Emancipation Movie Details:
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Action, Thriller |
| Release date | December 2, 2022 (United States) December 9, 2022 (Apple TV+) |
| Running time | 2hr 12min |
| Age rating | R |
| Starring | Will Smith Ben Foster Charmaine Bingwa |
| Directed by | Antoine Fuqua |
| Written by | William N. Collage |
| Produced by | Todd Black Joey McFarland Jon Mone Will Smith |
| Cinematography by | Robert Richardson |
| Edited by | Conrad Buff IV |
| Music by | Marcelo Zarvos |
| Production Company | Apple Studios Westbrook Studios McFarland Entertainment Escape Artists |
| Distributor | Apple TV+ |
Emancipation Movie Cast & Characters:
- Will Smith as Peter
- Ben Foster as Fassel the slave hunter
- Charmaine Bingwa as Dodienne, Peter’s wife
- Jayson Warner Smith as John Lyons, cotton plantation owner
- Austin Alexander as Trapp, a white plantation worker whom Peter bites
- Britton Webb as Bijoux, a white plantation worker helping Trapp
- Jesse C. Boyd as Mike Hurley, a white plantation worker who puts a gun to Dodienne’s head
- Steven Ogg as Ordnance Sergeant Howard, a Confederate soldier guarding slaves at the railroad camp
- Grant Harvey as Leeds, a Confederate soldier guarding slaves at the railroad camp
- Gilbert Owuor as Gordon, Peter’s slave friend who escapes the railroad camp and makes it separately to the Union Army in Baton Rouge
- Michael Luwoye as John, the branded slave skeptical of Peter who escapes the railroad camp but doesn’t make it to freedom
- Jabbar Lewis as Tomas, Peter’s slave friend who escapes the railroad camp but gets shot by Fassel in a river
- Ronnie Gene Blevins as Harrington, Fassel’s white slave-hunting assistant
- Aaron Moten as Knowles, the former slave who works with Fassel and Harrington capturing runaway slaves, whom Peter calls “the worst kind”
- Imani Pullum as Betsy, Peter’s older daughter
- Jeremiah Friedlander as Scipion, Peter’s son
- Jordyn McIntosh as Laurette, Peter’s young daughter
- Landon Chase Dubois as Little Peter
- Mustafa Shakir as Captain André Cailloux of the First Louisiana Native Guard in the Union Army
- Paul Ben-Victor as Major G. Halstead who inducts Peter into the Union Army
- David Denman as General William Dwight
Storyline:
Inspired by a true story, one man fights through unthinkable terrors in an attempt to reunite with his family.
Emancipation Movie Box Office Collection & Budget:
| Budget | $120–162 million |
About Emancipation Movie:
The film was officially announced in June 2020, with Fuqua to direct and Smith to star.
Apple paid US$130 million to acquire the rights to the film. Warner Bros, MGM, Lionsgate, and Universal Pictures bid on the film before Apple ultimately won distribution rights.
Principal photography was expected to begin on May 3, 2021, in Los Angeles. It was later set to begin on June 21, 2021, in Georgia, but on April 12, it was announced that the film would be shot elsewhere due to the recently-enacted Election Integrity Act of 2021. Smith and Fuqua said in a joint statement: “We cannot in good conscience provide economic support to a government that enacts regressive voting laws that are designed to restrict voter access.”
The location move was reported to have cost approximately $15 million. Filming was announced to take place in New Orleans from July 12 to August 21, 2021. On August 2, filming paused for five days due to several positive COVID-19 tests. Additional casting for the film was announced in November and December.
Will Smith was paid $35 million, the biggest salary of his career.
Will Smith’s first film since his temporary hiatus in the aftermath of his 2022 Oscars incident and also his first film since King Richard (2021), for which he won Best Actor in the same ceremony.
In May 2022, the film’s release was reportedly delayed to a tentative 2023 date, due to numerous production delays, the controversy over Smith slapping Chris Rock at the 94th Academy Awards, and an overcrowded film release schedule from Apple. It was subsequently moved to its final date.
Emancipation was screened in Washington, D.C., on October 1, 2022, and released in select cinemas on December 2, 2022, then streamed on December 9 on Apple TV+. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised Smith’s performance but criticized the screenplay and its handling of real-life events.
