Shack wrote:
Barrabás wrote:
Shack wrote:
The international performance looks pretty weak (9 mil), not a surprise to me going by the Barrabas rule
The what now?
You've pointed out before (probably correctly) international audiences don't like black actresses as much
Yes, I do think audiences in Asia, Eastern Europe, Middle East, Latin America are unapologetically racist to an extent don't really want to watch black actors, and there is a relationship between black leads and lower international box office, even in genres that traditionally do well globally. Look at Jordan Peele's high concept horror fantasy films vs. M Night Shyamalan's, the difference in overseas grosses is staggering. Even Nope, a sci-fi alien abduction movie that typically does well globally. The Little Mermaid came in shockingly low compared to similar Disney Princess adaptations despite a healthy domestic gross (the US obviously having a significant black population that also punch above their weight when it comes to consuming entertainment). A Wrinkle in Time is maybe the biggest overseas bomb out of any major fantasy movie (it only made $10M more than The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising despite a decade of inflation and vastly higher budget). Haunted Mansion bombed hard. The original did well but it had Eddie Murphy who audiences globally did embrace, same with Will Smith, but Hollywood has not produced a single truly bankable black star ever since those two. To find a truly internationally successful movie with black leads in recent times you either have to go to Marvel, or Will Smith movies, there's literally nothing else other than Django Unchained but that obviously had Tarantino and Leo in it.
I disagree with Zendaya/Challengers though, it's actually doing about on par with its domestic performance which seems to indicate the problem may be the movie itself. But Zendaya is also not black black if you know what I mean. She could pass as ambiguous Latina. I think it's very telling that when the industry finally chooses to give a black woman a big push as a leading lady it's someone who looks like this:
Lupita is vastly more talented and had an Oscar and yet it took her forever to book a true lead role in a film with potential (Us) and it came from a black director. And then it took her another five years to book another high profile lead role. A Quiet Place: Day One will be an interesting case study.