This is not a critique of Red Tails, I haven’t seen it yet. It is, however, a plea to go see the movie.
Go see it! It’s the first all black action movie where blacks are the lead characters. This is somewhat amazing to me, isn’t this 2012? Think about it! Another reason is for the historical aspects of the movie. I always say I believe in American history not black history but that’s an argument for another day. I’m actually fine with both but I don’t want black history to be lost; I want it celebrated for all to see. Remember this is a fascinating account based on what took place during WWII; so much for isolationism in America. A third reason is the controversy surrounding this movie being made.
First, it was twelve years in the making, George Lucas shopped this movie to at least seven movie studios that declined, saying they didn’t know how to market this movie(code word for, ain’t touching it). How about saying this… it’s a historical movie and market it to educators and Patriots, that’s all of America(LOL).
The movie studios fear this movie will not make any money and much to my chagrin I have to agree. Black movies of historical importance don’t fare well at the box office and are made to look like a failure. Malcolm X is a fine example, the tickets customers bought to see it were attributed to the sales of other movies, adding to their totals. Another example is the wonderfully made movie Amistad directed by none other than, Steven Spielberg. This movie opened limited then to wide release. It cost $36 million to make but only grossed $44 million, it was disappointing all around. Also on the list is Hotel Rwanda which barely broke even domestically.
Since blacks and Latino spend more on movies, what is the problem with why blacks don’t support movies of significance, Rosewood not withstanding? And please do not use Tyler Perry’s buffoonery movies(not all are) as an example. Perry’s movies are black movie successful meaning they take $25 to 30 million to make and gross about $60 to 70 million. If you take that at face value it just breaks even with no overseas market.
Hollyweird banks heavily on the movie doing well overseas so it can reap its profit. Red Tails received the money it takes to make a good action movie ($60 million), from George’s Pocket. It’s going to be a wide release on 2,500 screens. To all the critics crying about a Jew making a black movie, I say look at the man’s wife; she’s black.
Please go see this movie, it will prove to studios that there is a market for movies with diverse characters. Hey, Mel Gibson did it with Passion of the Christ and so did James Cameron with his blue movie, both went on to make billions between them. In the word of U2 rocker Bono, “Let’s fuck up the establishment,” let’s go out to see RED TAILS.
The NON-Conformist
TheConfirmationFiles 