7 Reasons Marvel's New Spider-Man Should Be Black
- Thread starter raze
- Start date
Why is Garfield out?
He makes some good points.
Agreed.
I could really see Jaden Smith as the next Spider Man / Miles Morales.
Sheeeeiiiiiitttt......
If Hollywood can make different 9 Star Wars films.... then Jade is young enough to have a 'core audience' that will support him in multiple sequels over the next 20 years, as he gets older.
And if Matt Damon made 3 different 'Bourne Identity' movies.... Jaden could get AT LEAST 5 good movies out of this Spidey role.
Just saying.
If it doesn't happen its because Hollywood only doles out what I call "The Formula" mainly to whites and those very few non whites they want to push for whatever reason like Will Smith.
Smith didn't become a big ticket box office draw overnight but there was two films that were his turning point
The first two films he had supporting roles but impressed people with his acting skills enough to be taken seriously.
Then he does The Fresh Prince of Belair and thats a hit so now he has some heat. Then he proves his acting chops by holding his own with Donald Sutherland and Stockard Channing in straight drama 6 Degrees of Separation (playing a gay character btw).
But its the next 2 flicks that propels him into the stratosphere.
Bad Boys and Independence Day
Bad Boys was an action flick that showed he could fill out the screen. In fact you can isolate the scene that did it for him. The foot chase scene in Bad Boys. Both he and Martin looked absolutely heroic.
then he follows that up with ID4. A scifi action special effects driven flick.. The real draw of this movie was watching the massive destruction scenes and dogfights with alien ships.
While Smith was one of many in the ensemble cast he stood out and ate up the scenery in another heroic turn.
then he follows that with Men In Black. Teamed with Tommy Lee Jones as a pass for white and overseas audiences it was clear by that time that all eyes were on Smith to drive the action/hero antics. But it was a scifi film largely driven by really cool special effects and action.
Then came Enemy Of The State an action/thriller where again he's teamed with an older white man (this time gene hackman) again for the pass. Then Wild West with Kevin Kline and even tho that was a critical flop it STILL made a shit load of money overseas because of the steampunk scifi and action.
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zmfas9mSh64/VLwfHd6qsjI/AAAAAAAAHpU/q7ckXwH-Olg/s1600/ws2.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zmfas9mSh64/VLwfHd6qsjI/AAAAAAAAHpU/q7ckXwH-Olg/s1600/ws2.jpg" /></a>
Then he goes back to artistic drama with Bagger Vance
and gets an oscar nom for Ali
Then its back to the formula with tried and true scifi and or action sequels MIB2 and Bad Boys 2. You don't see Will Smith alone on the poster in a big budget tentpole flick until I, Robot but by then he's a proven product and the movie is nothing but robots, action and the future...super safe bet for overseas audience and even cacs here.
You see the pattern right? Well you seen it before..with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sly Stallone, Tom Cruise, Claude Van Damme, Steven Segal. Damn near all the 80s action heroes were developed this way. Given lead or costarring roles in heavy action, martial arts, scifi, thriller roles with broad appeal. And shipped all over the world.
If thats the formula and its proven to work...then heres the question again..
why can't they do that with Chadwick Boseman, Idris Elba, Chiwetel Edjiofor or David Oyelowelo,Anthony Mackie?? Why can't OSCAR NOMIMINEE Quvenzhane Wallis be slated for a Young Adult franchise like Shailene Woodley (Divergent) and Jennifer Lawrence (Hunger Games)??
what makes will smith so special that in 20 years he's the ONLY non white actor to get this treatment?? Shit you saw them say DON'T put fucking DENZEL WASHINGTON in big productions
So what devil did Will Smith make a deal with or whose dick did he suck to get the golden ticket he's had?
Oh I forgot.it worked BRIEFLY for Chris Tucker in the Rush Hour films. Teamed with one of the most popular stars worldwide + martial arts and gunplay action + Chris bringing the funny black badassitude = HUGE BOX OFFICE HIT ALL OVER THE PLANET. Its the reason why Chris's pay checks look like this:
Friday (1995).......... $15,000
Dead Presidents (1995)..$25,000
Money Talks (1997)......$2,000,000
Rush Hour (1998)........$3,000,000
Rush Hour 2 (2001)......$20,000,000
Rush Hour 3 (2007)......$25,000,000
so we see that the formula works. Trust this everything in hollywood is tested, studied and formulated..they KNOW what sells and how to sell it. Broad comedy and broad action (particularly scifi action) is what crosses over best all over the planet.
Remember The Formula is: ACTION/THRILLER + SPECIAL FX + SCIFI + COMEDY (MAYBE DRAMA DEPENDING ON SUBJECT MATTER) = GLOBAL CHA-CHING!!
Wanna know how I know? Google THE HIGHEST GROSSING ACTOR IN XX year...here's the results for the last 3 years from Forbes:
HIGHEST GROSSING ACTOR (MALE/FEMALE) 2014
Jennifer Lawrence
Global Box Office: $1.4 billion
Lawrence starred in two giant blockbuster hits this year: Mockingjay and X-Men: Days Of Future Past. With another Hunger Games movie on tap for 2015 she'll continue to be big at the box office.
Chris Pratt
Global Box Office: $1.2 billion
Guardians of the Galaxy was the surprise hit of 2014 giving Pratt $772 at the box office. But he also lent his voice to The Lego Movie as lead Lego Emmet.
HIGHEST GROSSING ACTOR 2013
Dwayne Johnson
$1.3 billion
The Rock tops our list this year thanks to 'Fast & Furious 6,' which grossed $789 million at the global box office, plus 'G.I. Joe' and 'Pain & Gain.'
HIGHEST GROSSING ACTOR 2012
Robert Downey Jr.
$1.5 billion
Thanks to The Avengers, Downey is the top-grossing actor of the year. The film is the third highest-grossing of all time behind Titanic and Avatar. Although the movie was an ensemble, we only counted Downey as the star because he is the star who will walk away with the biggest payday from the film.
you see what all of these flicks have in common right..and a BLACK MAN scored the top slot to boot. And chris pratt...this dude went from playing a FOOL on a middling rated tv show where he was a SUPPORTING character to the lead of comic book movie based on a middling selling title from the 70s! and because of the FORMULA is now an A-list star set to reboot the Jurassic Park franchise and well as more GOTG installments. Basically pratt was a fucking NOBODY and they made him a SOMEBODY just like that.
But here's the kicker we've seen it with BLACK actors..Will Smith, Chris Tucker, Dwayne Johnson...the formula WORKS theyre just picking and choosing WHO they want it to work FOR.
The studios pump out 2-3 dozen movies a year theyre really depending on 3 or 4 tentpole flicks to make that financial nut for the year. Understand MOST of the films that come out either make a small profit or underperform and they just write that shit off. EXCEPT for films with minority casts then suddenly the excuses start to pile up on why they can't do certain things. White movie flops its a write off..black movie flops well maybe we shouldn't do...maybe it doesn't sell well, we don't know how to market blah blah..its all arbitrary.
So there's no real reason to NOT do a Miles Morales Spiderman flick..if they don't its because they DON'T WANT TO...
Smith didn't become a big ticket box office draw overnight but there was two films that were his turning point
The first two films he had supporting roles but impressed people with his acting skills enough to be taken seriously.
Then he does The Fresh Prince of Belair and thats a hit so now he has some heat. Then he proves his acting chops by holding his own with Donald Sutherland and Stockard Channing in straight drama 6 Degrees of Separation (playing a gay character btw).
But its the next 2 flicks that propels him into the stratosphere.
Bad Boys and Independence Day
Bad Boys was an action flick that showed he could fill out the screen. In fact you can isolate the scene that did it for him. The foot chase scene in Bad Boys. Both he and Martin looked absolutely heroic.
then he follows that up with ID4. A scifi action special effects driven flick.. The real draw of this movie was watching the massive destruction scenes and dogfights with alien ships.
While Smith was one of many in the ensemble cast he stood out and ate up the scenery in another heroic turn.
then he follows that with Men In Black. Teamed with Tommy Lee Jones as a pass for white and overseas audiences it was clear by that time that all eyes were on Smith to drive the action/hero antics. But it was a scifi film largely driven by really cool special effects and action.
Then came Enemy Of The State an action/thriller where again he's teamed with an older white man (this time gene hackman) again for the pass. Then Wild West with Kevin Kline and even tho that was a critical flop it STILL made a shit load of money overseas because of the steampunk scifi and action.
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zmfas9mSh64/VLwfHd6qsjI/AAAAAAAAHpU/q7ckXwH-Olg/s1600/ws2.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zmfas9mSh64/VLwfHd6qsjI/AAAAAAAAHpU/q7ckXwH-Olg/s1600/ws2.jpg" /></a>
Then he goes back to artistic drama with Bagger Vance
and gets an oscar nom for AliThen its back to the formula with tried and true scifi and or action sequels MIB2 and Bad Boys 2. You don't see Will Smith alone on the poster in a big budget tentpole flick until I, Robot but by then he's a proven product and the movie is nothing but robots, action and the future...super safe bet for overseas audience and even cacs here.
You see the pattern right? Well you seen it before..with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sly Stallone, Tom Cruise, Claude Van Damme, Steven Segal. Damn near all the 80s action heroes were developed this way. Given lead or costarring roles in heavy action, martial arts, scifi, thriller roles with broad appeal. And shipped all over the world.
If thats the formula and its proven to work...then heres the question again..
why can't they do that with Chadwick Boseman, Idris Elba, Chiwetel Edjiofor or David Oyelowelo,Anthony Mackie?? Why can't OSCAR NOMIMINEE Quvenzhane Wallis be slated for a Young Adult franchise like Shailene Woodley (Divergent) and Jennifer Lawrence (Hunger Games)??
what makes will smith so special that in 20 years he's the ONLY non white actor to get this treatment?? Shit you saw them say DON'T put fucking DENZEL WASHINGTON in big productions
So what devil did Will Smith make a deal with or whose dick did he suck to get the golden ticket he's had?Oh I forgot.it worked BRIEFLY for Chris Tucker in the Rush Hour films. Teamed with one of the most popular stars worldwide + martial arts and gunplay action + Chris bringing the funny black badassitude = HUGE BOX OFFICE HIT ALL OVER THE PLANET. Its the reason why Chris's pay checks look like this:
Friday (1995).......... $15,000
Dead Presidents (1995)..$25,000
Money Talks (1997)......$2,000,000
Rush Hour (1998)........$3,000,000
Rush Hour 2 (2001)......$20,000,000
Rush Hour 3 (2007)......$25,000,000
so we see that the formula works. Trust this everything in hollywood is tested, studied and formulated..they KNOW what sells and how to sell it. Broad comedy and broad action (particularly scifi action) is what crosses over best all over the planet.
Remember The Formula is: ACTION/THRILLER + SPECIAL FX + SCIFI + COMEDY (MAYBE DRAMA DEPENDING ON SUBJECT MATTER) = GLOBAL CHA-CHING!!
Wanna know how I know? Google THE HIGHEST GROSSING ACTOR IN XX year...here's the results for the last 3 years from Forbes:
HIGHEST GROSSING ACTOR (MALE/FEMALE) 2014
Jennifer Lawrence
Global Box Office: $1.4 billion
Lawrence starred in two giant blockbuster hits this year: Mockingjay and X-Men: Days Of Future Past. With another Hunger Games movie on tap for 2015 she'll continue to be big at the box office.
Chris Pratt
Global Box Office: $1.2 billion
Guardians of the Galaxy was the surprise hit of 2014 giving Pratt $772 at the box office. But he also lent his voice to The Lego Movie as lead Lego Emmet.
HIGHEST GROSSING ACTOR 2013
Dwayne Johnson
$1.3 billion
The Rock tops our list this year thanks to 'Fast & Furious 6,' which grossed $789 million at the global box office, plus 'G.I. Joe' and 'Pain & Gain.'
HIGHEST GROSSING ACTOR 2012
Robert Downey Jr.
$1.5 billion
Thanks to The Avengers, Downey is the top-grossing actor of the year. The film is the third highest-grossing of all time behind Titanic and Avatar. Although the movie was an ensemble, we only counted Downey as the star because he is the star who will walk away with the biggest payday from the film.
you see what all of these flicks have in common right..and a BLACK MAN scored the top slot to boot. And chris pratt...this dude went from playing a FOOL on a middling rated tv show where he was a SUPPORTING character to the lead of comic book movie based on a middling selling title from the 70s! and because of the FORMULA is now an A-list star set to reboot the Jurassic Park franchise and well as more GOTG installments. Basically pratt was a fucking NOBODY and they made him a SOMEBODY just like that.
But here's the kicker we've seen it with BLACK actors..Will Smith, Chris Tucker, Dwayne Johnson...the formula WORKS theyre just picking and choosing WHO they want it to work FOR.
The studios pump out 2-3 dozen movies a year theyre really depending on 3 or 4 tentpole flicks to make that financial nut for the year. Understand MOST of the films that come out either make a small profit or underperform and they just write that shit off. EXCEPT for films with minority casts then suddenly the excuses start to pile up on why they can't do certain things. White movie flops its a write off..black movie flops well maybe we shouldn't do...maybe it doesn't sell well, we don't know how to market blah blah..its all arbitrary.
So there's no real reason to NOT do a Miles Morales Spiderman flick..if they don't its because they DON'T WANT TO...
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Agreed.
I could really see Jaden Smith as the next Spider Man / Miles Morales.
Sheeeeiiiiiitttt......
If Hollywood can make different 9 Star Wars films.... then Jade is young enough to have a 'core audience' that will support him in multiple sequels over the next 20 years, as he gets older.
And if Matt Damon made 3 different 'Bourne Identity' movies.... Jaden could get AT LEAST 5 good movies out of this Spidey role.
Just saying.
Not a bad choice. He'll need to put on a little bit of weight.
Seems like the only time they promote a black hero is if they make him black and piss off white readers rather than create decant black heroes from scratch and promoting them... Seems more like they are really doing in introducing the youth to the myth affirmative action and how it is used to benefit blacks while taking away jobs and opportunity from whites.
There is a lot of subliminal psychology behind this bullshit..
There is a lot of subliminal psychology behind this bullshit..
Agreed.
I could really see Jaden Smith as the next Spider Man / Miles Morales.
Sheeeeiiiiiitttt......
If Hollywood can make different 9 Star Wars films.... then Jade is young enough to have a 'core audience' that will support him in multiple sequels over the next 20 years, as he gets older.
And if Matt Damon made 3 different 'Bourne Identity' movies.... Jaden could get AT LEAST 5 good movies out of this Spidey role.
Just saying.
looks like a social media viral campaign if I ever saw one
I stopped watching when he spoke about "Miles is in an interracial relationship and this is new on screen."
It's not new to comics that's for fuck sure. Besides Storm's parents. And like 2 years roughly of Storm and Black Panther. I can't think of 1 other black person in comics who's with their own kind. Not 1.
There was Bronze Tiger and Vixen for awhile back in the 80's. Can't think of any really in the 90's.
It's not new to comics that's for fuck sure. Besides Storm's parents. And like 2 years roughly of Storm and Black Panther. I can't think of 1 other black person in comics who's with their own kind. Not 1.
There was Bronze Tiger and Vixen for awhile back in the 80's. Can't think of any really in the 90's.
I dont want to see Jaden Smith in another role of any kind, period. He need to take his weird, skinny jeans and dress wearing ass somewhere at sat down. And he can take his equally weird ass sister with him!
If it doesn't happen its because Hollywood only doles out what I call "The Formula" mainly to whites and those very few non whites they want to push for whatever reason like Will Smith.
Smith didn't become a big ticket box office draw overnight but there was two films that were his turning point
The first two films he had supporting roles but impressed people with his acting skills enough to be taken seriously.
Then he does The Fresh Prince of Belair and thats a hit so now he has some heat. Then he proves his acting chops by holding his own with Donald Sutherland and Stockard Channing in straight drama 6 Degrees of Separation (playing a gay character btw).
But its the next 2 flicks that propels him into the stratosphere.
Bad Boys and Independence Day
Bad Boys was an action flick that showed he could fill out the screen. In fact you can isolate the scene that did it for him. The foot chase scene in Bad Boys. Both he and Martin looked absolutely heroic.
then he follows that up with ID4. A scifi action special effects driven flick.. The real draw of this movie was watching the massive destruction scenes and dogfights with alien ships.
While Smith was one of many in the ensemble cast he stood out and ate up the scenery in another heroic turn.
then he follows that with Men In Black. Teamed with Tommy Lee Jones as a pass for white and overseas audiences it was clear by that time that all eyes were on Smith to drive the action/hero antics. But it was a scifi film largely driven by really cool special effects and action.
Then came Enemy Of The State an action/thriller where again he's teamed with an older white man (this time gene hackman) again for the pass. Then Wild West with Kevin Kline and even tho that was a critical flop it STILL made a shit load of money overseas because of the steampunk scifi and action.
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zmfas9mSh64/VLwfHd6qsjI/AAAAAAAAHpU/q7ckXwH-Olg/s1600/ws2.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zmfas9mSh64/VLwfHd6qsjI/AAAAAAAAHpU/q7ckXwH-Olg/s1600/ws2.jpg" /></a>
Then he goes back to artistic drama with Bagger Vance
Then its back to the formula with tried and true scifi and or action sequels MIB2 and Bad Boys 2. You don't see Will Smith alone on the poster in a big budget tentpole flick until I, Robot but by then he's a proven product and the movie is nothing but robots, action and the future...super safe bet for overseas audience and even cacs here.
You see the pattern right? Well you seen it before..with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sly Stallone, Tom Cruise, Claude Van Damme, Steven Segal. Damn near all the 80s action heroes were developed this way. Given lead or costarring roles in heavy action, martial arts, scifi, thriller roles with broad appeal. And shipped all over the world.
If thats the formula and its proven to work...then heres the question again..
why can't they do that with Chadwick Boseman, Idris Elba, Chiwetel Edjiofor or David Oyelowelo,Anthony Mackie?? Why can't OSCAR NOMIMINEE Quvenzhane Wallis be slated for a Young Adult franchise like Shailene Woodley (Divergent) and Jennifer Lawrence (Hunger Games)??
what makes will smith so special that in 20 years he's the ONLY non white actor to get this treatment?? Shit you saw them say DON'T put fucking DENZEL WASHINGTON in big productions
Oh I forgot.it worked BRIEFLY for Chris Tucker in the Rush Hour films. Teamed with one of the most popular stars worldwide + martial arts and gunplay action + Chris bringing the funny black badassitude = HUGE BOX OFFICE HIT ALL OVER THE PLANET. Its the reason why Chris's pay checks look like this:
Friday (1995).......... $15,000
Dead Presidents (1995)..$25,000
Money Talks (1997)......$2,000,000
Rush Hour (1998)........$3,000,000
Rush Hour 2 (2001)......$20,000,000
Rush Hour 3 (2007)......$25,000,000
so we see that the formula works. Trust this everything in hollywood is tested, studied and formulated..they KNOW what sells and how to sell it. Broad comedy and broad action (particularly scifi action) is what crosses over best all over the planet.
Remember The Formula is: ACTION/THRILLER + SPECIAL FX + SCIFI + COMEDY (MAYBE DRAMA DEPENDING ON SUBJECT MATTER) = GLOBAL CHA-CHING!!
Wanna know how I know? Google THE HIGHEST GROSSING ACTOR IN XX year...here's the results for the last 3 years from Forbes:
HIGHEST GROSSING ACTOR (MALE/FEMALE) 2014
Jennifer Lawrence
Global Box Office: $1.4 billion
Lawrence starred in two giant blockbuster hits this year: Mockingjay and X-Men: Days Of Future Past. With another Hunger Games movie on tap for 2015 she'll continue to be big at the box office.
Chris Pratt
Global Box Office: $1.2 billion
Guardians of the Galaxy was the surprise hit of 2014 giving Pratt $772 at the box office. But he also lent his voice to The Lego Movie as lead Lego Emmet.
HIGHEST GROSSING ACTOR 2013
Dwayne Johnson
$1.3 billion
The Rock tops our list this year thanks to 'Fast & Furious 6,' which grossed $789 million at the global box office, plus 'G.I. Joe' and 'Pain & Gain.'
HIGHEST GROSSING ACTOR 2012
Robert Downey Jr.
$1.5 billion
Thanks to The Avengers, Downey is the top-grossing actor of the year. The film is the third highest-grossing of all time behind Titanic and Avatar. Although the movie was an ensemble, we only counted Downey as the star because he is the star who will walk away with the biggest payday from the film.
you see what all of these flicks have in common right..and a BLACK MAN scored the top slot to boot. And chris pratt...this dude went from playing a FOOL on a middling rated tv show where he was a SUPPORTING character to the lead of comic book movie based on a middling selling title from the 70s! and because of the FORMULA is now an A-list star set to reboot the Jurassic Park franchise and well as more GOTG installments. Basically pratt was a fucking NOBODY and they made him a SOMEBODY just like that.
But here's the kicker we've seen it with BLACK actors..Will Smith, Chris Tucker, Dwayne Johnson...the formula WORKS theyre just picking and choosing WHO they want it to work FOR.
The studios pump out 2-3 dozen movies a year theyre really depending on 3 or 4 tentpole flicks to make that financial nut for the year. Understand MOST of the films that come out either make a small profit or underperform and they just write that shit off. EXCEPT for films with minority casts then suddenly the excuses start to pile up on why they can't do certain things. White movie flops its a write off..black movie flops well maybe we shouldn't do...maybe it doesn't sell well, we don't know how to market blah blah..its all arbitrary.
So there's no real reason to NOT do a Miles Morales Spiderman flick..if they don't its because they DON'T WANT TO...
I know this is a late-ass response but here's the question: Why aren't more Black filmmakers using the formula? I totally agree with you about special effects and action selling overseas. It's not realistic to expect a blockbuster type effects from a low-mid budget film, but you can pull decent effects these days without spending a lot. Why is it mostly hood stories, romance, and drama? I think I already know the answer to my question, if Black Panther is a hit, you'll see more genre stories from Black filmmakers but still...
its frustrating considering there are more richer blacks in the industry than ever before and youre right that the technology isn't as expensive as it used to be..its gotten better and cheaper not greatly but you don't need to spend 100+ million on a scifi flick either also scifi encompasses soo much more than just space ships aliens and massive destruction scenes...
this is a scifi flick.... so why blacks in the industry today aren't producing other types of flicks is something I'd LOVE to ask will packer, tyler perry, lee daniels, oprah winfrey etc...
its frustrating considering there are more richer blacks in the industry than ever before and youre right that the technology isn't as expensive as it used to be..its gotten better and cheaper not greatly but you don't need to spend 100+ million on a scifi flick either also scifi encompasses soo much more than just space ships aliens and massive destruction scenes...
this is a scifi flick.... so why blacks in the industry today aren't producing other types of flicks is something I'd LOVE to ask will packer, tyler perry, lee daniels, oprah winfrey etc...
The budget for Purge: Election Year ($10M) is less than When The Bough Breaks ($13.3M). Sci-fi movies about time travel, androids vs. people, alien invasions, etc. wouldn't depend on budget, just the imagination of the filmmakers. Hell, you could pull off a low budget version of Gravity with an actor in a harness, some green screen and a lot of flashbacks.
A couple of things are going on here:
1) People are comfortable with what they know. They know how to market urban thrillers, romantic comedies and dramas. They also have a pretty good idea of how much those films will cost and what they'll make at the box office. Present them with something outside their comfort zone and there's a (logical) reluctance. Most Black producers are going to gravitate towards the next Think Like a Man or Straight Outta Compton than the next Her with a Black cast.
2) Creating mostly dramas, romance/comedies, and hood flicks tends to attract people interested in those genres to become directors, writers, and producers. Tyler Perry isn't likely to inspire a fan to write the next Inception. But like I said, if Black Panther is a huge hit, Ryan Coogler will inspire a lot of folks to follow in his footsteps with scripts/movies about Black superheroes, African Kings and Queens, afrofuturism, etc. Same thing goes for Ava DuVernay with A Wrinkle In Time.
3) There's this belief that Black people are only interested in grounded stories. We can't afford to have big dreams about saving the world from aliens or having a romance with an A.I. when we have to contend with racism, police brutality, poverty, etc. in the here and now. We need to make "real" movies that speak about our struggle, educate the masses, and touch the human spirit. You can't do that with a story about fighting aliens or being a mutant with super powers.
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as long as it ain't this fag...
Hollywood is really pushin this dude.
the gay agenda in hollywood is strong!
I like and understand all those reasons but heres the thing....The budget for Purge: Election Year ($10M) is less than When The Bough Breaks ($13.3M). Sci-fi movies about time travel, androids vs. people, alien invasions, etc. wouldn't depend on budget, just the imagination of the filmmakers. Hell, you could pull off a low budget version of Gravity with an actor in a harness, some green screen and a lot of flashbacks.
A couple of things are going on here:
1) People are comfortable with what they know. They know how to market urban thrillers, romantic comedies and dramas. They also have a pretty good idea of how much those films will cost and what they'll make at the box office. Present them with something outside their comfort zone and there's a (logical) reluctance. Most Black producers are going to gravitate towards the next Think Like a Man or Straight Outta Compton than the next Her with a Black cast.
2) Creating mostly dramas, romance/comedies, and hood flicks tends inspire people interested in those genres to become directors, writers, and producers. Tyler Perry isn't likely to inspire a fan to write the next Inception. But like I said, if Black Panther is a huge hit, Ryan Coogler will inspire a lot of folks to follow in his footsteps with scripts/movies about Black superheroes, African Kings and Queens, afrofuturism, etc. Same thing goes for Ava DuVernay with A Wrinkle In Time.
3) There's this belief that Black people are only interested in grounded stories. We can't afford to have big dreams about saving the world from aliens or having a romance with an A.I. when we have to contend with racism, police brutality, poverty, etc. in the here and now. We need to make "real" movies that speak about our struggle, educate the masses, and touch the human spirit. You can't do that with a story about fighting aliens or being a mutant with super powers.
1) People are comfortable with what they know.
Release date: February 3, 2012 (USA)
Director: Josh Trank
Screenplay: Max Landis
Budget: 12 million USD
Box office: 126.6 million USD
Are those people really saying its a bad invest to do a film like that with a black cast at that budget???
meanwhile released that same year...
Initial release: June 29, 2012
Director: Tyler Perry
Screenplay: Tyler Perry
Budget: $20,000,000 (estimated)
Box office: 66.9 million USD
and that was considered a success for perry.. at a certain point when a budgets low enough it almost can't help but make money if marketed well enough and even if its not its a right off...
Budget: $5,500,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend: $21,905,089 (USA) (25 February 2005)
Gross: $50,382,128 (USA) (15 April 2005)
thats just religious minded females supporting that thing...surely a scifi project with a budget of 10 million or less can do at least that well...
3) There's this belief that Black people are only interested in grounded stories. We can't afford to have big dreams about saving the world from aliens or having a romance with an A.I. when we have to contend with racism, police brutality, poverty, etc. in the here and now. We need to make "real" movies that speak about our struggle, educate the masses, and touch the human spirit. You can't do that with a story about fighting aliens or being a mutant with super powers.
2 answers 3
2) Creating mostly dramas, romance/comedies, and hood flicks tends inspire people interested in those genres to become directors, writers, and producers. Tyler Perry isn't likely to inspire a fan to write the next Inception. But like I said, if Black Panther is a huge hit, Ryan Coogler will inspire a lot of folks to follow in his footsteps with scripts/movies about Black superheroes, African Kings and Queens, afrofuturism, etc. Same thing goes for Ava DuVernay with A Wrinkle In Time.
I like and understand all those reasons but heres the thing....
1) People are comfortable with what they know.
Release date: February 3, 2012 (USA)
Director: Josh Trank
Screenplay: Max Landis
Budget: 12 million USD
Box office: 126.6 million USD
Are those people really saying its a bad invest to do a film like that with a black cast at that budget???
meanwhile released that same year...
Initial release: June 29, 2012
Director: Tyler Perry
Screenplay: Tyler Perry
Budget: $20,000,000 (estimated)
Box office: 66.9 million USD
and that was considered a success for perry.. at a certain point when a budgets low enough it almost can't help but make money if marketed well enough and even if its not its a right off...
Budget: $5,500,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend: $21,905,089 (USA) (25 February 2005)
Gross: $50,382,128 (USA) (15 April 2005)
thats just religious minded females supporting that thing...surely a scifi project with a budget of 10 million or less can do at least that well...
This isn't just about production budgets. It's also box office potential. We've said countless times how Black films are usually very profitable. However, they also tend to stay in their specific genre lanes. A Black producer presented with a script for Chronicle might like the concept, but he'd also be interested in the box office success of similar sci-fi films with a predominantly black cast. How much was spent on marketing? What were the demographics? Did it get into theaters? Religious-minded Black females aren't going to be camping out at movie theaters for a sci-fi film about teens who get super powers from an alien craft. A Tyler Perry movie will open somewhere between $15-20M. Even with a quality cast and decent effects what will this do? How do you sell it to its primary audience?
2 is about trends. 3 is about a mindset. Trends come and go. Hard to say if it could become permanent.
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youre right it is about box office potential but at some point SOMEONE has to take the risk. In terms of hollywood level movie making a budget of around 10-20 million is not that much of a risk. At the end of the day scifi is scifi whether its black, asian, latino or whatever cast and it has to be marketed as scifi. Calling it BLACK scifi automatically marginalizes and makes it seem exclusive (and not in a good way). Theres already the hurtle of just having a nonwhite cast theres no need to make it more difficult by playing INTO the "blackness"....I posted this statement to someone in a debate about what Constance Wu said about Matt Damon being in a movie about the Great Wall of China...
This IS about asian americans because the ONLY reason their making this effort is to ingratiate themselves to AMERICAN AUDIENCES..you yourself pointed out how successful that chinese director is on his own. China doesn't have an issue with selling chinese heroes to china.. so who else are they trying to get...AMERICAN audiences. Hence the white filter of matt damon.
and thats what Wu is taking issue with. She and POC are tired and frustrated with the notion that white people (the majority..not all whites but enough for hollywood to make the calculation) have to be baby stepped out of their racist beliefs and attitudes.
The thing is they didn't have to be to baby stepped into this beliefs and attitudes...
Slavery in the americas didn't take hundreds of years to develop but it took over 200 years and a civil war to get out of.
Jim Crow laws didn't take decades to develop but it took over 70 years and a civil rights struggle to get out of.
The Chinese exclusion act didn't take decades to develop but it took 61 years to end.
Bruce Lee was an american..but in order to find to success he had to leave his country of birth where he could only get roles as a sidekick and found great success in doing movies in hong kong where he was the star. He became so big that in 1971 hollywood wanted to make a film with him.. Enter The Dragon..the only catch he had to share top billing with white actor john saxon. Some 40 YEARS LATER we're STILL using that method to introduce nonwhite people and stories to american (mostly white) audiences. This is what is meant by thru the filter of whiteness. An asian AMERICAN can't get top billing in his OWN movie without a white guy being prominent somewhere in there.
Its old and tiresome and thats what Constance Wu is talking about.
At some point WE as black people have to start taking risks and making inroads or else all we're going to do is wait for some white guy to do it and if/when he then he'll have power and leverage and thats just white daddyism. Where we can't make a move without white daddy backing us up.
Imagine blacks created these characters for comics 80 years ago. Blacks created them and made them black. How would you feel if some Mexicans were crying that a Mexican wasn't cast in the role?
Why don't we make our own black characters instead of crying that whites won't alter theirs ?
Why don't we make our own black characters instead of crying that whites won't alter theirs ?
You can't have it both ways. It doesn't make sense to produce a sci-fi movie with a predominantly black cast but then turn around and try to market to it like "ALL MOVIEGOERS MATTER!" We already know most white audiences avoid films with too many Black faces. Sci-fi isn't just sci-fi to everyone.
It's there whether you play into it or not. Black film, Black audience. We might not always like the pigeon-holing, but it can also be an advantage at times. The film will make whatever it makes on the strength of the under-served Black audience, everything else from other groups would be gravy.
Again, you can say $10-20M isn't that big of a risk but you have no idea what this movie could make, or what it would take to successfully market. You're probably not going to see the change we want starting on the $10-20M budget level. If more Black filmmakers start creating successful micro-budget genre films like Monsters, Pi, Primer, Safety Not Guaranteed, etc. the needle might budge in the right direction. Something under 1 million dollars, much less of a risk. Cast Jesse Williams in a one location, time travel thriller and you should do okay.
The only Black filmmaker I know making low/mid budget genre movies is Olatunde Osunsanmi (The Fourth Kind) and the leads in his films have been white.
Black film needs more filmmakers with more diverse tastes than the usual crop of suspects. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be the next Spike Lee, Steve McQueen, or Lee Daniels, but we could also use a Black JJ Abrams, James Cameron, or Chris Nolan. If Birth of a Nation sweeps the Oscars, you'll get a bunch of Black filmmakers wanting to be the next Nate Parker. Nothing wrong with that but...
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