Set It Off turns 30 this week. The 1996 American crime action film, directed by F. Gary Gray, premiered at Mann’s Chinese Theatre on November 4, 1996 and opened across the United States and Canada on November 6, 1996. Three decades later, the heist picture still has details that catch even its biggest fans.
Written with two stars in mind
Takashi Bufford said that he wrote the script with Jada Pinkett Smith and Queen Latifah in mind even though he had not yet met them. The script was offered to New Line three times before finally being accepted.
The studio deepened the women’s motives
New Line filled in more about why the female leads turn to bank robbery in a way that wasn’t in the original script. Vivica A. Fox later recalled: “Originally, with the script, we were throwing out pages daily. Like, ‘No.’ But that’s what you do when you have a good director who knows what he has to turn in.” She added that the cast was given the freedom with director F. Gary Gray to create things and dialogue that would make sense.
It premiered two days before release
The film had its premiere on November 4, 1996 at Mann’s Chinese Theatre. It opened on 1,014 screens in the United States and Canada on November 6, 1996.
New Line’s highest-grossing film of 1996
On a budget of $9 million and an R-rating, Set It Off grossed $36,461,139 in the United States and Canada, $5,129,747 internationally, and $41,590,886 worldwide. Tribute stated that it was New Line Cinema’s highest-grossing film of 1996.
It won opening day but not the weekend
The film opened on Wednesday, November 6, 1996 and grossed $1.8 million from 972 theaters on its opening day, placing first at the US box office. For the weekend, it finished behind Ransom and the second week of Romeo + Juliet, grossing $8.8 million for the weekend and $11.8 million in its first five days.
The soundtrack helped bring in a wider audience
The target audience was young African-American women, but the opening day grosses suggested it reached other audiences. The grosses were also believed to have been helped by the popularity of the soundtrack, which at the time was the fifth best-selling soundtrack album of 1996. The soundtrack itself had been released on September 24, 1996 by East West Records, with production from names such as Organized Noize, DJ U-Neek and DJ Rectangle.
Critics and audiences came along
Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade “A” on a scale of A to F. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an approval rating of 71% based on 38 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4 out of 10. Roger Ebert gave it three and a half stars and said the movie “surprised and moved me.”
Awards started with F. Gary Gray
Director F. Gary Gray won the Acapulco Black Film Festival award for Best Director in 1997 and the Special Jury Prize at the Cognac Film Festival. Queen Latifah was nominated for Best Supporting Female at the 1996 Independent Spirit Awards, and she and Jada Pinkett Smith were nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture at the 1997 NAACP Image Awards. Blair Underwood received a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture.
Which one of these Set It Off facts is your favourite? Tell us the moment from the film you still remember.
Facts from Wikipedia: Set It Off (film), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Film images from TMDB. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.