Music Box Films, “Play This Story, Please!” has acquired North American rights to the documentary and will release the film on all major digital platforms on October 20. Originally distributed by the filmmakers, the film had a successful release across the US in the spring, grossing close to $1 million.
Focusing on the work of groundbreaking independent journalist Amy Goodman, “Steal This Story, Please!” The film is directed by Academy Award nominees Carl Deal and Tia Lessin.
Music Box will also release the film on DVD and Blu-ray, with a physical media release date to be announced.
There will be a live online screening on October 13 at 8pm ET, followed by a live Q&A with Goodman, Lessin and Deal (“Trouble the Water”, “Citizen Koch”, “The Janes”).
“Steal This Story, Please!” will premiere at the 2025 Telluride Film Festival. It won audience awards at 11 festivals, including Mill Valley, Palm Springs, Santa Barbara and Woodstock.
With theatrical booking support from Michael Tuckman’s mTuckman Media, the film opened on a single screen at the IFC Center in New York in April, grossing over $30,000 in its opening weekend and running for 12 weeks. Expanding nationwide, the documentary has been shown in more than 50 countries and has become one of this year’s best-performing nonfiction films.
Music Box acquired the film for theatrical and home entertainment rights and took over theater bookings thereafter as well.
The distributor said in a statement that Goodman “covers some of the most urgent and underreported stories of our time on Democracy Now!, the daily global news hour. Drawing on an extraordinary archive, filmmakers Carl Deal and Tia Lessin take us behind the scenes with the warm, witty grandson of an Orthodox rabbi raised in the tradition of asking tough questions, as he navigates a media landscape reshaped by technology, corporate consolidation, and political attacks on the press.”
He added: “Urgent, provocative and unexpectedly funny, ‘Steal This Story, Please!’ “It explores what is at stake when journalism is under threat and why the act of testifying has never been more important.”
Deal said: “’Steal This Story, Please!’ It made us very excited. “will be part of the Music Box family of high-quality independent films, and Amy’s story will reach audiences at home at a moment when free expression is in the crosshairs of the President of the United States.”
Lessin added: “Long before attacks on the press became a defining feature of our political life, Amy Goodman understood that democracy depended on independent, uncompromising journalism that does not bow to power. We are excited to join forces with Music Box Films to build on the film’s theatrical success and ensure it reaches audiences at home with the spirit of editorial freedom and direct engagement that defines Amy’s work and ours.”
“ ‘Steal This Story, Please!’ “We had the highest-grossing week for a documentary in the history of the Music Box Theater in Chicago,” said Music Box Films. “We are excited to continue our relationship with Amy, Carl and Tia by expanding the audience reach of this powerful documentary.”
“In a market where industry leaders constantly talk about the limited theatrical possibilities of documentaries – especially those of a political nature – ‘Steal This Story, Please!’ The shameless success of the movie. It proves that audiences still want to be moved and entertained,” Tuckman said. “This film, which grossed nearly a million copies, is a testament to Carl and Tia’s belief that movie theaters are still the best place for documentaries to engage and inspire audiences.”
“Steal This Story, Please!” executive produced by Jane Fonda, Rosario Dawson, Tom Morello, Sheila Nevins, Julie Cohen, Tony Tabatznik, Bill Haney, Jonathan Logan and Steve Silberstein; It is produced by Deal and Lessin, with producers Karen Ranucci, Diana Cohn and Caren Spruch.
The sale of home entertainment rights was negotiated by Brian Andreotti on behalf of Music Box Films and Submarine’s Ben Schwartz and Joe Tufano.