Shaft
When his best friend dies under suspicious circumstances, tech-savvy JJ seeks help from the one man he never knew—his legendary father, John Shaft Sr.—to take down a dangerous heroin ring in the heart of Harlem.
“More Shaft than you can handle.”
Synopsis
John Shaft Jr., also known as JJ, is a cyber security expert who holds a degree from MIT. When his best friend dies under suspicious circumstances, JJ turns to the only person he believes can help him uncover the truth—his estranged father, John Shaft. A legendary figure who has remained absent from JJ’s life, John Shaft agrees to guide his son through the dangerous and heroin-ridden streets of Harlem.
Credits
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How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
Principal cast & crew: 22
These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by Peter S ElliotShot by Larry BlanfordScored by Christopher LennertzDesigned by Wynn Thomas
Box Office
2019 · Box office
📉 Underperformed — grossed 0.7× its budget
Why 2.5×?
Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).
Worldwide gross
$21.4M
Opening weekend: $8.9M — 42% of its US run. Front-loaded — most of its money arrived opening weekend.
Opening week (7-day): $12.4M — 58% of its US & Canada run.
Peak 2,952 theaters
Also known as
- Son of Shaftde
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Cast & Crew
22 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Samuel L Jackson
as John Shaft
Jessie T Usher
as JJ Shaft
Joey Mekyten
as as Young Karim
Richard Roundtree
as John Shaft, Sr.
Regina Hall
as Maya Babanikos
Alexandra Shipp
as Sasha Arias
Matt Lauria
as Major Gary Cutworth
Titus Welliver
as Special Agent Vietti
Method Man
as Freddy P.
Isaach De Bankole
as Pierro 'Gordito' Carrera
Avan Jogia
as Karim Hassan
Directors
1Writers
3Producers
1Other crew
6Parents Guide
AI Personalities
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