Latest in Queen & Slim

6th Update Sunday AM: And so Thanksgiving 2019 ends with Disney’s Frozen 2 collecting a 5-day estimate of $126.3M, the most ever for any film that has played the holiday –opener or holdover– besting Lionsgate’s 2013 Hunger Games: Catching Fire ($109.9M). Plus, it was a fantastic win for auteur-driven original IP from…

Grammy-winning music video director Melina Matsoukas is known for using her work not only to highlight African -American culture but also reflect pertinent issues in the community. That’s what made Queen & Slim the apt project for her feature directorial debut. “The script for me was everything,” Matsoukas said at…

On the surface Melina Matsoukas’ feature debut, about a black couple on the run after a fatal traffic stop by a white police officer goes terribly awry, sounds like pretty explosive stuff ripped from the headlines. And yes, there is that, but this film has much more on its mind than leaning into just one event. That…

Jodie Turner-Smith started off in modeling and has appeared in TV series such as Nightflyers, The Last Ship and True Blood and has appeared in feature films like The Neon Demon. She now stars opposite Daniel Kaluuya in the Melina Matsoukas-directed Queen & Slim written by Lena Waithe (opening November 27). The film is…

It’s going to be a really rich week for Disney’s Frozen 2, so exhibitors expect a lot of popcorn sales. Let’s start with the build of it all: The pic’s official weekend came in at $130.2M, which as we’ve been sayin’ is the best animated pic launch ever in November. Today, with 41% of K-12 schools out and 14% of…

Melina Matsoukas is known for directing some of the most compelling and visually striking music videos including Rihanna’s “We Found Love” and Beyonce’s game-changing “Formation” — both earned her an MTV Video Music Award. This year, she made her foray into the feature space with Queen and Slim. Written by Emmy winner…

Lionsgate/Media Rights Capital’s Knives Out arrived on tracking this morning with estimates ranging from $22M-$25M over the Wednesday through Sunday Thanksgiving period. While that number isn’t anything to jump up and down about for a Thanksgiving release, there’s a lot of goodwill here in the Rian Johnson whodunit’s…

The ominous caverns that may be hidden below the fractured landscape of contemporary America are the violent playground for two Universal Pictures films, Us and Queen & Slim, that were represented on Saturday at Deadline’s The Contenders Los Angeles by two filmmakers who plugged into the nightmare side of the American…

Universal’s Queen & Slim doesn’t open in theaters until the week of Thanksgiving (November 27), but the film written by Lena Waithe and directed by Melina Matsoukas is already causing a buzz as part of a new wave, serving a Black narrative that is challenging the cinematic status quo. During the Vanity Fair Summit on…

The official trailer for the romantic drama Queen & Slim is out, showing a first date gone horribly wrong. A modern take on Bonnie & Clyde, the film stars Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith as a couple on a first date. The innocent story takes a turn when they are pulled over for a traffic violation and the…

Emmy winner Lena Waithe and director Melina Matsoukas were on hand at the 25th annual Essence Festival to present the first 13-minutes of the forthcoming feature, Queen and Slim.  The Universal Pictures and Makeready film stars Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith as a couple whose first date goes awry after the two…

Lena Waithe is calling on African-American movie stars to do more to support up-and-coming black filmmakers. Waithe, who created Showtime series The Chi and wrote the script for upcoming Universal drama Queen & Slim from director Melina Matsoukas, says A-listers like Denzel Washington and Will Smith should do more to…