Hidden Figures

Eventually, some movie will unseat Rogue One: A Star Wars Story from its spot at the top of the box office charts. That movie will not be Hidden Figures, but man, it sure came close. Unless the final numbers shift ever-so-slightly, the drama about the African American women behind the math that helped launch NASA's first space missions came this close to unseating the massively successful blockbuster, taking the runner-up position by less than $1 million.

There are few things I’m more excited about right now than the start of Janelle Monae’s acting career. The R&B funk singer made her big screen debut earlier this year in Barry Jenkins Moonlight, which she is wonderful in, and next up she’ll crack some quips in Theodore Melfi’s Hidden Figures. That film, which also stars Taraji P. Henson and Octavia Spencer, is the next thing I’m most excited about.

It’s still not easy for women in the STEM industry, and it was even harder in the 1960s. It’s rare to get a glimpse behind the scenes of auspicious historical events like the success of Project Mercury, and even rarer for the movie to look like so much fun. The new trailer for Hidden Figures gives us just that, with Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monáe portraying the real-life women who helped NASA get ahead in the Space Race that seems as honest to history as it is entertaining.