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Normally I wouldn't write about these two films, as in my eyes they do not constitute what I define as black cinema....from Black Talent News:
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Oscar winner Jamie Foxx led the box office this weekend taking the number 1 and 2 spots with Disney's "Game Plan" and Universal's "The Kingdom," respectively.
The PG family comedy, "The Game Plan," stars Johnson as a superstar football quarterback and bachelor whose lifestyle is disrupted with he finds out he has a daughter. It open No. 1 with $22.7 million, according to Media By Numbers. averaged a solid $7,307 from 3,103 theaters. "Game Plan" marked The Rock's second biggest opening ever in a lead role after 2002's "The Scorpion King" with opened with $36.1 million.
The R-rated "The Kingdom" stars Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman and Chris Cooper as members of a U.S. team investigating a terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia. It debuted at No. 2 with $17.7 million, averaging $6,335 from 2,793 locations.
Also debuting nationwide, MGM's "Feast of Love," starring Morgan Freeman, didn't fare as well opening in the No. 11 spot and earning only $1.8 million from 1,200 theatres .
From IW: Now leaving my geriatric husband out of this one (Morgan), how does one define a "Black Film"? My definition is that the cast has to be at least two thirds black, or there has to be a heavily defined black theme/plot/storyline. I don't necessarily believe that the director has to be black, though that would definitely add weight to the definition of black cinema. Black distribution would help immensely as well. What do you guys think? Do these 2 films count as a win for our community?
6 comments:
I wouldn't count this as win for our community based on the purely superficial notion that both films look like ass. But that could just be me.
well put, supernegro.
That is a hard one for me. My problems are not as much with how much of the cast is Black, African American, mixed, etc. but in the stories. For example, I love for someone to do a period piece of for example the Songhay Empire in West Africa the Amhara empire in Ethiopia, etc. The closest that was done so far was Chaka Zulu, but he was insane. I would love for someone to do a Sci-Fi piece with an African or African American perspective.
I haven't seen these two films, but they seem like the same old same old. A win for me would be movies that break the typical story mold. For example, at first I liked the Scorpion King because of the mixed cast. Yet, over time the story wore on me and I can't even watch it anymore.
So a win for me is in a broader African or African American content as compared to who stars in it.
What if there was a movie with a majority of the cast and production non-black, but had a black theme? For instance, I consider Monster Ball a Black movie. What about you?
its not you supernegro. @ehav: that's pretty much the way I see it too....james you make a good point; I guess in the end, like all art, it really is all relative, yes?
Tyler Perry movie definitely counts as a Black film. It was my first Tyler Perry experience. I've not seen his plays, books, television shows or movies in the past. However, my Mom wanted to go to the movies ... and she loves Tyler Perry ... so Villager was sitting in the seats with popcorn and a soda.
I loved the movie ... probably because I've been married twice (smile)!
peace, Villager
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