AFI MOVIE CLUB AND UNIVERSAL PICTURES Unite To Bring Us “BLACK STORIES MATTER” Highlighting “Straight Outta Compton”

On Monday, August 24th, AFI and Universal Pictures announced the launch of a week-long AFI Movie Club event called “Black Stories Matter,” spotlighting diverse and unique narratives from celebrated Black films. Today’s film – along with other films highlighted this week – will be available to rent for free on major streaming platforms through Aug. 30 as part of a week-long AFI Movie Club event.

Did you know, Straight Outta Compton earned over $60.2 million in its opening weekend and earned over $200 million at the worldwide box office, making it the highest-grossing movie from a Black director at the time. Following the film’s release, N.W.A’s hit “Straight Outta Compton” cracked Billboard’s Top 40 for the first time, in…wait for it: 27 years after the song’s original release!

In celebration of today’s story, film critic Shawn Edwards has an in-depth discussion with rapper and producer Ice Cube, and cinematographer Matthew Libatique (AFI Class of 2015) talks about the making of the movie in today’s “Behind the Scene” featurette. This exclusive AFI content can be viewed on AFI.com/MovieClub and YouTube.com/AFI.