New this week: Shania, 'Princess Power' and Pamela Anderson
This weekโs new entertainment releases include a fresh album from Shania Twain, the megahit film โBlack Panther: Wakanda Foreverโ lands on Disney+ and a new PBS โFrontlineโ documentary delves into Russian President Vladimir Putinโs interaction with the last five U.S. presidents.
'Woman King,' Viola Davis and the culmination of a struggle
When Viola Davis, sculpted and hardened from months of training, first stood in the full garb of the Agojie warrior women, with her bare feet in the African sand, it was the culmination of not just the years-long push to make โThe Woman King,โ but of a lifelong battle.
In 'Homeroom,' an unprecedented school year caught on film
The Oakland filmmaker Peter Nicks had already made two well-regarded documentaries capturing the institutions of his city and how they shape local lives in 2012โs โThe Waiting Room,โ about a public hospital, and 2017โs โThe Force,โ about the Oakland Police Department.
33 years later, Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall return to Zamunda
NEW YORK โ When Eddie Murphy made the original โComing to America,โ he was, almost indisputably, the funniest man in America. โNow I take nothing for granted and appreciate everything.โThirty-three years after โComing to America,โ Murphy and Hall have returned to Zamunda. At the barbershop, where Murphy and Hall also reprise their characters, the conversation bounces from Teslas to transgender people. Before making โBlack Panther,โ Murphy has said Ryan Coogler approached him about a โComing to Americaโ sequel. Ruth E. Carter designed the costumes of both โBlack Pantherโ and โComing 2 America.โ Both were shot in Atlanta.
Ta-Nehisi Coates to write new 'Superman' film
FILE - Author Ta-Nehisi Coates speaks during the Celebration of the Life of Toni Morrison in New York on Nov. 21, 2019. Coates, the acclaimed essayist and novelist who expanded the world of Wakanda in Marvel comics, will write the script for a new Superman film from Warner Bros. The studio announced Friday that Coates will pen the screenplay for an upcoming Superman film thats early in development. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)NEW YORK โ Ta-Nehisi Coates, the acclaimed essayist and novelist who expanded the world of Wakanda for Marvel comics, will write the script for a new โSupermanโ film from Warner Bros. The studio announced Friday that Coates will pen the screenplay for an upcoming โSupermanโ film that's early in development.
Kingdom of Wakanda destined for Disney + streaming service
Disney on Monday, Feb. 1, 2021, announced a five-year exclusive TV deal with Cooglers Proximity Media company that includes development of a series based in the Kingdom of Wakanda from Cooglers Black Panther blockbuster. (Photo by Phil McCarten/Invision/AP, File)LOS ANGELES โ The Kingdom of Wakanda is staking out turf on the Disney + streaming service. A TV series set in the โBlack Pantherโ kingdom will be developed as part of a five-year, exclusive television deal the Walt Disney Co. announced Monday with filmmaker Ryan Cooglerโs Proximity Media company. Coogler wrote and directed 2018โs โBlack Panther,โ a box-office hit that turned Chadwick Boseman into a superstar. The Black Panther character was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby for Marvel Comics, which became part of Disney in 2009 when the media giant acquired Marvel Entertainment.
Sundance adds Coogler-produced โJudas and the Black Messiahโ
The Ryan Coogler-produced Fred Hampton film will have its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival before heading to HBO Max and theaters, programmers announced Tuesday. (Glen Wilson/Warner Bros. Entertainment via AP)The Ryan Coogler-produced Fred Hampton film โJudas and the Black Messiahโ will have its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival before heading to HBO Max and theaters, programmers announced Tuesday. The 2021 Sundance Film Festival, which kicks off Jan. 28, is going largely virtual this year due to the pandemic. โJudas...โ is among the 2021 Warner Bros. films that are debuting simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max. Itโll be available for HBO Max subscribers in the U.S. starting Feb. 12.
Chadwick Boseman, who embodied Black icons, dies of cancer
FILE - In this March 4, 2018 file photo, Chadwick Boseman arrives at the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Actor Chadwick Boseman, who played Black icons Jackie Robinson and James Brown before finding fame as the regal Black Panther in the Marvel cinematic universe, has died of cancer. When the former playwright suited up as Black Panther, he brought cool intellectual gravitas to the Marvel superhero whose Wakanda forever! salute reverberated worldwide. You dont have the same exact experience as a Black actor as you do as a white actor. Before an auditorium full of actors, Chadwick Boseman stepped to the microphone.
What to Stream This Weekend: '13th,' 'American Son,' 'Just Mercy' and More
Selma was nominated for Best Picture and won Best Original Song -- "Glory," by Common and John Legend -- at the 87th Academy Awards. It also received four Golden Globe Award nominations, including Best Motion Picture Drama, Best Director and Best Actor, and won for Best Original Song. The 2016 documentary film directed by Raoul Peck is based on James Baldwin's unfinished manuscript Remember This House. I Am Not Your Negro was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 89th Academy Awards and won the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary. Gran Olsson/Swedish TelevisionThe Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975How to Watch: The Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975 is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video and is available to rent on digital.