''Whitney'' is a 2018

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

about the American singer and actress

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston in ...

. The film was directed by Kevin Macdonald and produced by Simon Chinn, Jonathan Chinn and Lisa Erspamer. ''Whitney'' was screened out of competition at the world

premiere A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its first ...

as part of the

2018 Cannes Film Festival The 71st annual Cannes Film Festival was held from 8 to 19 May 2018. Australian actress Cate Blanchett acted as President of the Jury. The Japanese film ''Shoplifters'', directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, won the Palme d'Or. Asghar Farhadi's psycho ...

on 16 May 2018 with a cinema release on 6 July 2018. The film was also released on

home media Home media refers to media used for recording, copying, delivery, and playback of various types of entertainment and information in the home. Forms of home media include: * Home video * Magnetic tape * Phonograph record See also * ''Home Media M ...

where it debuted at number one on the UK Official Music Video Chart.Official Music Video Chart
Top 50 , 4 November 2018 – 10 November 2018 The film received positive reviews from critics and audiences and grossed $4.7 million worldwide at the box office. In December 2018, ''Whitney'' was nominated at the

61st Grammy Awards The 61st Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on February 10, 2019, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Singer-songwriter Alicia Keys hosted. During her opening monologue, Keys brought out Lady Gaga, Jada Pinkett Smith, Jennifer Lopez, and fo ...

for

Best Music Film The Grammy Award for Best Music Film is an accolade presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally named the Gramophone Awards, to performers, directors, and producers of quality videos or musical programs. ...

Production

Development

The concept of a documentary evolved when Lisa Erspamer worked as co-executive producer for the singer’s special two-part interview with

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...

in 2009. In 2015 Erspamer approached Houston's sister-in-law Pat Houston and Houston’s film agent Nicole David to discuss the idea. David then suggested Scottish film director Kevin Macdonald. Co-producer Simon Chinn recalls: “We raised the full budget in 10 days exclusively from theatrical pre-sales which is quite possibly a first for a documentary.”Whitney
(2018) - Edinburgh International Film Festival

Filming

In July 2016, Macdonald began filming the interviews of around 70 people. Important members that are interviewed were Ellen White, a family friend, Mary Jones, longtime

personal assistant A personal assistant, also referred to as personal aide (PA) or personal secretary (PS), is a job title describing a person who assists a specific person with their daily business or personal task,. it is a sub-specialty of secretarial duties ...

, Houston’s older brothers Michael and Gary and other members of the Houston family. Houston’s mother

Cissy Cissy, Cissie or Cissi may refer to : People * Cissy Chandler (died 1954), wife of American author Raymond Chandler * Cissie Caudeiron (1909–1968), Creole nationalist and folklorist * Cissi Elwin Frenkel (born 1965), Swedish journalist and te ...

was interviewed in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and Atlanta. More than 1,500 tapes of

archival footage Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stock ...

of varying quality were found including 250 masters, 2,000 stills and footage originally discovered on YouTube with Sam Dwyer as archive producer. Private footage was gathered from all over the world including Japan, the Netherlands and Los Angeles.One moment in time:
The making of Whitney By Stuart Kemp - 3 July 2018

Post-production

A substantial amount of the editing, including changing screen size, and

frame rate Frame rate (expressed in or FPS) is the frequency (rate) at which consecutive images (frames) are captured or displayed. The term applies equally to film and video cameras, computer graphics, and motion capture systems. Frame rate may also be ca ...

was done at Molinare, a post-production company in London’s Soho.

Music

Composer Adam Wiltzie was in charge of the film's music and

score Score or scorer may refer to: *Test score, the result of an exam or test Business * Score Digital, now part of Bauer Radio * Score Entertainment, a former American trading card design and manufacturing company * Score Media, a former Canadian m ...

. Some excerpt examples used in the soundtrack for the film: *" How Will I Know" performed by Whitney Houston *"Here I Am (Take Me)" The Sweet Inspirations *" Chain of Fools" by

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With ...

Walk On By "Walk On By" is a song composed by Burt Bacharach, with lyrics by Hal David, for singer Dionne Warwick in 1963. The song peaked at number 6 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 1 on the Cash Box Rhythm and Blues Chart In June 1964 and w ...

" Performed by

Dionne Warwick Marie Dionne Warwick (; born December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest U.S. hit makers between 1955 and 1999, based on her chart history on ''Billboards Hot 100 pop singles cha ...

*"When Love Slips Away" Performed by

Dee Dee Warwick Delia Juanita Warrick (September 25, 1942 – October 18, 2008), known professionally as Dee Dee Warwick, was an American soul singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, she was the sister of singer Dionne Warwick, the niece of Cissy Houston, and a f ...

*" Theme from Valley of the Dolls" Performed by Whitney Houston *"When I First Saw You" Performed by

Cissy Houston Emily "Cissy" Houston ( ''née'' Drinkard; born September 30, 1933) is an American soul and gospel singer. After a successful career singing backup for such artists as Roy Hamilton, Dionne Warwick, Elvis Presley, and Aretha Franklin, Houston embar ...

The Greatest Love of All "The Greatest Love of All" is a song written by Michael Masser, who composed the music, and Linda Creed, who wrote the lyrics. It was originally recorded in 1977 by George Benson, who made the song a substantial hit, peaking at number two on the ...

" by Whitney Houston *"

I Am Changing "I Am Changing" is a song from the second act of the long-running Broadway musical ''Dreamgirls''. Written by Henry Krieger and Tom Eyen, the song was performed by the character Effie White, originally portrayed on Broadway by Jennifer Holliday ...

" by Whitney Houston *" I Wanna Dance with Somebody" & (Acappella) by Whitney Houston *"

Home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...

" by Whitney Houston *"

So Emotional "So Emotional" is a song by American singer Whitney Houston. It was released as the third single from her second studio album ''Whitney'' (1987) on October 12, 1987 by Arista Records. The song was written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly. It wa ...

" by Whitney Houston *"This Day" by Whitney Houston *"Ain't It Funky Now" Performed by

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...

*" I'm Your Baby Tonight" by Whitney Houston *" I Have Nothing" by Whitney Houston *"

I Will Always Love You "I Will Always Love You" is a song written and originally recorded in 1973 by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton. Written as a farewell to her business partner and mentor Porter Wagoner, expressing Parton's decision to pursue a solo career, ...

" by Whitney Houston *"

I Love the Lord ''The Preacher's Wife: Original Soundtrack Album'' is the soundtrack to the 1996 film of the same name and features songs performed and produced by American singer Whitney Houston, who also stars in the film. The soundtrack was released on Novemb ...

" by Whitney Houston

Release

The film is a joint British-American venture produced by Lisa Erspamer Entertainment and Lightbox, with Roadside Attractions,

Miramax Miramax, LLC, also known as Miramax Films, is an American film and television production and distribution company founded on December 19, 1979, by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and based in Los Angeles, California. It was initially a leadi ...

and Altitude Film Distribution serving as distributors.Academy Award-Winner Kevin Macdonald To Direct Official Whitney Houston Documentary
- 28 April 2016WHITNEY
- Altitude It is also presented in association with

Altitude Film Entertainment Altitude Film Distribution is a British film distribution company, part of the Altitude Film Entertainment group. The parent company was launched in 2012 by Optimum Releasing founder Will Clarke. Altitude Film Entertainment is vertically int ...

. ''Whitney'' was released in cinemas in the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland on 6 July 2018, by (UK) Altitude and (US) Roadside Attractions. It was released in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and New Zealand on 26 July 2018. The world premiere for the film was on 16 May 2018 at the Cannes Film Festival. Screenings also took place at the Edinburgh and Sydney Film Festivals.

Marketing

The official teaser trailer for the UK and Ireland was released by Altitude Films on 5 April 2018 on YouTube with the full trailer released on 25 May 2018.

Home media

It was released in widescreen by digital download on 2 October and DVD/ Blu-ray on 16 October 2018. The DVD and Blu-ray releases include audio commentary from producer Simon Chinn and director Kevin Macdonald, photo gallery and theatrical trailer. The film debuted at #1 on 4 November 2018, staying at that position for two weeks on the UK Official Music Video Chart, based on sales of DVDs and other physical formats.

Reception

Box office

''Whitney'' began its release on 6 July 2018. During its opening weekend in the United States and Canada it grossed $1.3 million from 452 theaters, finishing 11th at the box office. 65% of its audience was female, with 35% being between the age of 25-49. In the United Kingdom, the film opened on 6 July 2018 grossing £142,936 ($189,923) from 231 screens in its opening weekend, finishing twelfth at the box office.Whitney (2018)
Box Office Mojo It grossed another £44,968 ($59,497) on 174 screens in its second weekend, a 68% decrease over the first week grossing a total of £323,532 ($428,066) through 10 days. Over 13 weeks it grossed a total of £459,725.

Critical response

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads: "''Whitney'' shifts from soaring highs to heartbreaking lows with palpable emotion and grace befitting its singular subject." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 75 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". 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 an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. Terri White for '' Empire'' gave it four out of five, calling it: "A sobering, haunting but completely fresh look at Whitney's life and death that will reframe everything you think you know about the singer."Whitney Review
Empire online

Owen Gleiberman Owen Gleiberman (born February 24, 1959) is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for ''Variety'' magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with . Previously, Gleiberman wrote for ''Entertainment Weekly'' from 1990 until 2014. ...

of '' Variety'' wrote: "In ''Whitney,'' Macdonald lays out Houston's story—the light and the darkness—in a classically etched, kinetically edited way. He makes superb use of archival footage, tickles us with montages of her heyday (not just Houston but the whole era—the way her songs, in hindsight, tapped into a certain free-floating ’80s jubilance), and interviews her family members and associates. The film captures the quality that made Whitney Houston magical, but more than that it puts together the warring sides of her soul."

Awards and nominations

Charts

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitney 2018 films 2018 documentary films American documentary films British documentary films Documentary films about African Americans Documentary films about women in music Documentary films about singers Films directed by Kevin Macdonald (director) Whitney Houston 2010s English-language films 2010s American films 2010s British films