Black Is King
Black Is King is a 2020 American musical film and visual album directed, written and executive produced by American singer-songwriter Beyoncé. The film serves as a visual companion to the 2019 album , a tie-in album curated by Beyoncé for the 2019 remake of The Lion King.
Black Is King was released globally to stream on Disney+ on July 31, 2020, and was aired the following day across Sub-Saharan Africa on M-Net and Canal+ Afrique and across the Middle East and North Africa on OSN. The film received acclaim from critics, with praise for Beyoncé's direction, the cinematography, score, costume design, subject matter and cultural themes.
Premise
A young African king is cast out from his family into an unforgiving world. He subsequently undergoes a journey "through betrayal, love and self-identity" to reclaim his throne, utilizing the guidance of his ancestors and childhood love. The story is told through the voices of present-day black artists.Cast
Special appearances
Background
On 19 July 2019, The Lion King was theatrically released in the United States. The same day, an accompanying tie-in album titled was released by Parkwood Entertainment and Columbia Records. The Gift was curated and produced by Beyoncé, who described the album as "a love letter to Africa" and recounted her determination to find "the best talent from Africa, and not just use some of the sounds and my interpretation of it".Beyoncé explained that she believes The Gift "is the first soundtrack where it becomes visual in your mind". Beyoncé added, "I wanted to put everyone on their own journey to link the storyline. Each song was written to reflect the film's storytelling that gives the listener a chance to imagine their own imagery, while listening to a new contemporary interpretation."
On June 19, 2020, Beyoncé released the single "Black Parade", in celebration of the Juneteenth holiday which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. Raisa Bruner of Time called the song "a tour-de-force of references: to black history, to African traditions, to her own family and past" and described Beyoncé as "the queen of a generation providing guidance and assembling her listeners with black solidarity".
Production
Beyoncé called the film "my passion project that I have been filming, researching and editing day and night for the past year".According to those who have worked on the film, Black Is King contains multiple chapters representing different localities, such as Nigeria and Ghana, with cast and crew of that nationality recruited to contribute and filming taking place in those countries.
Development
On June 10, 2020, it was reported that Beyoncé was securing a $100 million deal to work on three films for Disney, with a source telling The Sun "Beyoncé has become a major player for Disney and is the perfect fit for their brand".Black Is King was intended to be a companion piece to the 2019 album . Beyoncé explained that the film was created to "celebrate the breadth and beauty of Black ancestry" and "to present elements of Black history and African tradition, with a modern twist and a universal message, and what it truly means to find your self-identity and build a legacy."
To research for the film, Beyoncé described how she "spent a lot of time exploring and absorbing the lessons of past generations and the rich history of different African customs". The trailer shows Beyoncé reading from the 1971 book Black Gods and Kings, written by American art-historian Robert Farris Thompson to record the art history of the Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria.
The film was written by Beyoncé, with poet Yrsa Daley-Ward and writer Clover Hope contributing to the script.
Pre-production
The cast and crew for Black Is King were recruited to "represent diversity and connectivity", with Beyoncé wanting to feature "raw, new talent". Those recruited to direct segments of the film include Ghanaian filmmakers and visual artists Emmanuel Adjei and Blitz the Ambassador, Nigerian-British artist and director Jenn Nkiru, and South African visual artist Trevor Stuurman. Academy Award winner Hannah Beachler was recruited as one of the production designers.The artists featured in The Gift were recruited for the film, as well as special guests such as Blue Ivy, Jay-Z and Kelly Rowland. The cast also features South African actors Nandi Madida and Warren Masemola, and Nigerian actor Papi Ojo, for whom Black Is King is his debut film performance.
Beyoncé borrowed some of her mother Tina Knowles-Lawson's art pieces for Black Is King, as revealed by Knowles-Lawson during a February 2020 interview with the Wall Street Journal.
Filming
Filming primarily took place in the latter half of 2019, in locations such as South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, New York, Los Angeles, London and Belgium.Post-production
Post-production took place from December 2019 at Flawless Post. MeLo-X, Derek Dixie and James William Blades contributed to the score and sound design; MeLo-X described working on the film on Twitter, writing "Truly an amazing and eye opening journey. @Beyonce always pushes for greatness. This is nothing less".Music
Black Is King is based on the music of , with each song on the album receiving corresponding visuals in the film. The film's score was composed by James William Blades, MeLo-X and Derek Dixie. The score contains traditional African music from Smithsonian Folkways recordings.On the film's release date, a deluxe edition of The Gift was released, including both the original and extended versions of "Black Parade" and a remix of "Find Your Way Back" by MeLo-X.
Release
Black Is King was released globally on July 31, 2020 on Disney+. As Disney+ is not available in Africa, a distribution deal was made with Central and West African television channel Canal+ Afrique and South African media conglomerate MultiChoice Group's channel M-Net to screen Black Is King across Sub-Saharan Africa on August 1, 2020. For the film's premiere, the MultiChoice Group will open M-Net for all DStv customers for about 2 hours on the rest of the packages except for the Premium package. As part of the deal, Black Is King was aired in countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia, Namibia, Cameroon, Liberia, Burundi, Senegal, Togo, Somalia, Benin, Congo, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Gabon and Cape Verde. Additionally, Emirati television network OSN screened Black Is King throughout the Middle East and North Africa region.Marketing
On the night of June 27, 2020, a teaser trailer for Black Is King was posted on Beyoncé's website, the first official announcement of the film to the public. The teaser was then premiered on television a day later on June 28, to conclude the BET Awards after Beyoncé's acceptance speech for the BET Humanitarian Award. It was then subsequently released across various platforms by Beyoncé's entertainment and management company Parkwood Entertainment in association with Disney. Bob Iger, Executive Chairman of The Walt Disney Company, said he was "honored to be working with Beyoncé this" upon sharing the teaser on Twitter. The surprise release of the teaser caused "Twitter bonkers", according to USA Today, and it subsequently received praise from fans and critics alike for its imagery and symbolism.An official trailer for Black Is King was released on July 19, 2020 by Beyoncé. Some of the members of the cast and crew were subsequently announced. The trailer was similarly praised by critics, with Jasmine Ting for Paper declaring the film " colorful cinematic masterpiece" with "out-of-this-world visuals" that mix "traditional cultural elements from the African continent" with "modern-day African-American culture".
Ben Sisario of The New York Times writes that the minimal marketing for Black Is King "reflects one of Beyoncé's great talents — stoking public conversation with her art, while explaining very little about it". Ohio State University associate professor Treva Lindsey adds that Beyoncé "is allowing her art to speak for itself" and "opening up space for robust conversations".
Critical reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 100% based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 8.43/10. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has an weighted average score of 81 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".Writing for Decider, Anna Menta said that Black Is King is "an undeniably breathtaking, personal, and political work of art." Describing it as "a visual masterpiece" that is "almost overwhelming", Menta praised the "neverending progression of jaw-dropping landscapes" and the "instantly iconic" costumes, adding that "every frame, outfit, and dance move has meaning." In a review for the Los Angeles Times, Lorraine Ali said the film is a "pageant of sight and sound honoring the Black diaspora, weaving a collection of vibrant, profound and defiantly creative scenarios". Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen of The Sydney Morning Herald wrote that Beyoncé "stuns again with the spellbinding Black Is King", which "takes the viewer on a dazzling, hyper-real ride through natural landscapes and space-age futures, while incorporating elements of black history and tradition." Nguyen added that the film transposes The Lion King "to a modern political context, turning the tale of Simba's journey towards selfhood into a bold statement about the power of black identity."
Odie Henderson of RogerEbert.com described Black Is King as an "inspirational piece of art" and "a jaw-dropping visual achievement" with "stunning visuals that permeate every frame arrive courtesy of a crew of spectacular cinematographers, each of whom brings a different yet cohesive look to the set pieces". Marianna Cerini, writing for CNN, also praised the visuals and themes of the film, calling it "a universe of phenomenal, larger-than-life looks and sets that are as powerful and artful as the cultural messages conveyed through the music." David Smyth of the Evening Standard agreed, describing the film as a "sumptuous, breathtaking celebration of ancestry." Writing for NME, Jenessa Williams praised the "stirring iconography" and "impeccable" visuals, adding that "each shot is straight out of a modernist gallery, juicy pinks and oranges beaming against impossible sunsets and lush green landscapes." Chanté Joseph of The Guardian declared Black Is King "a feast for the eyes, celebrating the beauty and richness of African cultures with emotion and power."
Okla Jones of Consequence of Sound praised Beyoncé's direction, describing how "Beyoncé’s attention to detail is prevalent throughout the film’s nearly 90-minute duration, with each scene matching the emotional tone of the song that accompanies it". Janelle Okwodu of Vogue agreed, opining that "Black Is King shows her at her most commanding", with Beyoncé's vision tying the work of her collaborators together. Aidin Vaziri of the San Francisco Chronicle commented that the film "takes cues from the theatrical pacing of Beyoncé’s tour performances". Vanessa Friedman, fashion director and chief fashion critic of The New York Times, wrote that the "overwhelming" scenes and outfits are "dazzling, but also calculated", with "all of them exist to serve the vision of one woman; to elevate the imagery of Beyoncé". Friedman continued, explaining how this concentrates "all the power in her own hands, marking the garments into tools to reinforce her message", concluding that "this project and all its trappings position its auteur, as the voice-over says in the film, as the "divine archetype"." Allegra Frank of Vox described how "Beyoncé shows us through the 85-minute powerhouse of an art film" that "Africa is no singular entity... Africa is the motherland of all shades of Blackness. And through these gorgeous frames, each one an art piece of its own, she says: "Everything the light touches is our kingdom.""
Writing for Glamour, Candace McDuffie called Black Is King "an unforgettable visual experience", describing the film as holding "a mirror to the dynamic nature of Blackness—one for all the world to see. The result is truly remarkable." McDuffie added that the film "is exactly what we need right now... its meaning is much deeper than a simple retelling of a Disney movie." In a review for Empire, Amon Warmann described the film as "a bold and unique offering that's brimming with Black pride" and "a powerful reminder of what Black people can aspire to be." Cydney Henderson of USA Today wrote that the star of the film "is the raw, untapped talent from performers around the world showcasing their rich tradition and culture, history and lineage", with the film showcasing "the often overlooked Afrobeats genre", as well as "less mainstream superstars like Wizkid and Shatta Wale while employing popular African dances like the gbese, gwara and zanku."
Dominic Patten of Deadline wrote that with Black Is King, "you have a cultural dominance almost unknown nowadays", with the film being "the conformation of its creator and star as the cultural Queen of our time." Writing for Vogue, Hayley Maitland opined that Beyoncé is "shifting the zeitgeist" with Black Is King, adding that "the project feels especially timely in light of recent devastating events and the resurgence of Black Lives Matter." Matt Donnelly of Variety wrote that "Beyoncé is pushing the boundaries of what many have come to expect from the Disney machine" with Black Is King being "the boldest brand statement ever from Disney" and "the most direct confrontation of a timely societal discussion around racism that Disney Plus has seen."