"Akeelah and the Bee" was first shown at the 2006 ShoWest on March 14, and later premiered as the opening film at the 30th Cleveland International Film Festival on March 16. On April 20, the film was screened at The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, and it had a sneak preview in 900 theaters on April 22. With predictions of strong box-office returns by film critics, it was released nationwide in theaters on April 28, grossing $6,011,585 in its opening weekend from around 2,195 American theaters and ranking eighth at the box office. The film closed its run on July 14 and 20 domestically and internationally respectively, with $18,848,430 domestically and $110,994 internationally. While the film received positive reviews, critics noted that it was not doing as well financially as they had predicted, and Lionsgate's Michael Burns characterized the film's gross with the word "only".