Warner Bros. Apparently Wants to Develop Michael Brown Movie In Style of ‘Crash’

Michael Brown’s death spurred the rallying cry,
“Hands up, don’t shoot.”(Elcardo Anthony)

Warner Bros. is reportedly bringing the story of Michael Brown to the big screen and not everyone is thrilled, believing it is simply exploitative.

Brown was fatally shot by white officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Mo., after the Black 18-year-old allegedly stole cigarillos from a convenience store in 2014. Brown’s death launched protests throughout the U.S. and a grand jury decided not to indict Wilson, who was exonerated in 2015.

The story, which The Tracking Board reported will be based on “Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil,” a memoir by Brown’s mother, Lezley McSpadden, will be told in the same vein as the 2004 film “Crash.”

The winner of the Best Picture Oscar, “Crash” focused on the interconnected stories of several different people of various races, genders and classes. Warner Bros., which beat out other studios interested in the project, reportedly wants to hire a nonwhite writer to develop the on-screen adaptation of “Tell the Truth.”

Many are unenthusiastic about the Brown film, slamming it as taking advantage of a Black tragedy.

https://twitter.com/yayaswh0/status/876148883172327426

https://twitter.com/race_jones/status/876108049592836096

Some especially took issue with the decision to make the movie similar to “Crash.”

Others felt conflicted.

https://twitter.com/linusashford/status/876450826465689600

Independent journalism still matters.

We hope this story was worth your time. For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed Black-owned and independently run. We didn't get here by waiting on ad budgets that were never built to prioritize us. Our readers did that.

Corporate support for Black media has always been thin. Outlets like ours get roughly 1% of the $170 billion spent on U.S. advertising each year, and that margin is shrinking further as advertisers walk back the DEI-linked commitments they made in 2020. That's the backdrop. It's not why we're asking.

The wider picture isn't any steadier. Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under, it's rarely the ones built to center a Black perspective from the ground up that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Back to top