Soul Food ( film ) - wikipedia Soul Food ( film ) For the television series based upon this film, see Soul Food ( TV series ). Soul Food Theatrical release poster Directed by George Tillman Jr. Produced by Kenneth `` Babyface '' Edmonds Tracey E. Edmonds Michael McQuarn Robert Teitel Llewellyn Wells Written by George Tillman, Jr. Starring Vanessa L. Williams Vivica A. Fox Nia Long Michael Beach Mekhi Phifer Jeffrey D. Sams Irma P. Hall Gina Ravera Brandon Hammond Music by Lisa Coleman Wendy Melvoin Cinematography Paul Elliott Edited by John Carter Distributed by 20th Century Fox Release date September 26, 1997 ( 1997 - 09 - 26 ) Running time 115 minutes Country United States Language English Budget $7.5 million Box office $43.7 million Soul Food is a 1997 American comedy - drama film produced by Kenneth `` Babyface '' Edmonds, Tracey Edmonds and Robert Teitel and released by Fox 2000 Pictures. Featuring an ensemble cast, the film stars Vanessa L. Williams, Vivica A. Fox, Nia Long, Michael Beach, Mekhi Phifer, Jeffrey D. Sams, Irma P. Hall, Gina Ravera and Brandon Hammond. Written and directed by George Tillman, Jr. -- in his major studio debut -- the film centers on the trials of an extended African - American family, held together by longstanding family traditions which begin to fade as serious problems take center stage. Tillman based the family in the film on his own and Soul Food was widely acclaimed for presenting a more positive image of African - Americans than is typically seen in Hollywood films. In 2000, Showtime premiered a one - hour television series based upon the film. In 2015, it was announced that 20th Century Fox is planning a sequel for film called More Soul Food, written by Tillman, Jr. Contents 1 Plot 2 Main cast 3 Production 4 Soundtrack 5 Reception 6 Awards and nominations 7 See also 8 References 9 External links Plot Soul Food is told through the eyes of 11 - year - old Ahmad ( Hammond ), following the trials of the Joseph family, a close - knit Chicago family that gets together to have Sunday dinner every week, with plenty of soul food to go around. Mother ( Big Mama ) Joe ( Hall ) has three daughters, who each have had varying success in life : oldest daughter Teri ( Williams ) has become a successful lawyer, but has a strained relationship with younger sister Maxine ( Fox ) who stole and eventually married Teri 's former boyfriend, Kenny ( Sams ). Teri is currently married to Miles ( Beach ), a lawyer who quit his job to pursue his dream of being an R&B musician, which Teri does n't support. Youngest daughter Robin ( Long ) -- nicknamed `` Bird '' -- has just opened a barbershop / beauty parlor and gotten married to Lem ( Phifer ), an ex-convict. Life becomes complicated when Big Mama, the diabetic but wise and caring matriarch of the family and the glue that holds it together, suffers a debilitating stroke during an operation to amputate her leg. She slips into a coma, dying shortly after sharing a last word of advice with Ahmad, Kenny and Maxine 's oldest child and her oldest and favorite grandchild, when she awakens five weeks later. Without her guidance, the family begins to fall apart in the interim. Teri takes in her troubled cousin Faith ( Ravera ), who bonds with Miles over a love of the arts. The two have an affair and are caught having sex by Teri, which later leads to a near - violent confrontation at Kenny and Maxine 's 11th wedding anniversary party when she furiously comes after the two with a butcher knife. Meanwhile, Lem can not find a job due to his criminal record, so Bird makes an uneasy deal with her former boyfriend, Simuel St. James ( Mel Jackson ), to get Lem a job. This creates tension between Lem and Bird when he finds out and in one of their arguments, Teri overhears and mistakenly believes Lem had physically threatened her sister, at which Teri hires her cousin Blimp to teach Lem a lesson. However, when the two men get into a fight that ends with Lem pulling out a gun, the police become involved, resulting in Lem being arrested on assault and unlawful weapon possession charges. Realizing her mistake, Teri calls in a few favors to have Lem released and later apologizes to him. By contrast, Kenny and Maxine 's relationship remains stable and they have their third child at the start of the film. However, they constantly call on Teri to pay for things for the family without paying the money back, which causes even more tension between the two oldest sisters. Throughout these events, Ahmad becomes worried about the state of his extended family and, following Big Mama 's passing, conspires to find a way to bring them all back together by telling his relatives about a stash of money that Big Mama had hidden away some time ago, but everyone dismisses him, believing it to be a myth. However, Ahmad manages to get everyone together for another Sunday dinner by promising them the whereabouts of the money. The dinner is uneasy as everyone starts to confront their issues and soon enough, thanks to Miles mentioning something about the money, they realize there is no money. Maxine chastises her son for lying, but Ahmad says tearfully that it was the only way to get everyone back together again, citing it was Big Mama 's dying wish. As Maxine comforts her son, the kitchen accidentally catches on fire due to Ahmad leaving a towel too close to the burner, and they all work together to try and to put it out. Shortly after they put the fire out, Uncle Pete ( John M. Watson Sr. ), Big Mama 's autistic brother who had n't left his room in what Ahmad says is `` something like ten years now, '' comes down with his television and drops it to reveal the money that Big Mama had hidden away. Things start to get better for the family : Miles still comes by for Sunday dinner even though he and Teri are divorcing, Teri has made peace with Maxine and decided not to sell her mother 's house, Lem and Bird are expecting their first child, Faith is finally becoming part of the family again and Uncle Pete starts to join the family as well. Main cast Vanessa Williams as Teri Vivica A. Fox as Maxine Nia Long as Bird Michael Beach as Miles Mekhi Phifer as Lem Gina Ravera as Faith Brandon Hammond as Ahmad Irma P. Hall as Mother Joe Jeffrey D. Sams as Kenny Halle Berry and Whitney Houston were both considered for the role of Teri. Regina King, Kenya Moore and Jada Pinkett - Smith were all considered for the role of Bird. Vivica A. Fox auditioned for the role of Teri, but landed the role of Maxine instead. The character Miles ( Michael Beach ) plays keyboards in an R&B group called `` Milestone '' ; the vocalists of the group are portrayed by two sibling teams of professional R&B performers : brothers K - Ci Hailey and Jo - Jo Hailey ( of Jodeci and K - Ci & JoJo ) ; and Babyface and his brothers Kevon Edmonds and Melvin Edmonds ( both of After 7 ). Malik Yoba makes a brief cameo as their studio engineer. Production Soul Food was shot primarily on location in the Chicago area. A later Tillman - produced film, Barbershop, would also take place in and be shot on location in Chicago. Soundtrack Main article : Soul Food ( soundtrack ) A soundtrack containing R&B and hip - hop was released on August 19, 1997 by LaFace Records. It peaked at # 3 on the Billboard 200 and was eventually certified 2x Multi-Platinum for over 2 million copies sold. Reception Soul Food received generally positive reviews from critics. It holds an 80 % approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 41 reviews. The film earned $43,700,855 during its original theatrical run. The film opened at # 3 in its opening weekend at $11,197,897 behind The Peacemaker 's opening weekend and In & Out 's second. Williams and Fox were nominated for an Image Award for `` Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture '' ; Williams won, while Hammond won for `` Outstanding Youth Actor / Actress '' and Hall won for `` Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture. '' Phifer and Hall both appeared in HBO 's 1999 adaptation of A Lesson Before Dying, the 1993 novel by Ernest J. Gaines. Hammond, Beach and Sams all appeared in the 1995 film Waiting to Exhale, where Beach played the father of Hammond. Soul Food spawned a follow - up cable television show on the Showtime network. Soul Food : The Series aired from 2000 - 2004 on Showtime and currently airs in reruns on TV One. Awards and nominations Acapulco Black Film Festival ( 1998 ) Best Film - Winner Best Actor ( Michael Beach ) - Nomination Best Actress ( Vivica A. Fox ) - Winner Best Actress ( Vanessa Williams ) - Nomination Best Soundtrack ( Various Artists ) - Nomination Best Director ( George Tillman, Jr. ) - Nomination Grammy Awards ( 1998 ) Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for a Television Series ( `` A Song for Mama '', music & lyrics by Kenneth `` Babyface '' Edmonds ) - Nomination MTV Movie Awards ( 1998 ) Best Female Performance ( Vivica A. Fox ) - Nomination Best Song ( `` A Song for Mama '', music & lyrics by Kenneth `` Babyface '' Edmonds ) - Nomination NAACP Image Awards ( 1998 ) Outstanding Motion Picture - Winner Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture ( Vivica. A Fox ) - Nomination Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture ( Vanessa Williams ) - Winner Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture ( Irma P. Hall ) - Winner Outstanding Youth Actor / Actress ( Brandon Hammond ) - Winner Satellite Awards ( 1998 ) Best Song ( `` A Song for Mama '', music & lyrics by Kenneth `` Babyface '' Edmonds ) - Nomination See also List of films featuring diabetes References Jump up ^ `` Soul Food ( 1997 ) ''. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved October 18, 2008. Jump up ^ Rebecca Ford ( 29 September 2015 ). `` ' Soul Food ' Sequel in the Works at Fox 2000 ( Exclusive ) ''. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 19 January 2016. Jump up ^ Vanessa L. Williams, who portrays Teri, is not to be confused with Vanessa A. Williams, who portrays Maxine in the television series based upon the film. Jump up ^ `` K - Ci and JoJo Hailey enjoy success as duo with new image, new album ' Love Always. ' ''. Jet. 1997 - 11 - 24. Retrieved 2008 - 11 - 28. Recently, they appeared in the movie, Soul Food, as a part of the group Milestone, which consists of hit - maker Kenneth `` Babyface '' Edmonds and his brothers, After 7 group members Kevon and Melvin Edmonds. Milestone performed its love ballad I Care ' Bout You in the movie, and the song is on the platinum soundtrack for the flick. Jump up ^ `` Soul Food ( 1997 ) - Box Office Mojo ''. Retrieved 19 January 2016. Jump up ^ `` Weekend Box Office Results for September 26 - 28, 1997 - Box Office Mojo ''. Retrieved 19 January 2016. External links Official website Soul Food at AllMovie Soul Food on IMDb Soul Food at Rotten Tomatoes Films directed by George Tillman Jr. Soul Food ( 1997 ) Men of Honor ( 2000 ) Notorious ( 2009 ) Faster ( 2010 ) The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete ( 2013 ) The Longest Ride ( 2015 ) The Hate U Give ( 2018 ) NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Motion Picture 1972 -- 2000 Lady Sings the Blues ( 1972 ) Let 's Do It Again ( 1976 ) The Greatest ( 1978 ) Fame ( 1980 ) Bustin ' Loose ( 1981 ) An Officer and a Gentleman ( 1982 ) A Soldier 's Story ( 1985 ) The Color Purple ( 1986 ) Lethal Weapon ( 1987 ) Coming to America ( 1988 ) Lean on Me ( 1989 ) Glory ( 1990 ) Boyz n the Hood ( 1992 ) Sister Act ( 1993 ) Malcolm X ( 1994 ) Waiting to Exhale ( 1996 ) A Time to Kill ( 1997 ) Soul Food ( 1998 ) How Stella Got Her Groove Back ( 1999 ) The Best Man ( 2000 ) 2001 -- present Remember the Titans ( 2001 ) Ali ( 2002 ) Antwone Fisher ( 2003 ) The Fighting Temptations ( 2004 ) Ray ( 2005 ) Crash ( 2006 ) The Pursuit of Happyness ( 2007 ) The Great Debaters ( 2008 ) The Secret Life of Bees ( 2009 ) Precious ( 2010 ) For Colored Girls ( 2011 ) The Help ( 2012 ) Red Tails ( 2013 ) 12 Years a Slave ( 2014 ) Selma ( 2015 ) Straight Outta Compton ( 2016 ) Hidden Figures ( 2017 ) Girls Trip ( 2018 ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Soul_Food_(film)&oldid=849524149 '' Categories : English - language films 1997 films Films set in Chicago Films shot in Chicago African - American films American films American comedy - drama films 20th Century Fox films Films adapted into television programs Films directed by George Tillman Jr. Directorial debut films Cooking films Films produced by Robert Teitel Talk Contents About Wikipedia Deutsch Français 日本 語 Polski Русский Edit links This page was last edited on 9 July 2018, at 16 : 03 ( UTC ). Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: when did the movie soul food come out
Answer: September 26, 1997