How ‘The Woman King’ Score Honors the Language of the Dahomey Warriors Through Chants and Songs

Chris Messina (Sharp Objects) has been tapped to star opposite Kaley Cuoco in Peacock’s dark comedic thriller Based on a True Story, from Emmy-nominated The Boys executive producer Craig Rosenberg, Ozark star/executive producer Jason Bateman and his Aggregate Films as well as UCP.

Viola Davis looks stunning in a black and white gown at the premiere of her new movie, The Woman King, held at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on Monday (October 3) in London, England.

Anna Marie de la Fuente In what is expected to be a surefire hit, Buendia Estudios revealed an upcoming TV series adaptation of Antonio Gala’s erotic novel, “La Pasion Turca.” The popular novel was last adapted into a hit feature film in 1994 with the late Vicente Aranda directing and Andres Vicente Gomez of Lolafilms producing. It starred singer-actress Ana Belen in what is considered her most successful film. Buendia Estudios’ director general Ignacio Corrales and editorial director Sonia Martínez jointly announced the new project at the 2nd edition of the Iberseries & Platino Industria television event in Madrid. The new six-episode series set to air on Spanish free-to-air channel Antena 3 and streamer AtresPlayer Premium will start shooting by the end of October in Turkey for seven weeks before moving to Madrid. The cast will be made up of Spanish, Turkish and Italian talent.

Angelique Jackson Russell Hornsby has signed onto Searchlight Pictures’ “The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can Eat,” joining the film’s starry lead trio of Uzo Aduba, Aunjanue Ellis and Sanaa Lathan. Based on Edward Kelsey Moore’s 2013 bestselling novel, “The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat” is set to be directed by Tina Mabry from a script by Gina Prince-Bythewood, with revisions by Mabry. Aduba, Ellis and Lathan play best friends dubbed “The Supremes,” who, according to the film’s synopsis, “have weathered life’s storms together for two generations through marriage and children, happiness and the blues,” and “find their paths at a crossroads that test their lifelong bond.” Hornsby has been cast in a key role in the project, specifics of which are being kept under wraps.

With the release of Netflix’s fifth season of The Crown in a matter of weeks, sources close to the new King suggest the palace is moving to protect the monarchy from the dramatisation. Over the weekend, streaming giant Netflix released a trailer for the upcoming fifth season of The Crown, which showed Princess Diana and Prince Charles preparing for TV interviews about their relationship.

Clayton Davis After two weeks of solid showings at the box office, excellent reviews and passionate fan responses, “The Woman King” has become one of the year’s standout hits, with plans to be competitive in the awards races for both major and artisan category attention.  One of the film’s standout stars, Thuso Mbedu, who plays the young Nawi, will be campaigning for supporting actress attention, Variety has learned. Academy Award winner Viola Davis (“Fences”) will be the sole actress campaigning for lead actress.  Mbedu, who was the breakout sensation of 2021’s Emmy-nominated series “The Underground Railroad” from director Barry Jenkins, will compete in supporting alongside her co-stars Sheila Atim, Jayme Lawson, Adrienne Warren and most prominent, Lashana Lynch. All of the male actors, including John Boyega, will be competing in supporting actor. 

King Charles III is keeping his late parents close. On Friday, Buckingham Palace released a photo of the newly minted monarch carrying out official government duties, with a photo of his late mom and dad, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, behind him.Taken in the Eighteenth Century Room at Buckingham Palace last week, the new pic shows Charles reviewing documents from The King’s Red Box, which contains papers from government ministers in the United Kingdom and the Realms and from representatives from the Commonwealth and beyond.The documents are sent from the Private Secretary’s Office to the king, wherever he may be in residence, in a locked red despatch box.As Charles is hard at work, his parents are keeping close watch, as a photo of the late royals sits behind the sovereign.

EXCLUSIVE: Anyone who tuned into the first two episodes of Monarch, Fox’s primetime soap that stars Susan Sarandon and Trace Adkins as the king and queen of country music, saw uncomfortable parallels to the real-life death of Naomi Judd. Besides depicting how Dottie Cantrell Roman (Sarandon) orchestrates her own suicide in the premiere, the drama’s second episode on Sept. 20 featured a funeral that was meticulously organized by Dottie before her death — just like what Judd did before committing suicide on April 30.

Clayton Davis As the filmmaking team for “The Woman King” travels to Brazil to promote the historical epic, Viola Davis and her husband and producing partner Julius Tennon are celebrating the success of the film’s no. 1 debut at the box office, grossing $19 million domestically. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on Sept. 10, followed by opening in theaters one week later. It’s one of the rare films where critics and general audiences given it a similarly positive reception, with a 95% critics score and 99% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. It even pulled off an “A+” Cinema Score. Davis emphasizes that the story of “The Woman King” can connect to all audiences, not only Black women.

An expensive tribute. Queen Elizabeth II‘s funeral was an event unlike anything the United Kingdom has ever seen — and the cost reflected that fact.

Representing his family. Princess Diana‘s brother Charles Spencer joined the British royals in honoring Queen Elizabeth II at her state funeral.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “The Woman King,” a historical action epic starring Viola Davis, ruled over domestic box office charts in its opening weekend. Bolstered by stellar reviews and positive word-of-mouth, the movie collected $19 million from 3,765 North American cinemas over the weekend, arriving at the higher end of expectations. Independent tracking services projected “The Woman King” would kick off with $15 million to $18 million, while Sony estimated a debut closer to $12 million. Sony is lucky the film exceeded its ultra-conservative forecasts. “The Woman King” cost $50 million to produce, not including the tens of millions in marketing expenses, including a stop at the Toronto International Film Festival.

J. Kim Murphy “The Woman King” has found its throne at the box office. The Sony release is drumming up a projected $18 million opening from 3,765 locations, in line with most analysts’ estimates heading into the weekend. The epic also benefited from landing some premium format auditoriums, such as Imax, lending an additional boost to revenue. Though that doesn’t necessarily qualify as a grand opening, it’s a solid start for the action film, which carries a $50 million production budget and has no ties to existing franchises. What’s more, it’s more than enough for “The Woman King” to top box office charts on a slow weekend with few rival releases.

As the nation continues to mourn for The Queen following her death last week, many of us will now be turning out attention towards the funeral, which will be incomparable in scale and grandeur to any funeral we have seen before. While many of us will have seen state funerals in the past, such as after the death of the Queen Mother in 2002 and Princess Diana in 1997, far fewer people will recall the death of the previous Sovereign, King George VI’s funeral which was held in 1952.

“The Woman King,” starring Viola Davis, is now playing in theaters, and much like past historical actioners like “Braveheart” or “Gladiator,” those who venture out to see the film will likely be wondering how much of it is rooted in fact.John Boyega, Lashana Lynch, Thuso Mbedu, Sheila Atim, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Adrienne Warren and others star alongside Davis in the story of West African women warriors who take no husbands and serve in their positions for a lifetime to protect their nation. Davis’ character is based on a real life historic figure named General Nanisca, and in the film she trains new recruits alongside Izogie (Lynch) and Amenza (Atim). Headstrong new recruit Nawi (Mbedu) and her peers Fumbe (Masali Baduza) and Ode (Adrienne Warren) challenge their elder superiors with new battle tactics, thoughts and principles. So is “The Woman King” a true story? The short answer is yes, the film derives from real historical events and accounts, but only so much reliable source material was available.