Will white moviegoers go see 'The Secret of Life of Bees'?

My colleague John Horn has a story in Thursday's Calendar section that grapples with the always touchy question--why do white moviegoers shy away from movies with largely African American casts? "Amistad," Steven Spielberg's 1997 slavery epic, was his lowest-grossing movie in 20 years. Even "Ray," Taylor Hackford's Oscar-nominated musical biography of Ray Charles, drew an overwhelmingly black audience.

Will the same thing happen to "The Secret Life of Bees," a highbrow literary adaptation from an African American filmmaker (Gina Prince-Bythewood) that features a largely black female cast (Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson and Alicia Keys)? The film, distributed by Fox Searchlight, is going wide Friday in nearly 1,600 theaters, which means it will be playing in both suburban and urban neighborhoods. The book had a large white female following, but according to Horn, research shows that black moviegoers are showing roughly twice as much interest in seeing the film as whites.

Horn raises an intriguing political parallel:

"Pundits and election strategists have been deliberating feverishly whether white voters who tell interviewers they intend to vote for Sen. Barack Obama for president will really do so once they enter the polling booth. While the discrepancy known as the Bradley effect (named after former Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley's 1982 loss in the California gubernatorial election, in which he consistently led in polling) may prove to be a minor factor in the year's presidential race, it is still a prominent concern within Hollywood, as movies made by and with African Americans often struggle to attract white supporters, both at the box office and within the studio's executive offices."

It's been more than 25 years since Bradley lost after leading in the polls. How much things changed? And are movie audiences more or less honest about their moviegoing habits than potential presidential voters? Those aren't easy questions to answer. But this seems to be one of those rare examples where how a movie does in its opening weekend might have a little bearing on how we look at the world. Stay tuned. We'll revisit this subject in the coming days.

Comments

[Rissa]

White movie goers shy away from positive movies with a large cast of African American because they do not like to see positive African American lifestyles. They think that African American's need to only play negative roles because their lifestyle is filled with negativity.

[Tired of this rhetoric!]

It's a shame that in the 21st century this question is being asked. I am a Black woman who has no problem going to see a movie starring others who don't look like me or my family. Why is it that White's would have this problem. If a movie is good, it's good irrespective of the color of the cast's skin shade. Coincidentally my fave movie of all time is "The Sting" where the two main characters are White males.

[unclesmrgol]

I'm a white, male, Republican kind of person and I probably won't go see it while it's in the theaters, but I'll certainly buy it once it's out on DVD (I hate the theaters, because people do things to screw up your enjoyment, like talking on the cell, and they charge waaay too much for allowing you to sit in their softdrink-drenched chairs). I've got the book (which, if you go to the book store, happens this time to have the identical name as the movie). Thank heavens they didn't name the movie something different like "Tales of Tiburon" or some such crap.

[Carol]

I knew nothing about "Bees" until I read this. I have heard of the book, but never even looked at the flyleaf.

Is the story interesting? Will the movie be well paced? Do the actors become their characters? These are the sorts of questions I ask before I see a movie or read a book.

As to the movies listed above: I saw Amistad and it was way too long, like most Spielberg movies. I had no interest Ray because I don't like Ray Charles' music.

I think Sounder is a great movie because it has strong, interesting, well developed characters.

[Dan]

Wow, actually, I think you're being kind of reductive and a little unintentionally racist here.

By numbers:

1) Let's not forget who the biggest movie star in the entire freakin' world is right now: Will Smith. Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington aren't doing so badly either.

2) "Ray" made $75 million in the US alone, $20 million of that over Halloween weekend, not traditionally a good time to open a biopic Oscar-contender wide. I seriously doubt color was that much of a barrier. I'll also lay down money it moved quite a few DVDs out the door.

3) "Amistad" didn't fail because of the color of the cast (which, you're forgetting, included Anthony Hopkins and Matthew McConaughey). It failed because it was basically a courtroom drama. The slave ship scenes are, sadly, the only point where the movie will genuinely move you to some emotion. I think a better example is probably "Beloved", which considering Oprah's star power should have done a hell of a lot better than it did.

[AQnn Marie Ryan]

Any literate white person who has read Bees would be foolish not to go see how it is presented. I am white with my dearest friend and Goddaughter being black. I just told them it pained me to be reminded that Blacks were still treated so horribly in the 60s. Then I remembered just how turbulent the sixties really were with racism, the Viet nam war and the assassinations. As far as Obama goes, I would like to believe people will vote with their brains not their inbred racial problems cast on us by our forefathers.

[SCwoman]

I went to see this movie, which was almost full, and I was the ONLY black person there. Most people even sat there watched the credits. I enjoyed this movie and from the sounds of the reactions, so did everyone else there.

[jON]

ONE OF THE REASONS WHITES DON'T GO SEE AFRICAN AMERICAN FILMS, FROM MY EXPERIENCE IS USUALLY THEY MAKE YOU FEEL VERY UNWELCOME IN THE THEATRE AND ALOT OF TIMES TALK AND SOMETIEMS EVEN ACT UP. I ONCE WITNESSED A FIGHT DURING A SCREENING OF SOUL FOOD......I SAW BEES TODAY AND THE AUDIENCE WAS MOSTLY WHITE... IT IS AN EXCELLENT MOVIE BUT FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFETIME I SAW AN AFRICAN AMERICAN FILM I WAS NOT MADE TO FEEL AS IF I SHOULDN'T HAVE CAME TO SEE IT.

[Debbie]

I saw the movie today, and both my friend and I are white, and we loved it. I think this movie will draw from all ethnic groups as many book clubs read the book, and I know of several book club members that have scheduled viewing the movie together.

[Dan]

Well, the verdict is in: either white people went to go see it or everyone else turned out in droves: it made $11 million in a weekend. Funny how Fox Searchlight is doing better than the parent...

[Kim]

I went to see this incredible movie. I am a 41 year old white woman. I cannot imagine seeing a better film this year. I cried through most of the movie to be honest. It touched me very very deeply. Sophie Okenedo should get her Oscar for this one! I will see it again and again and will encourage all of my family and friends, both white and black, to see this movie.

[NO ID]

I was curious about this, so I looked it up. The top grossing film with a significantly black cast is (drumroll, please) "American Gangster." But that is for movies that do not star Will Smith as Will Smith is unarguably the most successful black movie star ever. Seven of the most top-grossing box office movies ever star Smith.
I think the question is what movies are universal? Top grossing overall are "Titanic" and "Dark Knight" movies with universal themes of love and/or the battle of good vs. evil. As far as the rest of the top 10, it is predictably Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and other such epic blockbusters. I think it a movie with a largely black cast that is good quality, that is non-musical and deals with universal themes, we may have a true blockbuster. But the fact that cartoon remakes and the such are populating the top 10 works against black films ever being such huge hits as most of those films don't have major black characters.
As for "Bees," I'm black and female and I won't be seeing it. I'm getting tired of "black movies you're supposed to see with positive themes." The subtext of every black woman in the movie going out of their way to make sure a little white girl is OK just doesn't interest me and I didn't read the book. Queen Latifah spouting platitudes is boring and ridiculous. Period films where black folks are getting abducted and beat up are apparently things that white audiences enjoy because most black folks aren't interested in that. ( The Color Purple being the notable exception) I'd like to see a non-period drama starring a wealthy black family going through changes that has universal themes. But unless I write it myself and get Tyler Perry to produce it, I guess I can dream on.

[utzworld]

Saturday night, I along with 20 members of my movie club SoCal Movie Fanatics (www.meetup.com/socalmoviefanatics) saw the film at Arclight Hollywood. The folks who went with me represent a multitude of racial/ethnic backgrounds. We all agreed that the film was AWESOME. Not one time did our post-movie discussion get into the racial background of the film's characters. We saw a universal story and we were pleased with what we saw.