Posted in: HBO, Movies, Warner Bros | Tagged: hbo max, Judas and the Black Messiah, movies, Warner Bros

Judas and the Black Messiah Snags a February 2021 Release Date

Warner Bros. continues to shift its 2021 release slate as we get ready to move into the year of the hybrid releases. The other day they moved Mortal Kombat to April 16, 2021, while Tom & Jerry moved up to February 26, 2021. Warner Bros. has also dated one of the movies that will be getting awards push: Judas and the Black Messiah. The first trailer came out nearly four months ago, and it garnered some serious social media praised. Variety is reporting that the movie is getting a February 21, 2021 release date, which, according to the new guidelines for the Academy Awards in light of COVID-19, will let it sneak right before the deadline for the Oscars.

Summary: Chairman Fred Hampton was 21 years old when he was assassinated by the FBI, who coerced a petty criminal named William O'Neal to help them silence him and the Black Panther Party. But they could not kill Fred Hampton's legacy and, 50 years later, his words still echo…louder than ever.

I am a revolutionary!

In 1968, a young, charismatic activist named Fred Hampton became Chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, who were fighting for freedom, the power to determine the destiny of the Black community, and an end to police brutality and the slaughter of Black people.

Chairman Fred was inspiring a generation to rise up and not back down to oppression, which put him directly in the line of fire of the government, the FBI and the Chicago Police. But to destroy the revolution, they had to do it from both the outside…and the inside. Facing prison, William O'Neal is offered a deal by the FBI: if he will infiltrate the Black Panthers and provide intel on Hampton, he will walk free. O'Neal takes the deal.

Now a comrade in arms in the Black Panther Party, O'Neal lives in fear that his treachery will be discovered even as he rises in the ranks. But as Hampton's fiery message draws him in, O'Neal cannot escape the deadly trajectory of his ultimate betrayal.

Though his life was cut short, Fred Hampton's impact has continued to reverberate. The government saw the Black Panthers as a militant threat to the status quo and sold that lie to a frightened public in a time of growing civil unrest. But the perception of the Panthers was not reality. In inner cities across America, they were providing free breakfasts for children, legal services, medical clinics and research into sickle cell anemia, and political education. And it was Chairman Fred in Chicago, who, recognizing the power of multicultural unity for a common cause, created the Rainbow Coalition—joining forces with other oppressed peoples in the city to fight for equality and political empowerment.

Judas and the Black Messiah, directed by Shaka King, stars Daniel Kaluuya, LaKeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons, Dominique Fishback, Ashton Sanders, and Martin Sheen. It will be released on HBO Max and in theaters on February 12, 2021.

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