It’s easy to take a slightly cynical view of the big-business powerhouse that is Disney, but when they put together films like Queen Of Katwe and give it the kind of time, effort and love they deserve you can’t help but have a little soft spot for them. Chess stories don’t exactly smash box office figures, but that’s exactly what Disney has created here and from the look of the trailer it looks like real-life dreams are back on the cards for the Magic Kingdom crown.
The film has an impressive cast, including Lupita Nyong’o (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) and David Oyelowo (The Help) as well as some impressive set locations that go from the slums of Uganda to the coronets of Russia. It’s based on the Tim Brothers book, The Queen of Katwe: A Story of Life, Chess, and One Extraordinary Girl’s Dream of Becoming a Grandmaster, although it’s probably a good thing that Disney decided to shorten the title, although it does make it a little more enigmatic. Check out the trailer below to see what to expect.
Release date
The Queen Of Katwe UK release date has been confirmed for Friday the 21st October 2016, following the premier at the Toronto International Film Festival on the 10th September 2016 and the US release on the 23rd September. It’s out in the UK on the same weekend as Tom Cruise’s Jack Reacher: Never Go Back sequel, so it could be overshadowed a little, but for cinema goers with less interest in the action side of the film spectrum it could be the one to watch that weekend.
Story
The true story tells the rise to chess stardom for Ugandan child prodigy, Phiona Mutesi, who’s impoverished beginnings is transformed when she learns to play at a missionary centre in her Katwe slum in Kampala. Picking up the mind-testing strategy game quickly, she goes on to become the national champion, but her biggest challenge, as she dreams big, is to try to become a grandmaster with the Siberian Chess Olympiad to take part in.
Cast
Phiona is played by big screen newcomer, Madina Nalwanga, who will have the acting might of Lupita Nyong’o to work alongside with the 12 Years A Slave star playing her mother Harriet Mutesi. David Oyelowo takes on the role of Phiona’s real life chess mentor, the minister leading the slum project to inspire kids through chess, Robert Katende.
Production
Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding) directs the film with Ludia Pilcher and John Carls producing and Will Weiske and Troy Buder as executive producers. William Wheeler wrote the screenplay from the Tim Brothers book. Sean Bobbitt is the director of photography and Barry Alexander Brown the editor.
First impressions
Queen Of Katwe looks like a well crafted, heartwarming and inspirational movie with a wonderful story, great cast and a very strong trailer, so Disney has done everything it can to make this a special release. Mira Nair has cast a very credible wand over the film, from the look of the trailer, to make it feel as wonderful as it is true to the realities of life in a slum in Kampala.
While it’s the kind of movie you’d want your kids to watch and love, the combination of the realities of growing up in such tough circumstances and the focus on chess don’t exactly put it in a mainstream kids audience bracket. Hopefully, it’ll do enough to draw in a the audiences it looks like it thoroughly deserves.
