Black Celebrities Buy Out ‘The Woman King’ Screenings, Director Calls Their Support ‘Incredibly Moving’

Black celebrities have been buying out screenings of The Woman King, and the film’s director, Gina Prince-Bythewood, recently called their support “incredibly moving.”

According to Yahoo News, several Black A-list celebrities have been buying out theaters to support The Woman King, including Kerry Washington, Tracee Ellis Ross, Sanaa Lathan, Taraji P. Henson, and Octavia Spencer. Others who’ve been buying out movie screenings include Kandi Burruss, SZA, Boris and Nicole Kodjoe, Tina Knowles-Lawson, Gabrielle Union-Wade, Jennifer Hudson, and Lena Waithe.

In a statement to Shadow And Act, Prince-Bythewood called the support “incredibly moving” and said “folks are riding” for the film.

“Folks are riding for this film, and it is incredibly moving because it means people want to share the feeling the film has given them,” the L.A.-native director told the outlet. “But more so, there’s a palpable feeling of so many rooting for the film because its success touches all of us. When one of us succeeds, it keeps the door open for more of us to disrupt the industry with our original stories.”

As Sis2Sis reported, The Woman King officially hit theaters nationwide on Sept. 16. The film is a historical epic about the Agojie–a group of female warriors who reportedly protected the West African kingdom of Dahomey during the 1800s. In it, Oscar Award-winning actress Viola Davis plays the role of a heroic female general named Nanisca.

In September, Twitter users wanted to boycott the movie because they claimed

it didn’t address slavery. However, Davis defended the film, saying, “most of the story is fictionalized.”

“You’re not going to win an argument on Twitter. We entered the story where the kingdom was in flux, at a crossroads,” she said about the boycott. “They were looking to find some way to keep their civilization and kingdom alive. It wasn’t until the late 1800s that they were decimated. Most of the story is fictionalized. It has to be.”