Deadline previews a busy independent-film release weekend led by Matthew McConaughey’s crime thriller The Rivals of Amziah King and the Green Day-inspired road-trip comedy Nimrods. The releases matter because they are receiving relatively wide speciality launches, with both films backed by recognisable talent and positioned to draw audiences beyond the usual arthouse circuit.

The Rivals of Amziah King opens in more than 500 cinemas and follows a rural Oklahoma honey producer whose returning foster daughter becomes involved in a dangerous business rivalry; it premiered at SXSW to a standing ovation. Nimrods opens on more than 1,000 screens, starring Mason Thames and Mckenna Grace as a Kansas City band travelling to Los Angeles after a supposed Green Day support slot, which is actually a prank; Billie Joe Armstrong collaborated on and appears in the film with his bandmates.