As the year is getting underway and with a few films now out in theaters and on streaming channels and with the Sundance Film Festival coming up, it’s time to showcase the number of films slated to come out in 2020 that are produced, directed or featuring Black talent in prominent roles.
The Oscar nominations came out last week and as we saw, only 5 Black talent made the cut. They were Cynthia Erivo (Harriet), who received 2 noms. One for Best Actress and for Best Song, which also netted a nod for Joshuah Brian Campbell, who co-wrote the song (Stand Up) for the film. Matthew A. Cherry was nominated for directing the animated short film Hair Love, along with with his producer Karen Rupert Toliver; and French director Ladj Ly received an Oscar nod for Best International Feature Film for Les Miserables.
There are plenty of films that ALWAYS feature Blacks in prominent roles. It’s a matter of how they are distributed, marketed and promoted.
Here’s a list of at least 50 films that are slated for a 2020 theatrical or streaming release that are either produced, directed by or featuring Black talent in prominent roles. Within the group are independent films that are completed that should appear at festivals with the hope of getting a distribution deal for this year as well.
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Les Misérables
Release Date: January 10, 2020
Studio: Amazon
Director: Ladj Ly
Screenwriters: Numa Perrier
Starring: Damien Bonnard, Alexis Manenti, Djibril Zonga, Issa Perica, Al-Hassan Ly, Steve Tientcheu, Almamy Kanoute, and Jeanne Balibar
Inspired by the 2005 Paris riots, and Ly’s César-nominated short film of the same name, Les Misérables takes a provocative look into the tensions between neighborhood residents and police. It centers on Stéphane (Damien Bonnard), who has recently joined the anti-crime brigade in Montfermeil, the Paris suburb where Victor Hugo set his classic novel Les Misérables. Alongside his new colleagues Chris (Alexis Manenti) and Gwada (Djibril Zonga) — both experienced members of the team — he quickly discovers tensions running high between local gangs. When the trio finds themselves overrun during the course of an arrest, a drone captures the encounter, threatening to expose the reality of everyday life.
Like A Boss
Release Date: January 10, 2020
Studio: Paramount
Director: Miguel Arteta
Screenwriters: Sam Pitman & Adam Cole-Kelly
Starring: Tiffany Haddish, Rose Byrne and Salma Hayek with Billy Porter, Jennifer Coolidge, Ari Graynor, Natasha Rothwell, Jessica St. Clair and Karan Soni
Best friends Mia and Mel (Tiffany Haddish and Rose Byrne) are living their best lives running their own cosmetics company they’ve built from the ground up. Unfortunately, they’re in over their heads financially, and the prospect of a big buyout offer from a notorious titan of the cosmetics industry Claire Luna (Salma Hayek) proves too tempting to pass up, putting Mel and Mia’s lifelong friendship in jeopardy. The beauty business is about to get ugly.
Jezebel
Release Date: January 17, 2020
Studio: Netflix thru Array
Director: Numa Perrier
Screenwriters: Numa Perrier
Starring:Tiffany Tenille, Numa Perrier, Stephen Barrington, Bobby Field, Brett Gelman, Rockwelle Dortch, Zoe Tyson, Dennis Jaffee, & Jessa Zarubica.
In the last days of her mother’s life, 19 year old Tiffany (Tiffany Tenille) crashes with five family members in a Las Vegas studio apartment. In order to make ends meet, her older sister, a phone sex operator, introduces her to the world of internet fetish cam girls. Tiffany becomes popular as the only “live black model” at the new adult site and soon becomes too close to one of her frequent callers. Dynamics shift in the sister relationship as each woman explores and exploits their sexuality, using their created fantasy worlds as an escape from the realities of their challenging real life circumstances. This bizarre coming of age story depicts sisterhood in a most unusual way.
Bad Boys For Life
Release Date: January 17, 2020
Studio: Sony Pictures
Director: Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah
Screenwriters: Numa Perrier
Starring: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence
Old-school cops Mike Lowery and Marcus Burnett are not used to the Miami police department assembling an elite team (Alexander Ludwig, Vanessa Hudgens and Charles Melton) called AMMO that has been tasked with taking down drug cartel leader Armando Armas (Jacob Scipio) – a cold-blooded killer with a vicious, taunting nature. Armas’ equally ruthless mother has tasked him with killing Mike Lowery, though the reason for doing so isn’t clear as yet.
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
Release Date: February 7, 2020
Studio: Warner Bros.
Director: Cathy Yan
Screenwriters: Numa Perrier
Starring: Margot Robbie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Rosie Perez, Chris Messina, Ella Jay Basco, Ali Wong, and Ewan McGregor
Margot Robbie will be reprising her Suicide Squad role of Harley Quinn in the film, which also stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress, Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Black Canary, Ella Jay Basco as Cassandra Cain, Ewan McGregor as the villain Black Mask, Chris Messina as Victor Zsasz and Rosie Perez as Renee Montoya.
The Photograph
Release Date: February 14, 2020
Studio: Universal Pictures
Producer: Will Packer and James Lopez
Director: Stella Meghie
Screenwriters: Stella Meghie
Starring: Issa Rae, Lakeith Stanfield, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Y’Lan Noel, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Chelsea Peretti, Lil Rel Howery, Teyonah Parris, Chante Adams, Rob Morgan, Courtney B. Vance, and Kingsley Ben-Adir.
On Valentine’s Day, get connected in a romance where a woman must learn from the secrets in her mother’s past if she is to move forward and allow herself to love and be loved.
When famed photographer Christina Eames unexpectedly dies, she leaves her estranged daughter Mae Morton (Rae) hurt, angry and full of questions. When a photograph tucked away in a safe-deposit box is found, Mae finds herself on a journey delving into her mother’s early life and ignites a powerful, unexpected romance with a rising-star journalist, Michael Block (Stanfield).
Premature
Release Date: February 21, 2020
Studio: IFC Films
Director: Rashaad Ernesto Green
Screenwriters: Rashaad Ernesto Green, Zora Howard
Starring: Zora Howard, Joshua Boone
PREMATURE was adapted from their award-winning short of the same name. The powerful, coming-of-age film premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and recently received two Film Independent Spirit Awards nominations. IFC Films will release the film on Friday, February 21 in NY, LA and select cities and on VOD platforms.
Teenager Ayanna (Howard) is making the most out of her last summer in Harlem before heading to an out of state college. She’s not really looking for love—until she meets the handsome twentysomething musician Isaiah (Joshua Boone). After falling for him, Ayanna finds herself torn between her own vulnerability and self-sufficiency. As the story progresses, we understand her desire.
Burden
Release Date: February 28, 2020
Studio: 101 Studios
Director: Andrew Heckler
Screenwriters: Andrew Heckler
Starring:Garrett Hedlund, Forest Whitaker, Tom Wilkinson, Andrea Riseborough, Tess Harper, Crystal Fox, and Usher
When a museum celebrating the Ku Klux Klan opens in a small South Carolina town, the idealistic Reverend Kennedy (Academy Award®-winner Forest Whitaker) resolves to do everything in his power to prevent long-simmering racial tensions from boiling over. But the members of Kennedy’s congregation are shocked to discover that his plan includes sheltering Mike Burden (Garrett Hedlund), a Klansman whose relationships with both a single-mother (Andrea Riseborough) and a high-school friend (Usher Raymond) force him to re-examine his long-held beliefs. After Kennedy helps Mike leave behind his violent past, the Baptist preacher finds himself on a collision course with manipulative KKK leader Tom Griffin (Tom Wilkinson). In the face of grave threats to himself and his family, the resolute Kennedy bravely pursues a path toward peace, setting aside his own misgivings in the hopes of healing his wounded community.
The Invisible Man
Release Date: February 28, 2020
Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Leigh Whannell
Screenwriters: Leigh Whannell
Starring: Elisabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid, Harriet Dyer, Oliver Jackson-Cohen
What you can’t see can hurt you. Emmy winner Elisabeth Moss (Us, Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale) stars in a terrifying modern tale of obsession inspired by Universal’s classic monster character.
Trapped in a violent, controlling relationship with a wealthy and brilliant scientist, Cecilia Kass (Moss) escapes in the dead of night and disappears into hiding, aided by her sister (Harriet Dyer, NBC’s The InBetween), their childhood friend (Aldis Hodge, Straight Outta Compton) and his teenage daughter (Storm Reid, HBO’s Euphoria).
But when Cecilia’s abusive ex (Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House) commits suicide and leaves her a generous portion of his vast fortune, Cecilia suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of eerie coincidences turns lethal, threatening the lives of those she loves, Cecilia’s sanity begins to unravel as she desperately tries to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see.
The Banker
Release Date: March 6, 2020
Studio: Apple
Producer: Brad Feinstein
Director: George Nolfi
Screenwriters: George Nolfi and Niceole Levy
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Anthony Mackie, Nicholas Hoult and Nia Long
A fact based drama written by Nolfi and Niceole Levy, the story follows two African American entrepreneurs, Bernard Garrett (Mackie) and Joe Morris (Jackson), who spent the 1950s trying to circumvent racial limitations by recruiting a working class white guy named Matt Steiner (Hoult) and training him to pose as the head of their business. At the same time, they posed as a janitor and a chauffeur.
Bernard’s wife Eunice (Nia Long), plays a key role in setting up the enterprise with the pair becoming two of the wealthiest and most successful real estate owners in the country with Steiner as their front man. Their success soon brings about unforeseen risk of exposure that threatens everything.
Release Date: March 13, 2020
Studio: Sony Pictures
Director: Dave Wilson
Screenwriters: Eric Heisserer
Starring: Vin Diesel, Eiza González, Sam Heughan, Toby Kebbell, and Guy Pearce.
Created by Kevin Van Hook, Don Perlin, and Bob Layton, Bloodshot tells the story of a former soldier, Ray Garrison, killed and brought back to life with technological upgrades thanks to Rising Spirit Technologies, filling his body with billions of nanobots. This allows him to be the perfect soldier by healing from injuries, shapeshifting and even interacting with technology. Ray, aka Bloodshot, suffers total memory loss and struggles to reconnect with who he was while learning what sort of weapon he has become, with the help of a group of other augmented combatants known as Chainsaw.
The Lovebirds
Release Date: March 13, 2020
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Director: Michael Showalter
Screenwriters: Eric Heisserer
Starring: Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani
A couple (Issa Rae & Kumail Nanjiani) experiences a defining moment in their relationship when they are unintentionally embroiled in a murder mystery. As their journey to clear their names takes them from one extreme – and hilarious – circumstance to the next, they must figure out how they, and their relationship, can survive the night.
Bull
Release Date: March 20, 2020
Studio: Samuel Goldwyn Films
Director: Annie Silverstein
Screenwriters: Annie Silverstein and Johnny McAllister
Starring: Rob Morgan, Yolonda Ross, Amber Havard
BULL centers around 14-year-old Kris (Amber Havard), who, after trashing her neighbor’s house in a fit of youthful defiance, seems destined to follow in her mother’s footsteps to the state penitentiary. To make amends, she is forced to help Abe Turner (Rob Morgan), an ex-bull rider scraping by on the Texas rodeo circuit, with errands at home and at his work. While traveling with Abe, she discovers a passion for bull riding. Yet, as Kris sets out to learn the dangerous sport, bad influences lure her back into delinquent ways. Meanwhile, Abe struggles with the aches and pains of growing older and aging out of the only life he has ever known. Together, Kris and Abe forge an unexpected connection, helping each other see new possibilities and hope for the future before it’s too late.
No Time To Die
Release Date: April 10, 2020
Studio: MGM/ United Artists
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Screenwriters: Neal Purvis & Robert Wade, Scott Z. Burns with Cary Joji Fukunaga and Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Rory Kinnear, Jeffrey Wright, Léa Seydoux, Christoph Waltz, Rami Malek, Ana de Armas, Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Billy Magnussen, Rory Kinnear, and David Dencik
Cast members returning for the film include Daniel Craig as James Bond,Ralph Fiennes as M, Lea Seydoux(Spectre), Naomie Harris as Moneypenny, Ben Whishaw as A, with Rory Kinnear as Tanner and Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter. New cast members confirmed for the film include Dali Benssalah, Billy Magnussen, Ana De Armas, David Dencik, Lashana Lynch and Rami Malek.
The new film will have Bond is living a tranquil retirement life in Jamaica – one that’s interrupted when US agent Felix Leiter shows up and asks for help to rescue a kidnapped scientist which puts Bond on the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.
Charm City Kings
Release Date: April 10, 2020 (Premiering at Sundance)
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
Director: Angel Manuel Soto
Screenwriters: Sherman Payne, from a story by Barry Jenkins, Kirk Sullivan, Christopher M. Boyd
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Rory Kinnear, Jeffrey Wright, Léa Seydoux, Christoph Waltz, Rami Malek, Ana de Armas, Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Billy Magnussen, Rory Kinnear, and David Dencik
14-year-old Mouse (Jahi Di’Allo Winston) desperately wants to join the Midnight Clique, an infamous group of Baltimore dirt-bike riders who rule the summertime streets. His older brother, Stro, was their top rider before his tragic death—a loss that consumes Mouse as much as his passion for bikes. Mouse’s mom (Teyonah Parris) and his police mentor, Detective Rivers (William Catlett), work overtime to help the charismatic teen reach his full potential, but when the Midnight Clique’s leader, Blax (Meek Mill), takes the boy under his wing, the lure of revving his own dirt bike skids Mouse toward a road way past the straight and narrow.
Antebellum
Release Date: April 24, 2020
Studio: Lionsgate
Director: Gerard Bush & Christopher Renz
Screenwriters:
Starring: Janelle Monáe, Kiersey Clemons, Jena Malone, Jack Huston, Gabourey Sidibe, Marque Richardson, Eric Lange, Tongayi Chirisa, Robert Aramayo, & Lily Cowles
Monáe will star as successful author Veronica Henley, who is desperately trying to flee her captors – and finds herself trapped in a horrifying reality, leading her on a perilous journey causing her to question everything about her past, present, and future. She must uncover the mind-bending mystery before it’s too late.
Bad Trip
Release Date: April 24, 2020
Studio: Orion Pictures
Producers: Eric André, Jeff Tremaine, Dave Bernad, Ruben Fleischer
Director: Kitao Sakurai
Screenwriters:
Starring: Eric André, Lil Rel Howery, Tiffany Haddish and Michaela Conlin
From a producer of Jackass and Bad Grandpa, this hidden camera comedy follows two best friends go on a cross-country road trip full of hilarious, inventive pranks, pulling its real-life audience into the mayhem.
Covers
Release Date: March 8, 2020
Studio: Focus Features
Director: Nisha Ganatra
Screenwriters: Flora Greeson
Starring: Dakota Johnson, Tracee Ellis Ross, Ice Cube, Kelvin Harrison Jr, Bill Pullman, Eddie Izzard and Diplo
Set against a backdrop among the talent, fame, and fast-paced world of Hollywood’s music scene, the plot follows an aspiring music producer who endures an exhausting job as the assistant to a legendary singer while trying to launch her own career.
Fast & Furious 9
Release Date: May 22, 2020
Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Justin Lin
Screenwriters: Daniel Casey
Starring: Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel, John Cena, Helen Mirren, Charlize Theron and Michael Rooker.
A sequel to 2017’s The Fate of the Furious, it will be the ninth installment in the Fast & Furious franchise.
Candyman
Release Date: June 12, 2020
Studio: Universal Pictures
Producer: Jordan Peele
Director: Nia DaCosta
Screenwriters: Jordan Peele and Win Roselfeld
Starring: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Colman Domingo, Tony Todd
The original movie followed the urban legend of the titular character and starred Tony Todd as Candyman, a former slave turned artist who fell in love and with a white woman and fathered a child during the late 1800s. Because of this forbidden relationship, his lover’s father hired a lynch mob to kill him. He was smeared with honey and bees attacked him. He was burned to death and his ashes were scattered upon what became the present-day the Cabrini-Green housing project. The story of his death became an urban legend and by saying his name five times in the mirror, he comes and murders you. The horror became popular among the masses and spawned two sequels.
Pixar’s Soul
Release Date: June 19, 2020
Studio: Disney and Pixar
Director: Pete Docter, Kemp Powers
Screenwriters: Pete Docter, Tina Fey, Mike Jones, Kemp Powers
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Daveed Diggs, Phylicia Rashad, and Ahmir-Khalib Thompson
Pixar’s Soul introduces Joe Gardner, a middle-school band teacher whose true passion is playing jazz. “I think Joe is having that crisis that all artists have,” says Kemp Powers. “He’s increasingly feeling like his lifelong dream of being a jazz musician is not going to pan out and he’s asking himself ‘Why am I here? What am I meant to be doing?’ Joe personifies those questions.” In the film, just when Joe thinks his dream might be in reach, a single unexpected step sends him to a fantastical place where he’s is forced to think again about what it truly means to have soul. That’s where he meets and ultimately teams up with 22, a soul who doesn’t think life on Earth is all it’s cracked up to be.
In The Heights
Release Date: June 26, 2020
Studio: Warner Bros.
Director: Jon M. Chu
Screenwriters: Quiara Alegría Hudes
Starring: Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, Melissa Barrera, Olga Merediz, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Gregory Diaz IV, Stephanie Beatriz, Dascha Polanco, Jimmy Smits and Lin-Manuel Miranda
In the original storyline, bodega owner Usnavi (who will be played in the movie by Anthony Ramos) strikes it rich and plans to leave, until the pull of the Latino neighborhood and the people in it give him pause. Set in the Upper Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights, the plot revolves around Usnavi, a college student, a taxi driver, a beauty salon worker and an old woman who aspire to better lives as gentrification begins to take hold, and a sweltering summer power blackout brings their personal life crises to a head. Hawkins plays Benny, who falls in love with Nina, who the neighborhood admires as “the one who made it out.” She enrolled in Stanford, but dropped out and returns home.
Tenet
Release Date: July 17, 2020
Studio: Warner Bros.
Director: Christopher Nolan
Screenwriters: Christopher Nolan
Starring: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Dimple Kapadia, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Michael Caine and Kenneth Branagh
Tenet will be an international espionage thriller filmed across seven countries. John David Washington (BlacKkKlansman) stars, with a supporting cast that includes Robert Pattinson (Good Time), Elizabeth Debicki (Widows), Dimple Kapadia (Fugly), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Avengers: Age of Ultron), Michael Caine (The Dark Knight Rises) and Kenneth Branagh (Dunkirk).
Jungle Cruise
Release Date: July 24, 2020
Studio: Disney
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Screenwriters: J.D. Payne & Patrick McKay and Michael Green
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Edgar Ramirez, Jack Whitehall, Jesse Plemons, Veronica Falcón, Andy Nyman, and Paul Giamatti
Inspired by the famous Disneyland theme park ride, Jungle Cruise is an adventure-filled, Amazon-jungle expedition movie, starring Dwayne Johnson as the charismatic riverboat captain and Emily Blunt as a determined explorer on her own research mission.
Infinite
Release Date: August 7, 2020
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Screenwriters: John Lee Hancock and Ian Shorr
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Dylan O’Brien, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Sophie Cookson, Rupert Friend
Infinite is an action/thriller, based on the novel The Reincarnationist Papers by D. Eric Maikranz, that tells the story of a group of men and women who are continuously reincarnated century-after-century to battle an evil madman bent on world destruction. The fate of the planet, it turns out, may reside with a schizophrenic man who will have to come to terms with the fact that his dreams are memories from his countless past lives.
Escape Room 2
Release Date: August 14, 2020
Studio: Sony Pictures
Director: Adam Robitel
Screenwriters: Bragi F. Schut
Starring: Taylor Russell, Logan Miller, Holland Roden, Indya Moore, Thomas Cocquerel, Carlito Olivero, Isabelle Fuhrman
The first installment followed six strangers (played by Russell, Miller, Deborah Ann Woll, Nik Dodani, Jay Ellis and Tyler Labine) who find themselves in a maze of deadly rooms, and must use their wits to find the clues or die. The film opened domestically with $18.2 million and has made over $155 million worldwide.
The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard
Release Date: August 28, 2020
Studio: Lionsgate
Director: Patrick Hughes
Screenwriters: Tom O’Connor and Brandon and Phillip Murphy
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Salma Hayek, Frank Grillo, Richard E. Grant, Tom Hopper, Antonio Banderas and Morgan Freeman.
Three years after the events of the original film, bodyguard Michael Bryce continues his friendship with assassin Darius Kincaid as they embark on a new adventure to save Sonia, Darius’s wife, from new threats.
Spell
Release Date: August 28, 2020
Studio: Paramount Players
Director: Mark Tonderai
Screenwriters: Kurt Wimmer
Starring: Omari Hardwick, Loretta Devine
“Spell” follows a man (Hardwick) who crashes his plane while en route to rural Appalachia with his family for a funeral and awakens to find himself totally alone and without his bearings. Relieved to be discovered by a seemingly kind elderly couple, he has no way of knowing the dark machinations that lie in wait as he is pulled deeper and deeper into a sinister world.
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