I Love Boosters opens in UK cinemas with Keke Palmer and Demi Moore

I Love Boosters has opened in UK cinemas, bringing Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie and Demi Moore together in a new comedy from writer-director Boots Riley. Released on Friday 30 October 2026, the film follows a crew of professional shoplifters whose confrontation with a fashion mogul grows into something much bigger.

Palmer plays Corvette, an aspiring designer who leads a group called the Velvet Gang. Their target is Christie Smith, played by Moore, a powerful figure in the fashion industry whose actions set the story in motion.

What is I Love Boosters about?

The official UK synopsis from Focus Features begins with a stolen design. When Smith takes one of Corvette’s creations, the gang decide to retaliate by stealing her inventory. Their plan unexpectedly becomes connected to retail staff and factory workers around the world.

That premise puts the ownership of ideas alongside the ownership of clothes. Corvette wants to create fashion herself, but her ambitions bring her into conflict with someone who already has the power and resources to profit from it.

Ackie and Taylour Paige play fellow gang members Sade and Mariah. As Radio Times explains in its interview with Riley, the women take designer merchandise and sell it to their local community for considerably less than its shop price. The story moves from Oakland’s shopping spaces to the Chinese factories where the garments are made.

An ensemble built around a fashion-world clash

The wider cast includes Poppy Liu, Eiza González, LaKeith Stanfield, Will Poulter and Don Cheadle. The characters occupy a world in which the everyday mechanics of buying, selling and working are pushed into deliberately absurd territory.

Riley’s starting point is a recognisable conflict between people with very different access to money and opportunity. The film then uses fantasy and comedy to expand that confrontation, rather than restricting itself to a straightforward account of a shoplifting operation.

In his Radio Times interview, Riley explained that he wants audiences to experience events in a way that connects physically and emotionally with the characters. His approach allows scenes to shift and blend, reflecting the uncertainty of not knowing what is coming next.

He also described comedy as part of how people encounter contradictions in everyday life. In that context, humour becomes a way of approaching class and work, rather than a separate ingredient added to an otherwise serious story.

Boots Riley returns to feature filmmaking

I Love Boosters is Riley’s second feature, following Sorry to Bother You. His work also includes the series I Am a Virgo, while his music career has involved the Coup and Street Sweeper Social Club.

SXSW’s original announcement selected the film to open its 2026 Film & TV Festival. Its arrival in British cinemas follows an earlier American release and screenings at this month’s BFI London Film Festival.

The BFI programme placed it within Riley’s continuing interest in anti-capitalist storytelling. That description connects the film’s fashion setting to its larger concern with the people who make goods and the people who benefit from selling them.

The London festival programme included screenings on 9, 15 and 17 October, giving audiences an earlier look before the nationwide release. This weekend therefore marks the film reaching its regular UK cinema run, opening the story to viewers who did not attend those festival performances.

Where UK audiences can watch

The UK release is through Universal Pictures, with the film now playing at participating cinemas. It carries an 18 certificate, and the BFI lists a running time of 113 minutes.

Individual cinemas determine their own programme, so screening times and availability vary. Watershed in Bristol, for example, lists performances through 5 November, including an audio-described screening on Saturday 31 October and a descriptive-subtitled performance on 3 November.

For anyone planning a visit this weekend, the cinema’s own listing will provide the current booking and access details. I Love Boosters is in UK cinemas now.