Annapurna has released the first trailer for Kathryn Bigelow’s “Detroit,” a historical drama starring “Star Wars” actor John Boyega, Will Poulter (“The Revenant”) and Jack Reynor (“Transformers: Age of Extinction”) that tells the story of the 1967 riots in the Motor City.
The first footage features Boyega as an African-American cop caught up in a tense standoff involving snipers, accidental shootings, rocks thrown and simmering racial tensions that boil over into violence. The fact-based drama is set in the summer of ’67, when police raided an unlicensed bar where dozens of African-Americans were celebrating the return of two soldiers from the Vietnam War.
After they attempted to arrest everyone present, tensions escalated and boiled over, resulting in a five-day riot that remains one of the deadliest in U.S. history, with 43 killed and nearly 1,200 injured.
The film marks the third collaboration between Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal, who won an Oscar in 2010 for his screenplay for “The Hurt Locker” and received an additional nomination for his work on “Zero Dark Thirty.”
The film also serves as the launch title for Annapurna’s new distribution division. Annapurna CEO Megan Ellison is producing the film with Bigelow, Boal, Colin Wilson and Matthew Budman.
“Detroit” is due in theaters on August 4.
Watch the trailer above.
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