Well, you can’t be right all the time. I just knew that Kevin Hart’s concert film “What Now?” would be No. 1 one at the box office this weekend. Finally, a black film that black people actually wanted to see (Ha-ha!). Put Hart in anything and audiences will apparently flock to see it. It turns out I was wrong. “Kevin Hart: What Now?” did not open in first place this weekend, and in fact, it was beaten by another film that performed twice as well.
I’m referring to the Ben Affleck action/thriller “The Accountant,” which holds the record for the most preposterous premise of the year – that being, about an autistic math savant and accountant, with obsessive compulsive disorder, who also happens to be lethal super assassin, while laundering dirty money from drug cartels on the side. And what does he do on his days off?
The film was No. 1 this weekend, grossing $24.7 million, which is pretty good for the modestly budgeted (in terms of Hollywood studio films) $40 million picture.
But don’t cry for Hart; at least not yet. His stand-up comedy special “What Now?” came in second place, with just under $12 million. However, being a concert film, it didn’t cost much to produce, and the film has actually already made back its production cost, plus more potentially. Furthermore, it looks like it’s headed to becoming the highest grossing stand-up comedy film ever, beating out the still current record holder, Eddie Murphy’s “Raw,” which grossed $50 million back in 1987 ($106 million in today’s dollars).
Meanwhile, Lionsgate must be wondering what went wrong with the their film, “Deepwater Horizon”. It is actually pulling in decent numbers, earning $77 million worldwide so far; but with a production budget that went out of control, leading to a $156 million price tag, the studio knows that the film will be a huge loss for them. And this comes at a time when they badly could use a hit movie. No doubt they’re crossing their fingers that their Mel Gibson-directed World War II film “Hacksaw Ridge”, coming out next month, will be the box office winner that they need.
The controversial “Birth of a Nation” continues to sink, landing in 10th place this weekend, with a 61 % drop-off in earnings, taking in $2.7 million, for a total so far of just over $12 million. But let’s get a few things out of the way. Over the past week, there were a number of allegations made about the film that I want to address.
First of all, I’ve come across articles by supporters of the film, claiming that it was actually a box office hit, and that it’s all just haters and black feminists with a grudge against Nate Parker who are claiming the film is a flop. This is a ridiculous claim. The film cost somewhere between $9-10 million to make, was bought by Fox Searchlight for $17.5 million, and they spent nearly that much in marketing. It would have to make at least $65 million before Searchlight can even start talking about it being a profitable investment, and it’s clear that it’s not going to earn anywhere that amount. Now could it become a profitable film for them in the long run, after it’s released overseas, plus home video sales, rentals, streaming rights, TV rights, etc? Possibly. Possibly not. But it’s a domestic box office bust. Deal with it.
Second, there’s a conspiracy theory being spread about how Searchlight wanted to take down Nate Parker for making such a political film, and that he was a threat to the establishment, and so Fox Searchlight conspired to hurt him and the film by first buying it for $17.5 million, then pouring millions into marketing it, only to then make sure that it failed at the box office. This is about as stupid a reason as I’ve ever heard. Hollywood is in the business of making money and Fox would not have spent tens of millions of dollars on a film only to sabotage it. Any studio executive who even remotely had an idea like that would have been fired faster than his/her head could spin. If they seriously thought that Parker and “Nation” were that dangerous, then it would have been a lot simpler to not have bought the film in the first place, and spend the money on something else less risky.
Lastly, something else I’ve heard and read a lot last week, and something you always hear after a black film bombs the box office, is that the failure of the film will make it more difficult for black filmmakers to get other projects made by Hollywood studios. Well considering that black feature films get made all the time (and that we report on them practically every day on this very site), it’s safe to say that, despite everything, black filmmakers are still getting their films made at the studio level, and outside of it.
Also Hollywood doesn’t really make black films. The actual number of Hollywood studio-backed black films is very small, compared to all the non-race-specific movies that are made. The overwhelming majority of black films produced are independently financed projects. Even when a Hollywood studio or a distribution company releases a black film, it’s often an independently-produced black film that was picked up for distribution. As a recent article about black films stated, “black films are acquired, not developed by studios”.
Even a film like “Fences”, which Paramount co-produced and is releasing this December, would not have been made if the studio did not get co-financing partners such as Charles King’s MACRO Ventures (and with whom I’ll be posting an interview later this week) to come on board.
It’s really hard to be a filmmaker who gets to actually make films (especially feature-length), but its twice as hard to be a black filmmaker. Just because a black film is successful at the box office isn’t a guarantee that all black filmmakers are getting flooded with offers to get their projects off the ground. Not bloody likely! Universal’s “Straight out of Compton” made $160 million domestically, and it’s the highest-grossing black film ever made; but you didn’t see Universal go out and greenlight 10 new black films by black filmmakers because of the success of “Compton”, did you?. For black filmmakers, it has always been a struggle, and the success or failure of a black film doesn’t change that fact.
Finally, the superhero move “Max Steel”, which Open Road released, tanked on its opening weekend, coming in at 11th place. But I have to admit that I’d never heard of the film, or knew it was coming out this weekend, before today. And who is this Max Steel anyway?
The top 12 grossing films this weekend follow below:
1) The Accountant WB $24,715,000
2) Kevin Hart: What Now? Uni. $11,984,245
3) The Girl on the Train Uni. $11,974,915 Total: $46,558,510
4) Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children Fox $8,900,000 Total: $65,832,789
5) Deepwater Horizon LG/S $6,350,000 Total: $49,335,332
6) Storks WB $5,600,000 Total: $59,144,046
7) The Magnificent Seven Sony $5,200,000 Total: $84,827,562
8) Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life LGF $4,250,000 -Total: $13,760,795
9) Sully WB $2,960,000 Total: $118,371,637
10) The Birth of a Nation FoxS $2,715,000 Total: $12,243,134
11) Max Steel ORF $2,163,720
12) Masterminds Rela. $1,700,000 Total: $16,211,406