Gravitas Ventures has secured the U.S. rights to Nick Broomfield’s documentary “Last Man Standing: Suge Knight and the Murders of Biggie & Tupac.”
The distributor will release the film, which is a sequel of sorts to the British filmmaker’s notorious 2002 docu “Biggie & Tupac,” in U.S. theaters this fall before seeking a home on a major streaming platform. The doc is currently slated to hit cinemas on Aug. 20.
“Last Man Standing” presents a comprehensive history of the tragic rap feud some 25 years on, while also examining more recent allegations made by former LAPD detective Russel Poole that the murder of 24-year-old Christopher Wallace — who is better known as Biggie Smalls or The Notorious B.I.G. — was commissioned by Knight, with the help of corrupt LAPD officers.
Wallace died in March 1997 after being shot four times in a Los Angeles drive-by shooting, six months after the killing of rap rival Tupac Shakur in Nevada.
In 2006, Wallace’s mother, Voletta Wallace; his widow, singer Faith Evans; and his children, T’yanna Jackson and Christopher Jordan “CJ” Wallace, filed a $400 million wrongful death lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department. The long-running legal battle was eventually thrown out in 2010, but Broomfield says his doc offers compelling evidence of the LAPD’s complicity.
“This is a film of conviction,” Broomfield says. “I really believe that the LAPD were involved [in the murder of Biggie Smalls] and I really believed in Voletta’s lawsuit. I was horrified to see the way they were sort of derailed constantly by the LAPD and their machinations.
“I very much hope that [through] the film, with the help of [retired FBI agent] Phil Carson and so on, there will be some kind of resolution. I would very much like the film to be a part of that.”
International distribution rights for the BBC-commissioned doc are being handled by Abacus Media Rights, while U.K. rights (excluding free TV) are with Dogwoof.
“Last Man Standing: Suge Knight and the Murders of Biggie & Tupac” was produced by South Central Project Ltd, with Broomfield, Pam Brooks, Kyle Gibbon, Shani Hinton and Marc Hoeferlin producing, and the BBC’s Jan Younghusband and Patrick Holland exec producing, alongside EPs Charles Finach and RJ Bond.