As 2019 wraps up, it’s time to look onward. The Black List has unveiled its 2019 edition, offering a peek at what stories we’ll — hopefully — get the chance to see on the big screen in coming years. Considered a “most-liked” list, this year’s Black List is composed of 66 titles and was compiled “from the suggestions of over 250 film executives, each of whom contributed the names of up to ten favorite scripts that were written in, or are somehow uniquely associated with, 2019 and will not have begun principal photography during this calendar year.” Scripts had to receive at least six mentions to make the cut.
Highlights include Lillian Yu’s “Cicada,” the the story of a hacker who is “recruited by the mysterious Cicada 3301” and “gets wrapped up in a plot that threatens to destroy the entire world,” and Sara Monge’s “A Magical Place Called Glendale,” a portrait of an arrogant but well-meaning high school socialite who “decides to help a former friend land the guy of her dreams… but in the process, realizes she wants her for herself.” The former scored 16 mentions and the latter 14. “Shut In,” Melanie Toast’s thriller about a single mom held captive by her violent ex, also landed 14 mentions.
Other titles on our radar include “Black Mitzvah,” Lauren Tyler’s tribute to a black and Jewish middle school misfit who vows to throw herself the best Bat Mitzvah of all time, and “Refuge,” Debra Moore Muñoz’s look inside a brother and sister’s journey through Central America on their quest to find safety in the U.S. Both screenplays received 10 mentions.
2018’s Black List included “Queen & Slim,” which is in theaters now. The Lena Waithe-penned crime drama follows a black couple who go on the run after killing a white cop in self-defense. Melina Matsoukas directed the pic and Jodie Turner-Smith and Daniel Kaluuya star.
Head over to The Black List’s website to check out the entire 2019 list.