Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Hollywood trend: targeting religious blacks
When Tyler Perry's film adaptation of his play "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" opened earlier this year and pulled in $22.7 million in its first weekend despite less-than-stellar reviews, jaws dropped. Almost immediately, film studios began looking for something else that could bring what many consider to be a long-ignored audience into movie megaplexes — religious blacks.
No fewer than five similar-themed projects are on the horizon.
"The Gospel" is the most recent movie that focuses on faith and spirituality, what happens when you lose it and how life changes for the better when you get it back. The film, which only cost $4 million to make, originally was slated for video, but after "Diary" took in more than $50 million at the box office, Sony/Screen Gems decided to put "The Gospel" on the big screen.
According to boxofficeguru.com, "The Gospel" opened on just 969 screens its first weekend and raked in an impressive $7.5 million.
"The key is it has been an unrecognized and untargeted market," says Holly Davis-Carter, executive producer of "The Gospel." "There are Christian households that are looking for something wholesome to do on a Friday or Saturday night with their family."
The formula for gospel-themed theatrical productions is similar: Someone grows up in the church. Someone goes astray. Someone finds the Lord. Someone comes back home to the church.
The plays, which cater primarily to the black community, have toured nationwide for decades.
In the past 15 or so years, play production has increased, and the quality of both the acting and writing has made significant gains. But the audience doesn't view the shows through a theater or film critic's eye.
Instead, they go for what you can't get at a Broadway-style production and what has been missing in most mainstream film releases. They go for an extension of church. For some, it is church.
"There's a psychology behind it. Most of our people in middle America are looking for some kind of escape," says Nia Hill, CEO of Momentum Experience, an L.A.-based film company that is a mixture of live theater and independently financed black films. "We want to laugh really hard. We want to hear some good singing and we want to find Jesus in the end. Our hopes and dreams are rooted in "Jesus is going to make our lives better.' That's always been a part of our culture."
"Hollywood has a tendency of following trends and not creating them," Hill says. "I don't think there was this epiphany of "Wow, we need to spread this great thing.' It was "Wow, it makes a lot of money.' They realized that there was money there and they wanted to make that happen."
BY KELLEY L. CARTER
GANNETT NEWS SERVICE
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