release

The film was originally scheduled to be released on September 16, 2022, but was pushed to March 24, 2023. It was pushed back again and was released on April 28, 2023, by

. The film was released digitally on May 16, with a

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

and DVD release to follow on June 27.

Reception

Box office

In the United States and Canada, ''Big George Foreman'' was released alongside ''

Sisu is a Finnish word variously translated as stoic determination, tenacity of purpose, grit, bravery, resilience, and hardiness. It is held by Finns to express their national character. It is generally considered not to have a single-word ...

'' and '' Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.'', and was projected to gross around $5 million from 3,054 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $1 million on its first day, including $250,000 from Thursday night previews. The film went on to debut to $2.9 million, finishing 11th at the box office. The film has grossed $5.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $604,430 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $6 million.

Critical response

Audiences surveyed by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data. Background Ed Mintz, who ...

gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled by

PostTrak PostTrak is a U.S.-based service that surveys film audiences for film studios. History The service conducts surveys in the top 20 markets in the U.S. and Canada with the use of polling cards and electronic kiosks. A PostTrak report for a fil ...

gave it an 86% positive score.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{George Foreman 2023 biographical drama films 2023 drama films 2023 films 2020s American films 2020s English-language films 2020s sports drama films Affirm Films films African-American films American biographical drama films American boxing films American sports drama films American independent films Biographical films about sportspeople Cultural depictions of Muhammad Ali English-language biographical drama films English-language sports drama films Films about Christianity Films directed by George Tillman Jr. Films scored by Marcelo Zarvos Films set in 1968 Films set in 1973 Films set in 1974 Films set in 1977 Films set in 1985 Films set in 1987 Films set in 1991 Films set in 1994 Films set in California Films set in Florida Films set in Houston Films set in Jamaica Films set in Mexico City Films set in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Films set in the Las Vegas Valley Films shot in New Orleans Religious drama films Mandalay Pictures films Sony Pictures films