Black Films 2014 : A Year in Review
Eric T. Elder
At a recent Black Writers Conference, actor Jeffery
Wright stated that there was no black cinema, because there is no black
financing to equal the talent of creators. “What we have to improve on is
claiming our own identity our own story and capitalizing”, he said.
I personally would love to see not just more black films
but with more diverse subject matter. It
seems like mostly what we see or what gets attention are “slave movies” and
“struggle” movies.
It also doesn’t seem like the amount of black film
produced each year, is proportionate to the population. So I decided to check it out.
The population of the US is %14.2 black which makes up about
45M potential black movie goers.
123 major studio films were released last year and out of
them 11 were black. That puts the number
of black films at exactly %8, a bit less than the population.
There are so many issues besides financing that arise
when having a conversation about “Black Cinema”. What is it? How do you define or distinguish
a “black” film?
I’ve decided to take a look at each film this past year
that I would consider “Black” based on the following criteria:
·
The lead actor(s) are black and featured
prominently in the marketing
·
The writer, director and/or executive
producer(s) are black
·
The film deals with “black” issues and/or
culture in its theme
·
Amount of screen time with all or mostly black
actors
·
Amount of black financing
The films are listed in order of 2014 release.
Ride Along,
Blackness Level = 9
A solid comedy starring Kevin Hart and Ice Cube who were
featured prominently in the marketing.
It was written and directed by a black filmmaker, Tim
Story, and there were at least a few black producers including Ice Cube.
With only a $25M production budget this film had an
astounding $41M opening weekend , breaking box office records for January and
then went on to gross $134M domestically.
One interesting thing to note is that based on the script
this film could have played with the two principals being any race. There is nothing specific to the story that
requires the main actors to be black.
Not dealing with black issues in particular gives the film from a story
perspective a crossover opportunity. The
story has a universal theme in which a man wants to prove himself to his
overprotective mate’s brother.
The opening weekend demographics show that only half the
audience was black, %30 Hispanic and %12 white.
The audience was %57 female and mostly over the age of 25.
Tyler Perry Single
Mom’s Club, Blackness Level = 8
This comedy/drama stars Nia Long and was written,
directed and produced by Tyler Perry who also has a role in the film.
This film was the lowest box office open for a Tyler
Perry movie to date with $8M and only earned $15M domestically.
The film scores highly on the blackness scale as Perry
has a unique position in Hollywood to be one of the few individuals with the
power and resources to write, produce, direct and star in his own films.
Brick Mansions,
Blackness Level = 3
This action film starred Paul Walker (in one of his final
roles), David Belle and the villain was played by the RZA. The two main
henchmen to the RZA’s character K2 and Rayzor are also black and played by
Gouchy Boy and Ayisha Issa respectively.
There are many other back actors with non-speaking roles playing various
thugs and soldiers. There does not seem to be any blacks credited with writing,
directing or producing this film.
Hercules,
Blackness Level = 1
There does not seem to be any other black actors,
writers, directors or producers associated with this film.
Get On Up,
Blackness Level = 7
This bio pic about James Brown starred Chadwick Boseman
who did a fantastic job here as well as his previous performance as Jackie
Robinson in 42 the year before. This
film not only tells the story of one of the most influential black entertainers
of our time but also one who spoke out on issues of race and inequality.
There does not seem to be any blacks credited with
writing, directing or producing this film.
No Good Deed,
Blackness Level = 7
This film stars Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson in what
seems to be a small new niche genre “the black thriller”.
Here is another case where the principal actors could
have been any race and would not have impacted the story. As a matter of fact you would usually expect
the leads in a film like this to be white.
The budget was only $13M but in the opening weekend the
film earned $24M and had a total gross of over $50M. I think this further proves that casting
strong black actors in stories that are not particularly black in theme can
attract a more diverse audience and be hugely successful at the box office.
Neither the writer or director were black but both Taraji
P. Henson and Idris Elba are credited as producers along with Rob Hardy another
black producer.
The Equalizer,
Blackness Level = 4
This film stars Denzel Washington and is significant in
that the film is based on a TV property where the lead character was
white. Denzel is one of those few black
actors though who I think has “crossed over” and can draw a considerable white
audience as well as black and Hispanic.
The Director Antione Fuqua who has had success partnering
with Denzel Washington before with the film Training Day, is also black. There are however no blacks credited for
writing or producing other than Denzel who is credited as an executive
producer.
Besides Denzel there are no other significant black
characters. The film also does not deal
with any particular black issues and could easily have starred an actor of
another race without altering the story which makes perfect sense looking at
the source material.
Beyond The Lights,
Blackness Level = 10
This romance drama stars virtual new comers Gugu
Mbatha-Raw and Nate Parker. The writer
and director is black female filmmaker Gina Prince-Bythewood most well known
for her film Love & Basketball.
The film did not do huge numbers at the box office but
still grossed $14M on a $7M production budget.
Gina Prince-Bythewood issued a public plea over the
internet for her film sharing that she had to fight for years to get it made
and declaring her commitment to create films that “focus on people of color as
real people”.
She goes on to say “I want us to look up on the screen
and see ourselves reflected beautifully.”
The producers include Gina’s husband and partner Reggie
Rock Blythewood, Stephanie Allain and Amar’e Stoudemire who are also black.
Top Five,
Blackness Level = 9
This originally independent film by Chris Rock who wrote,
starred, directed and financed the film on a reported shoe string budget became
the object of a studio bidding war after screening at a film festival
ultimately being picked up by Paramount for $12.5M. This is a highly unusual pathway for a film
but one that could be an interesting strategy to get more black films made.
It does deal with some black issues and culture. The
title refers to characters in the film comparing their own top 5 list of greatest
MCs in Hip Hop. Although the main theme,
a modern day Cinderella story, mixed with an artist trying to get his mojo
back, are quite universal. The film also
deals with the issue of addiction as both main characters are recovering
alcoholics.
Annie, Blackness
Level = 6
Annie is an intellectual property which is close to 100
years old. Originally a comic strip
“Little Orphan Annie” which debuted in 1924 and was later a hit Broadway
musical in 1977 and then a hit feature film in 1982.
One remarkable distinguishing factor of this 2014 version
is that it stars black actors Quvenzhané Wallis and Jamie Foxx in the lead
roles of the characters of Annie and Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks (updated as Will
Stacks) which have in every other iteration been white.
Rapper Jay-Z had a huge hit single and album in 1998
entitled “Hard Knock Life” which sampled the most famous song from the 1977
Annie musical. This was at the time Jay
Z’s most successful effort and marked his transition to becoming a cross over
artist. This may have contributed to his
decision to partner with Will Smith and his Overbrook Entertainment to produce
this new film adaption.
Despite the Sony hack which released the entire film over
the internet weeks before it’s official release, opening against the 3rd Hobbit
movie and some horrid reviews the film still managed to earn $84M at the box
office on a $65M production budget.
Selma, Blackness
Level = 10
Most of the major players in this historic drama about
the genesis of Martin Luther King Jr.’s
march on Washington are black, including star David Oleyowo. There are also bit parts for Oprah Winfrey
who also has a producing credit and Common.
The film is helmed by black female director Ava DuVernay .
An incredibly inspiring film, you don’t get much blacker
than this due to the content although the writer and most of the producers are
white.
I think it’s a very interesting time in the world of
black film and am excited to see what happens in 2015 and beyond.
