6. Fruitvale Station Is Released One Day Before The George Zimmerman Trial Verdict
The Movie: Ryan Coogler's 2013 movie depicts the death of 22-year-old Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan), a young black man shot and killed by a white police officer under dubious circumstances in 2009. The Release: Fruitvale Station was released on July 12, 2013, just one day before the trial verdict of George Zimmerman, the white Hispanic Florida man charged with second-degree murder after shooting dead 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman was ultimately acquitted, and the film's presence in cinemas couldn't have been better-timed, a reminder of injustice and the outrage surrounding white-on-black violence. Though TWC claimed that it wasn't deliberately drawing a parallel between the film and the case, ads for the movie aired during trial coverage, and writer-director Coogler had no qualms about mentioning Zimmerman while doing the press rounds.