''The Woman King'' is a 2022 American
historical
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
action drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-gen ...
about the
Agojie
The Dahomey Mino (Fon language, Fon: Agojie, Agoji, Mino, or Minon) were a Fon people, Fon all-female military regiment of the Kingdom of Dahomey (in today's Benin, West Africa) that existed from the 17th century until the late 19th century. The ...
, the all-female warrior unit that protected the
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...
n kingdom of
Dahomey during the 17th to 19th centuries. Set in the 1820s, the film stars
Viola Davis
Viola Davis (; born August 11, 1965) is an American actress and producer. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Tony Awards, she is the only African-American to achieve the Triple Crow ...
as a general who trains the next generation of warriors to fight their enemies. It is directed by
Gina Prince-Bythewood
Gina Maria Prince-Bythewood (born June 10, 1969) is an American film director and screenwriter. She is known for directing the films ''Love & Basketball'' (2000), ''Disappearing Acts'' (2000), '' The Secret Life of Bees'' (2008), ''Beyond the Lig ...
and written by
Dana Stevens, based on a story she wrote with
Maria Bello
Maria Elena Bello (born April 18, 1967) is an American actress and writer. Her film roles include ''Permanent Midnight'' (1998), ''Payback (1999 film), Payback'' (1999), ''Coyote Ugly (film), Coyote Ugly'' (2000), ''The Cooler'' (2003), ''A Hist ...
. The film also stars
Thuso Mbedu,
Lashana Lynch
Lashana Lynch (born 27 November 1987) is a British actress. She is best known for playing the role of Rosaline Capulet in the ABC period drama series '' Still Star-Crossed'' (2017), Maria Rambeau in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films '' ...
,
Sheila Atim
Sheila Atim (born 1991) is a Ugandan-British actress, singer, composer, and playwright. She made her professional acting debut in 2013 at Shakespeare's Globe in ''The Lightning Child'', a musical written by her acting teacher Ché Walker.
Fol ...
,
Hero Fiennes Tiffin
Hero Beauregard Faulkner Fiennes Tiffin (born 6 November 1997) is an English actor, model and film producer. He is known for his starring role as Hardin Scott in the ''After'' film series. He portrayed 11-year-old Tom Riddle, the young versio ...
, and
John Boyega
John Adedayo Bamidele Adegboyega (born 17 March 1992), known professionally as John Boyega, is a British actor and producer. He first rose to prominence in his native Britain for his role as Moses in the sci-fi comedy film '' Attack the Block ...
.
Bello conceived the idea for ''The Woman King'' in 2015 after visiting
Benin
Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...
, where the kingdom used to be located, and learning the history of the Agojie. She recruited
Cathy Schulman
Cathy Schulman (born 1965) is an American film producer.
A graduate of Yale University, Schulman's screen credits include ''Isn't She Great'', ''Sidewalks of New York (2001 film), Sidewalks of New York'', ''Employee of the Month (2004 film), Em ...
to develop it into a feature film, pitching it to several studios, who turned it down due to financial concerns. After they met with
TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures, Inc. (spelled as Tri-Star until 1991) is an American film studio and production company that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, part of the multinational conglomerate Sony. It is a corporate sibling of Sony ...
in 2017, the film was
greenlit
To green-light is to give permission to proceed with a project. The term is a reference to the green traffic signal, indicating "go ahead".
Film industry
In the context of the film and television industries, to green-light something is to ...
in 2020. Production began in South Africa in November 2021, shut down due to the
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
Omicron variant
Omicron (B.1.1.529) is a variant of SARS-CoV-2 first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) by the Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa on 24 November 2021. It was first detected in Botswana and has spread to become the ...
a few weeks later, and resumed in early 2022.
Polly Morgan was the cinematographer. During post-production, the musical score was composed by
Terence Blanchard
Terence Oliver Blanchard (born March 13, 1962) is an American trumpeter and composer. He started his career in 1982 as a member of the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, then The Jazz Messengers. He has composed more than forty film scores and performed ...
, and editing was completed by
Terilyn A. Shropshire
Terilyn A. Shropshire is an American motion picture and television editor. She is the daughter of Thomas B. Shropshire, a corporate executive.
Her big break as a motion picture editor came when she was hired to cut ''Eve's Bayou,'' the auspiciou ...
.
''The Woman King'' had its world premiere at the
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...
on September 9, 2022, and
Sony Pictures Releasing
Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group (commonly known as Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, formerly known as the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group until 2013, and abbreviated as SPMPG) is a division of Sony Pictures Entertainme ...
released the film in theaters in the United States on September 16, 2022. Following the festival screening, the film received positive reviews from critics, with praise directed towards Davis's performance and the action choreography, though it received criticism for
historical distortion of slavery.
At the
28th Critics' Choice Awards the film received nominations for
Best Costume Design,
Best Acting Ensemble,
Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to:
Film awards
* AACTA Award for Best Direction
* Academy Award for Best Director
* BA ...
, and
Best Actress
Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...
for Davis. Furthermore, Davis also earned Best Actress nominations at the
Golden Globes
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...
,
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...
,
BAFTA Film Awards
The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cere ...
, and
NAACP Image Awards
The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to ...
.
Plot
In the
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...
n kingdom of
Dahomey in 1823,
General Nanisca, leader of the all-female group of warriors, the
Agojie
The Dahomey Mino (Fon language, Fon: Agojie, Agoji, Mino, or Minon) were a Fon people, Fon all-female military regiment of the Kingdom of Dahomey (in today's Benin, West Africa) that existed from the 17th century until the late 19th century. The ...
, liberates Dahomean women who were abducted by
slavers from the
Oyo Empire
The Oyo Empire was a powerful Yoruba empire of West Africa made up of parts of present-day eastern Benin and western Nigeria (including Southwest zone and the western half of Northcentral zone). It grew to become the largest Yoruba language, ...
. This provokes King
Ghezo
Ghezo, also spelled Gezo, was King of Dahomey (present-day Republic of Benin) from 1818 until 1859. Ghezo replaced his brother Adandozan (who ruled from 1797 to 1818) as king through a coup with the assistance of the Brazilian slave trader F ...
of Dahomey to prepare for an all-out war with the Oyo. Nanisca begins to train a new generation of warriors to join the Agojie to protect the kingdom. Among these warriors is Nawi, a strong-willed girl who was offered by her father to the king after refusing to marry men who would beat her. Nawi befriends Izogie, a veteran Agojie. She also reveals to Nanisca that she is adopted and shows a scar on her left shoulder, shocking Nanisca.
Portuguese
slave traders
The history of slavery spans many cultures
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and h ...
led by Santo Ferreira and accompanied by the half-Dahomean Malik arrive as part of an alliance with the Oyo, led by General Oba Ade. Nawi encounters Malik while the latter is bathing, and the two become friends. Shortly after graduating from training to become a full-fledged Agojie, Nawi sneaks off to speak with Malik and learns that the Oyo are planning to attack. She reports this to Nanisca, who tells her off for her recklessness. Nanisca reveals that in her youth, she was captured by Oba, raped, and impregnated. After giving birth to a daughter, Nanisca embedded a
shark tooth
Sharks continually shed their teeth; some Carcharhiniformes shed approximately 35,000 teeth in a lifetime, replacing those that fall out. There are four basic types of shark teeth: dense flattened, needle-like, pointed lower with triangular upp ...
in her left shoulder before giving her away. Nanisca helps Nawi extract the tooth, confirming that she is her biological daughter.
Nanisca leads the Agojie in an attack on the Oyo. The attack is successful, but Oba escapes and Nawi, Fumbe and Izogie are captured. With Nawi's advice, Fumbe escapes and reports the others' fate to Nanisca. Ghezo prepares to bestow the title of
Woman King, his partner and equal in ruling Dahomey, upon Nanisca, but refuses to authorize a rescue mission for the captive Agojie. Meanwhile, Izogie is killed in an escape attempt and Malik buys Nawi to protect her. Nanisca defies orders and sets out with a group of like-minded warriors to rescue the captives. The chaos allows Nawi to escape and rejoin Nanisca. Malik frees several other slaves who drown Ferreira, and Nanisca kills Oba in single combat. The triumphant Agojie return to Dahomey, where Ghezo privately and briefly admonishes Nanisca for disobeying him, before crowning her the Woman King. After the festivities, Nanisca and Nawi privately acknowledge their familial relationship.
Cast
Production
Development
''The Woman King'' was produced by
Maria Bello
Maria Elena Bello (born April 18, 1967) is an American actress and writer. Her film roles include ''Permanent Midnight'' (1998), ''Payback (1999 film), Payback'' (1999), ''Coyote Ugly (film), Coyote Ugly'' (2000), ''The Cooler'' (2003), ''A Hist ...
and
Cathy Schulman
Cathy Schulman (born 1965) is an American film producer.
A graduate of Yale University, Schulman's screen credits include ''Isn't She Great'', ''Sidewalks of New York (2001 film), Sidewalks of New York'', ''Employee of the Month (2004 film), Em ...
, written by
Dana Stevens with contributions by
Gina Prince-Bythewood
Gina Maria Prince-Bythewood (born June 10, 1969) is an American film director and screenwriter. She is known for directing the films ''Love & Basketball'' (2000), ''Disappearing Acts'' (2000), '' The Secret Life of Bees'' (2008), ''Beyond the Lig ...
, and directed by Prince-Bythewood.
It is a co-production between
TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures, Inc. (spelled as Tri-Star until 1991) is an American film studio and production company that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, part of the multinational conglomerate Sony. It is a corporate sibling of Sony ...
and
Entertainment One
Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is an American-owned Canadian multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production of films and television se ...
.
In 2015, Bello went to the West African nation of
Benin
Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...
to learn the history of the Agojie. Convinced she had found a story worth telling, she returned to Los Angeles and recruited Schulman, then head of organization Women in Film, to help her make the film.
On September 19, 2015, Bello used a moment when she was presenting actress
Viola Davis
Viola Davis (; born August 11, 1965) is an American actress and producer. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Tony Awards, she is the only African-American to achieve the Triple Crow ...
with an award at the
Skirball Cultural Center
The Skirball Cultural Center, founded in 1996, is a Jewish educational institution in Los Angeles, California. The center, named after philanthropist-couple Jack H. Skirball and Audrey Skirball-Kenis, features a museum with regularly changing e ...
in Los Angeles to pitch her idea for the movie in front of the crowd, who cheered at the notion of seeing Davis in the lead role.
Schulman first tried to set up the film at
STX Films
STX Entertainment is a mini-major American entertainment and media company. Founded in March 2014 by film producer Robert Simonds, the studio produces film, television, and digital media projects.
In April 2020, STX announced that it would merg ...
, where she was the head of the production, but the studio was only willing to offer an unsatisfactory $5 million.
After leaving STX in 2016, Schulman worked with Bello, Davis, and Julius Tennon, Davis's husband and producing partner at JuVee Productions, to take the idea elsewhere.
Studios who turned it down cited an unlikely chance for the film to turn a profit; others, according to Davis, wanted to cast light-skinned, well-known actresses, which they refused to do for historical accuracy and the audience's sake. Prince-Bythewood, also in 2016, was approached to write the screenplay but could not commit due to a scheduling conflict with ''
Silver & Black''.
In 2017, without a script or director, the producers met with TriStar's then-chief
Hannah Minghella
Anthony Minghella, (6 January 195418 March 2008) was a British film director, playwright and screenwriter. He was chairman of the board of Governors at the British Film Institute between 2003 and 2007.
He won the Academy Award for Best Direct ...
and then-senior vice president
Nicole Brown. Within two years, Brown had taken over Minghella's position and made ''The Woman King'' one of TriStar's top priorities.
In early 2018, the commercial success of the superhero movie ''
Black Panther
A black panther is the melanistic colour variant of the leopard (''Panthera pardus'') and the jaguar (''Panthera onca''). Black panthers of both species have excess black pigments, but their typical rosettes are also present. They have been d ...
'', which featured a fictionalized version of the Agojie, further motivated the crew to move forward with the project. In March 2018, Davis and
Lupita Nyong'o
Lupita Amondi Nyong'o (, ; ; born 1 March 1983) is a Kenyan-Mexican actress. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Lupita Nyong'o, several accolades, including an Academy Awards, Academy Award, and nominations for ...
were announced to star;
Nyong'o's role was ultimately played by
Thuso Mbedu. Prince-Bythewood read the screenplay once it was completed and came on board to direct, and in 2020, ''The Woman King'' was
greenlit
To green-light is to give permission to proceed with a project. The term is a reference to the green traffic signal, indicating "go ahead".
Film industry
In the context of the film and television industries, to green-light something is to ...
with a $50 million budget.
Prince-Bythewood referenced epic films like ''
The Last of the Mohicans
''The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757'' is a historical romance written by James Fenimore Cooper in 1826.
It is the second book of the ''Leatherstocking Tales'' pentalogy and the best known to contemporary audiences. '' The Pathfinder ...
'' (1992), ''
Braveheart
''Braveheart'' is a 1995 American historical drama film directed and produced by, and starring Mel Gibson. Gibson portrays Sir William Wallace, a late-13th century Scottish warrior who led the Scots in the First War of Scottish Independence ag ...
'' (1995), and ''
Gladiator
A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...
'' (2000) as influences. Her background in sports gave her a perspective on the realism of fight scenes.
In crafting the story, she sought for the women to be multi-faceted in both their fighting ability and their emotional reactions.
She worked with production designer Akin McKenzie to learn about the Agojie. Their research included books, out-of-print texts, photographs, and writings by
Princeton
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...
professor
Leonard Wantchekon
Leonard Wantchekon is a Beninese economist and professor of Politics and International Affairs at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, and an affiliate of the Economics Department at Princeton University. He taught at Yale Un ...
. "The biggest eye-opener," she said, "was how much misinformation there is about these women and this culture, given that so much of their history was written from the colonizer's point of view. So it was really about separating the texts that were from that point of view, which were so disparaging and disrespectful, from the truth."
For four months before the shoot, the cast performed 90 minutes a day of weight lifting with trainer Gabriela Mclain, followed by three and a half hours of fight training with stunt coordinator Danny Hernandez, which included running, martial arts, and working with swords and spears. Davis was inspired by pro boxer
Claressa Shields
Claressa Maria Shields (born March 17, 1995) is an American professional boxer and mixed martial artist. She has held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the undisputed female light middleweight title since March 20 ...
.
Filming
In November 2021, the cast and crew flew to South Africa for a five-month shoot. Prince-Bythewood prioritized department heads who were women and people of color,
including cinematographer
Polly Morgan, production designer Akin McKenzie, costume designer Gersha Phillips, hairstylist Louisa Anthony, visual effects supervisor
Sara Bennett, and editor
Terilyn Shropshire. Makeup was handled by a local, South African artist, Babalwa Mtshiselwa. "The thing is for women and people of color," Prince-Bythewood said, "often the résumés are not long because it's about lack of opportunity, not lack of talent. So when you’re in my position, it's important to look past that résumé."
For a sequence in which a character is remembering a sexual assault, Prince-Bythewood referenced
Christine Blasey Ford
Christine Margaret Blasey Ford ( ; born November 1966) is an American professor of psychology at Palo Alto University and a research psychologist at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She specializes in designing statistical models f ...
's testimony at
Brett Kavanaugh
Brett Michael Kavanaugh ( ; born February 12, 1965) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President Donald Trump on July 9, 2018, and has served since Oc ...
's
Supreme Court nomination hearing and asked the actress to read the
Roxane Gay
Roxane Gay (born October 15, 1974) is an American writer, professor, editor, and social commentator. Gay is the author of ''The New York Times'' best-selling essay collection '' Bad Feminist'' (2014), as well as the short story collection ''Ayit ...
book ''
Hunger
In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs for a sustained period. In the ...
'', a memoir about Gay's rape.
Filming for the first two weeks took place in the coastal province of
KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...
for the shooting of jungle scenes. They then moved to the capital city of
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
, where the majority of filming would take place.
In their third week in South Africa, the
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
omicron variant
Omicron (B.1.1.529) is a variant of SARS-CoV-2 first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) by the Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa on 24 November 2021. It was first detected in Botswana and has spread to become the ...
hit the production; Davis and Tennon were among the infected. Production shut down for a few weeks and resumed in mid-January 2022. This production halt forced them to re-rehearse a battle sequence with hundreds of performers. Prince-Bythewood called it the hardest shoot of her career.
Post-production
Editing was completed by
Terilyn A. Shropshire
Terilyn A. Shropshire is an American motion picture and television editor. She is the daughter of Thomas B. Shropshire, a corporate executive.
Her big break as a motion picture editor came when she was hired to cut ''Eve's Bayou,'' the auspiciou ...
, who worked on Prince-Bythewood's ''
The Old Guard'' (2020). The film's musical score was composed by
Terence Blanchard
Terence Oliver Blanchard (born March 13, 1962) is an American trumpeter and composer. He started his career in 1982 as a member of the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, then The Jazz Messengers. He has composed more than forty film scores and performed ...
, who worked with Prince-Bythewood on her first film ''
Love & Basketball
''Love & Basketball'' is a 2000 American romantic sports drama film written and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood in her feature film directorial debut. The film is produced by Spike Lee and Sam Kit and stars Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps. It tells ...
'' (2000) and the television shows ''
Shots Fired Shots Fired may refer to:
* Shots Fired (TV series), 10-part TV series 2017
* "Shots Fired", a song by American rapper Megan Thee Stallion, from her album '' Good News'' (2020)
* ''Shots Fired'', album by MojoJojo 2015
See also
* Shotz Fired
...
'' and ''
Swagger''. For the score, Blanchard enlisted the nine-voice Vox Noire ensemble, who worked with him on his opera ''
Fire Shut Up in My Bones
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products.
At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames are pr ...
'', with jazz singer
Dianne Reeves
Dianne Elizabeth Reeves (born October 23, 1956) is an American jazz singer.
Biography
Dianne Reeves was born in Detroit, Michigan, into a musical family. Her father sang, her mother played trumpet, her uncle is bassist Charles Burrell, and h ...
as his
soloist. They recorded for five days with the 78-member
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) ( gd, Orcastra Nàiseanta Rìoghail na h-Alba) is a British orchestra, based in Glasgow, Scotland. It is one of the five National performing arts companies of Scotland, national performing arts compa ...
in
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
, Scotland. Additional recordings occurred in New York with Vox Noire and Colorado with Reeves. Ghanaian-American
mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C ...
Tesia Kwarteng led the choir. Three numbers by South African composer
Lebo M.
Lebohang Morake (born 11 July 1964), known as Lebo M, is a South African producer and composer, known for his songwriting and vocal work on the soundtracks to films such as ''The Lion King, The Power of One'' and ''Outbreak'' and numerous stage ...
of chants and dances were also performed in the film. The song in the
end credits
Closing credits or end credits are a list of the cast and crew of a particular motion picture, television program, or video game. Where opening credits appear at the beginning of a work, closing credits appear close to, or at the very end of ...
, "Keep Rising," was an original piece written by
Jessy Wilson
Jessy Wilson is an American singer from Brooklyn and former member of the rock duo Muddy Magnolias.
Early life
Wilson was born in Brooklyn and graduated from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School.
Career
Muddy Magnolias
After high school ...
,
Jeremy Lutito, and
Angélique Kidjo
Angélique Kpasseloko Hinto Hounsinou Kandjo Manta Zogbin Kidjo (; born July 14, 1960), known as Angélique Kidjo, is a Beninese singer-songwriter, actress, and activist who is noted for her diverse musical influences and creative music videos. ...
and performed by Kidjo for
Warner Chappell Music
Warner Chappell Music, Inc. is an American music publishing company and a subsidiary of the Warner Music Group. Warner Chappell Music's catalogue consists of over 1.4 million compositions and 65,000 composers, with offices in over 40 countries.
...
in late 2020, and later sold to Sony. The soundtrack album was released on September 16, 2022, by
Milan Records
Milan Records is a record label located in Los Angeles, California specializing in film scores and soundtrack albums. In addition, Milan boasts an extensive electronic catalog which features down-tempo, chillout, and eclectic electronic releases ...
.
Release
The film premiered at the
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...
on September 9, 2022. It was released in theaters on September 16, 2022, by
Sony Pictures Releasing
Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group (commonly known as Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, formerly known as the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group until 2013, and abbreviated as SPMPG) is a division of Sony Pictures Entertainme ...
.
Sony handled distribution worldwide except in Canada and the United Kingdom, where distribution was held by
Entertainment One
Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is an American-owned Canadian multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production of films and television se ...
.
The film was released for
VOD on November 22, 2022, followed by a
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
,
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
, and
4K UHD release by
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (abbreviated as SPHE) is the home video distribution division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation.
Background
SPHE is responsible for the distribution of the Sony Pictures lib ...
on December 13, 2022 in the United States. In the United Kingdom, it was released on DVD and Blu-ray, by Entertainment One and
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video, MCA Home Video, MCA Videodisc and MCA Videocassette, Inc.) is the home video distribution division of Am ...
(through
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment), on February 13, 2023.
Netflix in the United States received ''The Woman King'' 153 days after its theatrical release on February 16, 2023 as part of a first window deal with
Sony Pictures
Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio Conglomerate (company), conglom ...
and a second window deal with
Disney+
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment
Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...
.
Reception
Box office
''The Woman King'' grossed $67.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $29.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $97.2 million.
In the United States and Canada, ''The Woman King'' was projected to gross around $12 million in its opening weekend, with some studios estimating it could reach as much as $16 million. The film made $6.8 million on its first day, including $1.7 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to over-perform and debut at $19.05 million from 3,765 theaters, topping the box office. Of the opening weekend audience, 60% were female, 58% were over the age of 35, and 59% were African-American.
In its second weekend, the film made $11.1 million (a drop of 42%), finishing behind newcomer ''
Don't Worry Darling
''Don't Worry Darling'' is a 2022 American psychological thriller film directed by Olivia Wilde from a screenplay by Katie Silberman, based on a spec script by Carey Van Dyke, Shane Van Dyke, and Silberman. The film stars Florence Pugh, Harry ...
''. In its third weekend, the film made $6.8 million, finishing third.
Critical response
''The Woman King'' received positive reviews from critics for the cast's performance, including Viola Davis's starring role and
Thuso Mbedu's breakout performance, and its action choreography, while some minor disappointment was expressed with the script.
Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.
Background
Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film a rare average grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale, while those at
PostTrak
PostTrak is a U.S.-based service that surveys film audiences for film studios.
History
The service conducts surveys in the top 20 markets in the U.S. and Canada with the use of polling cards and electronic kiosks. A PostTrak report for a film ...
gave the film a 95% overall positive score.
Lovia Gyarkye of ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' wrote, "A crowd-pleasing epic think ''Braveheart'' with Black women."
Robert Daniels at ''
RogerEbert.com'' said, "When ''The Woman King'' works, it's majestic... The magnitude and the awe this movie inspires are what epics like ''Gladiator'' and ''Braveheart'' are all about."
Kate Erbland of ''
IndieWire
IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...
'' said, "A hell of a time at the movies, a seemingly 'niche' topic with great appeal, the sort of battle-heavy feature that will likely engender plenty of hoots and hollers."
''
/Film
''/Film'', also spelled ''Slashfilm'', is a blog that covers movie news, reviews, interviews, and trailers. It was founded by Peter Sciretta in August 2005.
Podcasts
Six podcasts have run on the site. ''The /Filmcast'', hosted by David Chen, De ...
''s Chris Evangelista said it was "an absolute blast. It's a film that isn't afraid to get you cheering."
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
critic Caryn James wrote, "It is a splashy popcorn movie with a social conscience."
'' called Viola Davis's performance a career best.
Gyarkye said, "The Oscar-winning actress, known for digging into her characters' psyches, accesses an impressive level of emotional depth and nuance as Nanisca."
''s Martin Tsai wrote, "Davis truly gets to flex the full range of her acting chops. A performance of this caliber is rare in what's essentially an action flick." Chris Bumbray of ''
'' wrote, "Her raw intensity is backed up by a newly jacked physique that makes her an imposing action heroine, and she performs exceptionally well in the numerous action scenes." Other cast members that were praised included Lashana Lynch (Evangelista at ''/Film'' and Reuben Baron at ''
'' said she "nearly steals the show" with an "exceptional supporting performance".
James said representation of history and culture "leans toward fantasy in its heroic moments, but is rooted in
Gyarkye said it "begins as portraiture and then surrenders to melodrama when faced with the challenges of translating history for the screen and constructing a coherent geopolitical thread."
Reuben Baron of ''Looper.com'' wrote, "''The Woman King'' is an 8/10 for entertainment value, and 4/10 for how it deals with history." On the aspect of spectacle, critics said they wanted more action movies like ''The Woman King''.
Erbland said, "If this is what a Hollywood-ized and -sized blockbuster looks like in 2022, bring it on. Bring them all on."
Evangelista concluded in his review, "Maybe one day we'll get to a point where such a movie doesn't feel groundbreaking, but here we are."
in the year 1823.
existed for most of that time.
The movie features multiple fictional characters, including, among others, the Agojie general Nanisca, played by Viola Davis. ''
'' speculated her name was inspired by an Agojie teenage recruit of the same name who was written about by a French naval officer in 1889. Another notable fictional character is the Portuguese-speaking Santo Ferreira who is played by Hero Fiennes Tiffin.
The movie correctly depicts the status of Dahomey as a nation that sold enslaved captives to European slave traders.
A fictional embellishment to this narrative is that Nanisca confronts Ghezo about the immorality of selling Dahomey slaves to the Portuguese and suggests trading in
production instead.
Nanisca being fictional, the confrontation did not take place, although the king's exploration of alternatives to the slave trade did. ''
'' wrote, "Though Ghezo did at one point explore palm oil production as an alternative source of revenue, it proved far less lucrative, and the king soon resumed Dahomey's participation in the slave trade."