*”Candyman” from Universal/MGM/Monkeypaw not only opened this past weekend at the top of the box office $22.2 million, it’ also made Nia DaCosta the first Black female director to debut a film at number one.
That’s quite an an accomplishment of course and it also reminds that an other Black female, Ava DuVernay, saw her Disney movie “A Wrinkle In Time” land in the No. 2 spot over the weekend of March 9-11 of 2018 with $33.1 million. By the way, DuVernay was the first Black female to direct a $100M+ production from a major Hollywood studio.
With that in mind, Deadline noted that the top five openings for movies at the domestic box office by Black women directors are “A Wrinkle in Time” ($33.1M), “Candyman” ($22.2M), “Little” ($15.4M, Tina Gordon-Dir.), “The Photograph” ($12.1M, Stella Meghie-Dir.), and “Queen & Slim” ($11.89M, Melina Matsoukas-Dir.).
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For those just becoming familiar with DaCosta, she was born in 1989/1990, in Brooklyn and raised in Harlem. Her Wikipedia page says:
“She always knew she wanted to be a writer, but it wasn’t until she watched ‘Apocalypse Now’ (1979) that she became interested in filmmaking. This led DaCosta to research 1970s film where she found inspiration in directors such as Martin Scorsese, Sidney Lumet, Steven Spielberg, and Francis Ford Coppola. Citing Scorsese as a top inspiration, DaCosta enrolled at his alma mater, New York University Tisch School of the Arts. There, she met Scorsese while working as a TV production assistant.
“After finishing school and working as a TV production assistant, DaCosta’s script for ‘Little Woods’ was one of the 12 projects chosen for the 2015 Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Labs. DaCosta funded a short film version of what would eventually become her first feature film through Kickstarter with the help of 72 backers who eventually raised $5,100.”
As you can imagine, DaCosta is on serious roll. She is currently in production on the highly anticipated “Captain Marvel” sequel, “The Marvels.” With DaCosta at the helm, it makes her the first Black woman to direct a Marvel Studios picture. The superhero film, starring Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris and Iman Vellani, is scheduled to be released Nov. 11, 2022.
DaCosta also co-wrote “Candyman” with Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld.
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