Best Celebrated Black Directed Movie?
by urbanemovies | created - 07 Feb 2018 | updated - 6 months ago | PublicEach February in the USA, we recognize black achievements during Black History Month.
Which of these select feature length movies with a black director at the helm is your favorite cinematic achievement?
Black History Month Companion Polls
Celebrated Black-Led Movies : Top Black-Directed Movies : Top Grossing Black Directors : Black Multimedia Superheroes
Cast your vote or Discuss the topic here.
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1. 12 Years a Slave (2013)
14A | 134 min | Biography, Drama, History
In the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.
Director: Steve McQueen | Stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Kenneth Williams, Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt
Votes: 620,030 | Gross: $56.67M
2. Training Day (2001)
18A | 122 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A rookie cop spends his first day as a Los Angeles narcotics officer with a rogue detective who isn't what he appears to be.
Director: Antoine Fuqua | Stars: Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, Scott Glenn, Tom Berenger
Votes: 378,641 | Gross: $76.63M
3. Black Panther (2018)
PG | 134 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
T'Challa, heir to the hidden but advanced kingdom of Wakanda, must step forward to lead his people into a new future and must confront a challenger from his country's past.
Director: Ryan Coogler | Stars: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira
Votes: 587,838 | Gross: $700.06M
4. Do the Right Thing (1989)
14A | 120 min | Comedy, Drama
On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone's hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson
Votes: 84,607 | Gross: $27.55M
5. Get Out (I) (2017)
14A | 104 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A young African-American visits his white girlfriend's parents for the weekend, where his simmering uneasiness about their reception of him eventually reaches a boiling point.
Director: Jordan Peele | Stars: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, Catherine Keener
Votes: 466,011 | Gross: $176.04M
6. O.J.: Made in America (2016)
467 min | Documentary, Biography, Crime
A chronicle of the rise and fall of O.J. Simpson, whose high-profile murder trial exposed the extent of American racial tensions, revealing a fractured and divided nation.
Director: Ezra Edelman | Stars: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Mike Albanese, Muhammad Ali, Marcus Allen
Votes: 16,812
7. Inside Man (2006)
14A | 129 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A police detective, a bank robber, and a high-power broker enter high-stakes negotiations after the criminal's brilliant heist spirals into a hostage situation.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer
Votes: 329,455 | Gross: $88.51M
8. Boyz n the Hood (1991)
14A | 112 min | Crime, Drama
Follows the lives of three young males living in the Crenshaw ghetto of Los Angeles, dissecting questions of race, relationships, violence, and future prospects.
Director: John Singleton | Stars: Cuba Gooding Jr., Laurence Fishburne, Hudhail Al-Amir, Lloyd Avery II
Votes: 120,610 | Gross: $57.50M
9. The Learning Tree (1969)
107 min | Drama
The story, set in Kansas during the 1920s, covers less than a year in the life of a black teenager, and documents the veritable deluge of events which force him into sudden manhood. The ... See full summary »
Director: Gordon Parks | Stars: Kyle Johnson, Alex Clarke, Estelle Evans, Dana Elcar
Votes: 875
10. Creed (II) (2015)
PG | 133 min | Drama, Sport
The former World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Balboa serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson, the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed.
Director: Ryan Coogler | Stars: Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad
Votes: 240,315 | Gross: $109.77M
11. Malcolm X (1992)
14A | 202 min | Biography, Drama, History
Biographical epic of the controversial and influential Black Nationalist leader, from his early life and career as a small-time gangster, to his ministry as a member of the Nation of Islam.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Delroy Lindo, Spike Lee
Votes: 82,606 | Gross: $48.17M
12. 13th (2016)
TV-MA | 100 min | Documentary, Crime, News
An in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation's history of racial inequality.
Director: Ava DuVernay | Stars: Melina Abdullah, Michelle Alexander, Cory Booker, Dolores Canales
Votes: 28,555
13. Menace II Society (1993)
R | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A young street hustler attempts to escape the rigors and temptations of the ghetto in a quest for a better life.
Directors: Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes | Stars: Tyrin Turner, Larenz Tate, June Kyoto Lu, Toshi Toda
Votes: 50,059 | Gross: $27.90M
14. 25th Hour (2002)
14A | 135 min | Drama
Cornered by the DEA, convicted New York drug dealer Montgomery Brogan reevaluates his life in the 24 remaining hours before facing a seven-year jail term.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Edward Norton, Barry Pepper, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rosario Dawson
Votes: 167,267 | Gross: $13.06M
15. Hunger (2008)
18A | 96 min | Biography, Drama
Irish republican Bobby Sands leads the inmates of a Northern Irish prison in a hunger strike.
Director: Steve McQueen | Stars: Stuart Graham, Laine Megaw, Brian Milligan, Liam McMahon
Votes: 64,103 | Gross: $0.15M
16. Moonlight (I) (2016)
14A | 111 min | Drama
A young African-American man grapples with his identity and sexuality while experiencing the everyday struggles of childhood, adolescence, and burgeoning adulthood.
Director: Barry Jenkins | Stars: Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Trevante Rhodes, Alex R. Hibbert
Votes: 260,317 | Gross: $27.85M
17. Selma (2014)
PG | 128 min | Biography, Drama, History
A chronicle of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s campaign to secure equal voting rights via an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965.
Director: Ava DuVernay | Stars: David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Wilkinson
Votes: 83,375 | Gross: $52.08M
18. Fruitvale Station (2013)
14A | 85 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The story of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident, who crosses paths with friends, enemies, family, and strangers on the last day of 2008.
Director: Ryan Coogler | Stars: Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz, Octavia Spencer, Kevin Durand
Votes: 73,179 | Gross: $16.10M
19. Belle (2013)
PG | 100 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
The mixed-race daughter, Dido Elizabeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), of Royal Navy Captain Sir John Lindsay (Matthew Goode) is raised by aristocratic Great-uncle Lord William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) in eighteenth century England.
Director: Amma Asante | Stars: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Matthew Goode, Emily Watson, Miranda Richardson
Votes: 27,381 | Gross: $10.73M
20. Mudbound (2017)
R | 134 min | Drama, War
Two men return home from World War II to work on a farm in rural Mississippi, where they struggle to deal with racism and adjusting to life after war.
Director: Dee Rees | Stars: Carey Mulligan, Jason Clarke, Jason Mitchell, Mary J. Blige
Votes: 39,995
21. Timbuktu (2014)
PG-13 | 96 min | Drama, War
A cattle herder and his family who reside in the dunes of Timbuktu find their quiet lives -- which are typically free of the Jihadists determined to control their faith -- abruptly disturbed.
Director: Abderrahmane Sissako | Stars: Ibrahim Ahmed, Abel Jafri, Toulou Kiki, Layla Walet Mohamed
Votes: 15,817 | Gross: $1.08M
22. Submarine (2010)
14A | 97 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
15-year-old Oliver Tate has two objectives: To lose his virginity before his next birthday, and to extinguish the flame between his mother and an ex-lover who has resurfaced in her life.
Director: Richard Ayoade | Stars: Craig Roberts, Sally Hawkins, Paddy Considine, Noah Taylor
Votes: 83,636 | Gross: $0.47M
23. Eddie Murphy: Raw (1987)
18A | 93 min | Documentary, Comedy
Eddie Murphy in a stand-up performance recorded live. For an hour and a half he talks about his favourite subjects: sex and women.
Director: Robert Townsend | Stars: Eddie Murphy, Tatyana Ali, Billie Allen, Clebert Ford
Votes: 18,011 | Gross: $50.50M
24. Killer of Sheep (1978)
80 min | Drama
Set in the Watts area of Los Angeles, a slaughterhouse worker must suspend his emotions to continue working at a job he finds repugnant, and then he finds he has little sensitivity for the family he works so hard to support.
Director: Charles Burnett | Stars: Henry G. Sanders, Kaycee Moore, Charles Bracy, Angela Burnett
Votes: 5,869 | Gross: $0.40M
25. Eve's Bayou (1997)
14A | 109 min | Drama
After a daughter witnesses her father having an affair, she begins a chain reaction that could tear her family apart.
Director: Kasi Lemmons | Stars: Samuel L. Jackson, Jurnee Smollett, Meagan Good, Lynn Whitfield
Votes: 8,363 | Gross: $14.82M
26. Fences (2016)
PG | 139 min | Drama
A working-class African-American father tries to raise his family in the 1950s, while coming to terms with the events of his life.
Director: Denzel Washington | Stars: Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Jovan Adepo
Votes: 94,527 | Gross: $57.64M
27. Moolaadé (2004)
124 min | Drama
When a woman shelters a group of girls from suffering female genital mutilation, she starts a conflict that tears her village apart.
Director: Ousmane Sembene | Stars: Fatoumata Coulibaly, Maimouna Hélène Diarra, Salimata Traoré, Dominique Zeïda
Votes: 3,476 | Gross: $0.21M
28. Shame (2011)
18A | 101 min | Drama
A sex addict's carefully cultivated private life falls apart after his sister arrives for an indefinite stay.
Director: Steve McQueen | Stars: Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, James Badge Dale, Lucy Walters
Votes: 179,122 | Gross: $4.00M
29. Precious (II) (2009)
14A | 110 min | Drama
In New York City's Harlem circa 1987, an overweight, abused, illiterate teen who is pregnant with her second child is invited to enroll in an alternative school in hopes that her life can head in a new direction.
Director: Lee Daniels | Stars: Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey
Votes: 103,733 | Gross: $47.40M
30. A Wrinkle in Time (2018)
PG | 109 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
After the disappearance of her scientist father, three peculiar beings send Meg, her brother, and her friend to space in order to find him.
Director: Ava DuVernay | Stars: Storm Reid, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling
Votes: 39,477 | Gross: $100.48M
Added 26 February 2018
31. BlacKkKlansman (2018)
14A | 135 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Ron Stallworth, an African American police officer from Colorado Springs, CO, successfully manages to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan branch with the help of a Jewish surrogate who eventually becomes its leader. Based on actual events.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace
Votes: 199,626 | Gross: $49.28M
Added 08 October 2018
32. Widows (2018)
14A | 129 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Set in contemporary Chicago, amid a time of turmoil, four women with nothing in common except a debt left behind by their dead husbands' criminal activities, take fate into their own hands, and conspire to forge a future on their own terms.
Director: Steve McQueen | Stars: Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki
Votes: 81,339 | Gross: $42.40M
Added 08 October 2018
33. If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)
14A | 119 min | Drama, Romance
A young woman embraces her pregnancy while she and her family set out to prove her childhood friend and lover innocent of a crime he didn't commit.
Director: Barry Jenkins | Stars: KiKi Layne, Stephan James, Regina King, Teyonah Parris
Votes: 38,548 | Gross: $14.92M
Added 08 October 2018
34. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
PG | 117 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
Teen Miles Morales becomes the Spider-Man of his universe, and must join with five spider-powered individuals from other dimensions to stop a threat for all realities.
Directors: Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman | Stars: Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali
Votes: 327,192 | Gross: $190.24M
Co-Director: Peter Ramsey Added 28 January 2019
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