Shaft (franchise)

The Shaft franchise is composed of action-crime films and a television series, centered on a family of African-American police detectives all sharing the name John Shaft, who over the course of the films have altercations with a variety of crime. The first three films are characterized by their blaxploitation characteristics, while the fourth installment is a crime thriller. The fifth entry, however, is a satirical buddy-cop comedy.[1]

Shaft
Official franchise logo
Based on	Characters created by Ernest Tidyman
Starring	Richard Roundtree Samuel L. Jackson Jessie Usher
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1-3) Paramount Pictures (4) Warner Bros. Pictures (5) Netflix (5) Turner Entertainment Co. (all films)
Release date	1971-present
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	Total (4 films): $131,751,966

Films

Title	U.S. release date	Director(s)	Story by	Screenwriter(s)	Producer(s)
Shaft	July 2, 1971	Gordon Parks	Ernest Tidyman and John D. F. Black		Joel Freeman
Shaft's Big Score!	June 8, 1972		Ernest Tidyman		Ernest Tidyman and Roger Lewis
Shaft in Africa	June 14, 1973	John Guillermin	Stirling Silliphant		Roger Lewis
Shaft	June 16, 2000	John Singleton	John Singleton and Shane Salerno	John Singleton, Shane Salerno and Richard Price	John Singleton and Scott Rudin
Shaft	June 14, 2019	Tim Story	Kenya Barris and Alex Barnow		Kenya Barris and John Davis

Shaft (1971)

John Shaft is a classy and suave African-American detective. Successfully, he fights local crime, in the leader of the black crime mob named Bumpy and his gang, and black nationals. The conflicting characters have to put aside their differences when they must defeat the white mafia, who kidnapped Bumpy's daughter in attempts to blackmail him.

Shaft's Big Score! (1972)

When John Shaft finds out that a dead friend ran an illegal money laundering scheme out of the former's legitimate business and left $200,000 unaccounted for, he discovers the reason why he had suddenly found himself in the middle of a war between rival gangs. The thugs begin a war of taking over the territory that belonged to the deceased, as well as to get their hands on the missing two hundred grand. Shaft has all he can handle trying to track down the money and, at the same time, keep his friend's sister from the clutches of these dangerous groups.

Shaft in Africa (1973)

John Shaft is persuaded to take on the faux identity of a native-speaking worker in Africa by threats of violence, the enticings of money, and the lure of a potential love interest in his tutor. While undercover he must help in completing a coup on a business that is smuggling immigrants into Europe, and then exploiting them. The villains, unfortunately for him, know he is coming.

Shaft (2000)

New York City Police Detective John Shaft II, nephew of the 1970s cop,[lower-alpha 1] is the lead detective on a sensitive case when a young African-American is viciously beaten to death. After learning there was an eye-witness and upon further investigation, the man's friends lead Shaft on the trail of a man who was known to have racial prejudice, prior to the attack. The titular character confronts him and learns that he's Walter Wade Jr., the son of a wealthy real estate tycoon. He finds evidence that the perpetrator was at the location of the crime. The suspect is released on bail because of 'excessive force' from Shaft during his arrest, and flees the country. Two years later, Wade returns to the U.S. where Shaft arrests him for evading law enforcement. After the judge grants him bail, Shaft questions the magistrate's motives and intentions. He resigns from the police force and sets out to lock Wade away permanently. At the same time Wade fears that Shaft may find the witness before he does and hires a drug lord to find and kill her.

Shaft (2019)

John Shaft III, also known as JJ, is a cyber security expert for the FBI who seeks out a different kind of expertise from his absentee father John Shaft II (and ultimately, grandfather John Shaft I) after his best friend’s untimely death.

In discussing the film, director Tim Story stated, "...We’re going to definitely make sure the stakes in the world are real, and then you’ve got these characters who are dealing with kind of a father/son situation, we’re going to see them put a family back together."[2]

Television

Shaft (1973–1974)

Following the box office failures of Shaft in Africa, the studio moved the franchise to the small screen in 1973. The first season of series, a collection of TV movies, was released on CBS network television. The show attempted to build crossovers with another crime-drama, Hawkins, but never garnered much success. Each week a new episode was aired, which presents a different case and a different crime for the titular character to solve. After the first season, the series was cancelled, due to poor viewing ratings. Richard Roundtree, who reprised his role from the films, has since expressed his distaste for the TV show.[3]

Cast and crew

Cast

The film series contains three main stars, with various key characters appearing in each individual movie. The following chart organizes the films' stars, arranged by film.

Character	Films					Television series
	Shaft	Shaft's Big Score!	Shaft in Africa	Shaft	Shaft	Shaft
	1971	1972	1973	2000	2019	1973 – 1974
John Shaft	Richard Roundtree
Bumpy Jonas	Moses Gunn
Ben Buford	Christopher St. John
Willy		Drew Bundini Brown
Gus Mascola		Joseph Mascolo
Emir Ramila			Cy Grant
A.V. Ramila			Avelio Falana
Col. Gondor			Marne Maitland
Lt. Al Rossi						Eddie Barth
John Shaft II				Samuel L. Jackson
Peoples Hernandez				Jeffrey Wright
Carmen Vasquez				Vanessa Williams
Rasaan				Trevor "Busta Rhymes" Smith, Jr.
Diane Palmieri				Toni Collette
Walter Wade, Jr.				Christian Bale
John "JJ" Shaft III					Jessie T. Usher
Sasha Arias					Alexandra Shipp
Maya Babanikos					Regina Hall

Crew

Title	Composer(s)	Cinematographer(s)	Editor(s)	Production companies	Distributing company	Running time	MPAA rating
Shaft (1971)	Isaac Hayes Johnny Allen	Urs Furrer	Hugh A. Robertson	Shaft Productions Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer	100 minutes	R
Shaft's Big Score!	Gordon Parks		Harry Howard			104 minutes
Shaft in Africa	Johnny Pate	Marcel Grignon	Max Benedict	Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer Shaft Productions, Ltd.		112 minutes
Shaft (TV series)		Michael Hugo Keith C. Smith	Peter Kirby George Folsey, Jr.	MGM Television	CBS Network	73 minutes	N/A
Shaft (2000)	David Arnold	Donald E. Thorin	John Bloom Antonia Van Drimmelen	Shaft Productions Paramount Pictures New Deal Productions Scott Rudin Productions Munich Film Partners & Company	Paramount Pictures	99 minutes	R
Shaft (2019)	Christopher Lennertz	Larry Blanford	Conrad Buff IV	New Line Cinema Khalab Ink Society Davis Entertainment Netflix Original Films Warner Bros. Pictures Warner Bros. Digital Networks	Warner Bros. Pictures (USA) Netflix (International)	111 minutes	R

Reception

Box office performance

Film	Release date	Box office gross			Box office ranking		Budget	Ref.
		North America	Other territories	Worldwide	All time North America	All time worldwide
Shaft (1971)	July 2, 1971	$12,121,618	N/A	$12,121,618	#4,476	#5,704	$500,000	[4]
Shaft's Big Score!	June 8, 1972	$10,000,000	N/A	$10,000,000	#4,875	#6,204	$1,978,000	[5]
Shaft in Africa	June 14, 1973	$1,455,635	$1,079,615	$2,440,240[lower-alpha 2]	N/A	N/A	$2,142,000	[7][6]
Shaft (2000)	June 16, 2000	$70,327,868	$36,862,240	$107,190,108	#1,086	#1,377	$53,012,938	[8]
Shaft (2019)	June 14, 2019	$21,360,215	N/A	$21,360,215	TBA	TBA	$30,000,000	[9]

Critical and public response

Film	Rotten Tomatoes	Metacritic	CinemaScore
Shaft (1971)	88% (40 reviews)[10]	66 (10 reviews)[11]	N/A
Shaft's Big Score!	68% (11 reviews)[12]	N/A	N/A
Shaft in Africa	56% (9 reviews)[13]	N/A	N/A
Shaft (2000)	67% (115 reviews)[14]	50 (33 reviews)[15]	A-[16]
Shaft (2019)	31% (99 reviews)[17]	40 (30 reviews)[18]	A[16]

Other media

Unofficial prequel

According to writer/director, Quentin Tarantino, the characters in Django Unchained are ancestors of John Shaft. Broomhilda "Hildi" von Schaft, and Django Freeman as her husband, are the progenitors to the Shaft family line. Tarantino stated that while the film isn't an official prequel to the series, his intention was that the characters have familial ties.[19]

Notes

1. The 2019 sequel retcons him into being Shaft II's biological father, the film mentioning that Shaft I had spent years pretending to be his uncle.
2. Because there are no box office numbers available for Shaft in Africa, these figures are calculated off of home video rental sales.[6]

References

1. Hall, Jacob (August 18, 2017). "Jessie T. Usher is the 'Son of Shaft,' Samuel L. Jackson and Richard Roundtree Also Returning". /Film. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
2. Romano, Nick (February 2, 2018). "Shaft actors past and present assemble in photo from set of reboot". Entertainment Weekly. Meredith Corporation. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
3. Mooney, Joshua (August 15, 1997). "Scowling `Shaft' In His Past, Roundtree's Even Taking On Comedy". Philly.com. Philadelphia Media Network. Archived from the original on September 22, 2015. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
4. "Shaft (1971) - Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
5. "Shaft's Big Score (1972) - Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
6. Shaft in Africa (1973), The World of Shaft: A Guide to the Books, Films and TV Series, Steve Aldous, 2018
7. "Big Rental Films of 1973", Variety, January 9, 1974, p. 60.
8. "Shaft (2000) - Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
9. "Shaft (2019) - Financial Information". The Numbers. Production Budget: $30,000,000
10. "Shaft (1971)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
11. "Shaft (1971) Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
12. "Shaft's Big Score! (1972)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
13. "Shaft in Africa (1973)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
14. "Shaft (2000)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
15. "Shaft Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
16. "Cinemascore". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on 2018-12-20.
17. "Shaft (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes.
18. "Shaft (2019)". Metacritic.
19. The Deadline Team (July 14, 2012). "'Django Unchained' A 'Shaft' Prequel? So Says Quentin Tarantino: Comic-Con". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved May 15, 2018.