Fall Preview: ‘The Woman King’ comes for the throne

By JAKE COYLE
AP Film Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — When “The Woman King” rises up in theaters on Sept. 16, it will emerge as a potent force on a movie landscape that has seldom seen something like it. Drawing from the real 19th century history of the Agojie, women warriors who defended the West African kingdom of Dahomey, present-day Benin, “The Woman King” is muscular action-drama that puts female power front and center at a time when women’s rights are seen as imperiled. Viola Davis stars as their general, Nanisca. “The Woman King” will premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in early September before Sony Pictures opens it in theaters.