‘Woman King’ Stars Viola Davis and Julius Tennon Talk Box Office Victory and Defend Film Against Historical Critics: ‘We Have to Take License’

London’s Leicester Square. Lead actress Viola Davis beamed with pride for her latest project as she posed on the red carpet alongside co-stars Lashana Lynch, John Boyega, Thuso Mbedu, Sheila Atim, and more. The Gina Prince-Bythewood-directed movie is set in the 1800s and tells the story of a group of all-female warriors who aim to protect the African kingdom of Dahomey with skills and fierceness unlike anything the world has ever seen.

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.

Clayton Davis We have Denzel Washington’s single teardrop. We have Viola Davis’ runny nose. And now, we have Danielle Deadwyler’s lip quiver, expertly executed in Chinonye Chukwu’s deeply moving drama “Till.” Another best actress contender emerges although I wish the film could rise to the level of Deadwyler’s performance.   The sturdy drama follows Mamie Till (Deadwyler), the mother of Emmett Till, whose abduction and lynching in 1955 sparked global outrage and served as an important catalyst in the civil rights movement. “Till” charts Mamie’s grief, as well as her pursuit of justice. But getting people to see a movie about such a horrific event will be a tough sell, even if the film avoids depicting much of the brutality of Emmett Till’s killing.  

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Hold onto your bucket hats: Sony’s action-thriller “Bullet Train” crossed $100 million at the domestic box office. It’s an impressive milestone (in post-COVID times) for an original movie that doesn’t involve marquee comic book heroes or intergalactic adventures. It helps, of course, that a bankable actor like Brad Pitt stars in the film, as a heavily therapized assassin named Ladybug. “Bullet Train” reached $101 million in domestic ticket sales on Friday, making it only the 14th release this year to hit that benchmark. With another $130 million at the international box office, the film has now earned $231 million in global ticket sales to date.

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. 

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Despite 13 years passing since “Avatar” first hit theaters, moviegoers are apparently still dazzled by the striking world of Pandora. In anticipation of the sequel “The Way of Water,” which opens in December, Disney re-released James Cameron’s original science-fiction epic to promising returns. The film generated $10 million in North America and $20.5 million internationally over the weekend, a huge result for movie that opened more than a decade ago, even if that movie happens to be the highest-grossing global release in history. With this weekend’s returns, “Avatar” widens its lead as the biggest movie of all time with $2.85 billion worldwide.

projections, the New Line Cinema film will earn $17 million from its opening weekend. Independent projections put that number at $18 million to $20 million. According to reports, its budget falls in the mid-$20 million range.The Florence Pugh and Harry Styles-starring psychological thriller premieres opposite Disney’s re-release of “Avatar” (2009), a few months before its sequel “The Way of Water” hits theaters.

Viola Davis is addressing the controversy surrounding her new film.

“Woman King.”The star and producer of the female war epic has responded to critics and the recent #BoycottWomanKing movement.Users across social media have been calling for fans to not buy a ticket to the film. They believe that the film is historically inaccurate and glorifies the role that the African kingdom — the Dahomey — had in the slave trade in the 19th century.The Oscar winner, 57, and her husband (as well as producing partner) Julius Tennon defended the flick to Variety in a recent interview.“I agree with [director] Gina Prince-Bythewood’s saying is you’re not going to win an argument on Twitter,” Davis said.

Viola Davis is responding to the accusations that her movie The Woman King is not historically accurate.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter It’s been proven time and time again that Academy Award attention has little to do with box office glory. Just look at recent winners like “Moonlight,” “The Hurt Locker,” or “CODA,” the first streaming movie to land the Oscar’s top prize, all of which were more beloved than seen, at least by the general public. But during a year in which several commercial movies, including “Top Gun: Maverick” ($1.44 billion globally and counting), “Elvis” ($284 million globally) “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (scheduled for Nov. 11) and “Avatar: The Way of Water” (scheduled for Dec. 16), look to find themselves in the awards race, film industry analysts believe the box office may play a part in keeping movies from major studios in the conversation.

Viola Davis is checking out the sights in Rio de Janeiro!

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.

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.Produced by and starring Viola Davis, The Washington Post called the film the actress’ “ultimate flex.” The drama, which cost $50 million to make, is projected to take in anywhere from $13.5 million to $22.5 million during its domestic debut, according to Forbes.Clubbing its way to second place was “Barbarian” which earned over $1.96 million. The horror-thriller, which Vogue said is one of “the best reasons to go to the movies right now,” tells the story of a young woman, played by Georgina Campbell, who discovers the remote home she booked on Airbnb was double-booked by a man, portrayed by Bill Skarsgård.

That opening weekend would be just a tad higher than the $17.2 million opening for fellow Sony release “Where the Crawdads Sing,” which legged out to an $86 million domestic run thanks to strong word-of-mouth from female audiences. For “The Woman King,” Sony is hoping for a similar long box office run during this sluggish box office period as audience buzz builds.So far, it looks like Sony’s hopes will be fulfilled.

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.

Saturday AM Update: TriStar/eOne’s The Woman King is coming in higher than expected with a $18M opening boosted by lively word of mouth with an A+ CinemaScore and a massive 95% positive on Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak. Friday, including $1.7M previews, came in at $6.8M.

“The Woman King,” the historical action epic starring Viola Davis, took in $1.7 million at the box office from its Thursday night preview screenings, which opened at 3 p.m. on 3,271 screens. The Sony and eOne film will launch at 3,765 locations this weekend.In its opening weekend, the studio projects “The Woman King” to earn $12 million against a $50 million budget.