Superfly was released in the United States on June 13, 2018, by Sony Pictures Releasing. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the style but ultimately found film lacking substance.
Plot
Youngblood Priest is a young cocainekingpin from Atlanta, Georgia, working the streets since he was brought in by his mentor Scatter at age eleven. He lives with his two girlfriends, Georgia and Cynthia.
Juju, a member of rival gang Snow Patrol, hits on Cynthia and, shooting at Priest, accidentally hits a bystander. The Snow Patrol members leave while Priest gives the victim money and directs them to the trauma center.
Priest confides in his second-in-command Eddie that he wants out of drug-dealing, and has a plan. Eddie has his back but Scatter refuses to help. Juju suspects Priest of a hit on Snow Patrol and plans to retaliate. Snow Patrol deduces that Priest's colleague, Fat Freddie, was one of the assailants. Deciding to set Priest up, Snow Patrol contacts two corrupt police officers to start their long plan to destroy Priest.
Fat Freddie is pulled over by corrupt cops Franklin and Mason. They discover cocaine and find Eddie in Freddie's contacts. With Mason's gun at Freddie's head, Freddie's girlfriend reveals his criminal history and Priest's identity. Franklin shoots and kills Freddie and Rochelle.
Mason threatens to expose Priest's dealing if he does not work with her. Fighting over recriminations about Freddie's death, Priest starts strangling Eddie and leaves him unconscious. Franklin and Mason shows up at Fat Freedie’s funeral demanding their upfront payment of $1 million. Then Scatter surprises Priest at Freddie's funeral, ordering him to meet with his supplier Adalberto, after finding out Priest cut a secret deal for more product. Adalberto kills Scatter, having realized he was stealing from him. Adalberto threatens Priest, telling him that he can never get out of the game.
Snow Patrol members led by Juju shoot up Priest's mansion. During the shootout, Cynthia shoots back but is killed, and Priest and Georgia set fire to the mansion where Juju runs through the fire out the mansion to get in a car chase with Priest, Georgia and now Q. Chasing Priest, Juju is injured and Q is killed in a car crash. Eddie feigns allegiance with Snow Patrol, and tricks them into an ambush where they are killed by Mason and other cops alerted by Priest.
Priest thanks Eddie for his help and prepares to leave the country with Georgia. He blackmails the mayor with a sex tape and promises the mayor will win the upcoming election. Adalberto is disowned by his mother, and executed at her order after she receives proof that he framed his brother for a crime. Instead of paying off Mason, Priest tips off police and she is arrested for cocaine possession.
Priest meets Franklin and beats him to avenge Freddie's murder. Having settled his business obligations, and with his enemies either dead or in custody, Priest and Georgia relax on a cruise in Montenegro.
Cast
Trevor Jackson as Youngblood Priest, an Atlanta drug lord who sees an opportunity to leave the game before he gets killed.
Jason Mitchell as Eddie, Priest's right-hand-man, best friend, and enforcer.
Michael K. Williams as Scatter, Priest's mentor and an experienced drug dealer. He took Priest under his wing when the latter was younger. He owns a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school where he is a black belt.
Lex Scott Davis as Georgia, Priest's intellectual girlfriend. She has a strong affection and loyalty for him.
Kaalan "KR" Walker as Juju, a member of the Snow Patrol, a rival drug outfit, who takes an immediate dislike to Priest and plots to kill him.
Esai Morales as Adalberto Gonzalez, the leader of a Mexican drug cartel who does business with Scatter and Priest.
Andrea Londo as Cynthia, Priest's other girlfriend. A professional stripper, she has more of a casual affection towards her lover and is in a polyamorous relationship with him and Georgia. She is fierce and street savvy.
Big Bank Black as Q, the pragmatic leader of Snow Patrol.
While Sony and other publications reported the film was made on a net production budget of $16 million, Deadline stated their sources insisted the actual cost was "well north of $20 [million], near $30 [million]". The site compared the situation to Proud Mary, a film released in January 2018 that Sony reported cost $14 million to make but other sources listed at as high as $30 million.[1]
Superfly was initially scheduled to be released on June 15, 2018. Three weeks prior, it was moved up two days to June 13, 2018, in order to avoid direct competition with Incredibles 2.[7]
In the United States and Canada, Superfly was projected to gross $7–12 million from 2,200 theaters over its five-day opening weekend.[5] The film made $1.2 million on its first day,[9] $938,583 on its second and $1.8 million on its third. It ended up grossing $6.9 million in its opening weekend (a five-day total of $9 million), finishing sixth at the box office.[1] It dropped to $3.4 million in its second weekend, finishing eighth, and after being pulled from 1,064 theaters in its third week made $1.3 million, finishing 12th.[10][11]
Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 51% based on 102 reviews, and an average rating of 5.3/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Superfly updates the blaxploitation original with a stylish remake that's exciting and visually arresting enough to offer its own slickly staged action rewards, but disappointingly short on social subtext."[12] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 52 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[13] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it a 68% overall positive score.[1]
Variety's Owen Gleiberman wrote: "Shot in a functional, slammed-together manner that's less sensually stylish than you'd expect from a music-video auteur, the film is a competent yet glossy and hermetic street-hustle drug thriller, less a new urban myth than a lavishly concocted episode. It holds your attention yet leaves you with nothing."[14]
