Dreamgirls has enjoyed a remarkable run, winning two Oscars, seeing Jennifer Hudson emerge as the toast of Tinseltown, and crossing the $100 million barrier at the domestic box office. But the musical’s greater financial situation tells a more troubling story — namely, the difficulty studios have in selling movies starring African-Americans internationally.
As The New York Times reported in a long feature yesterday, Dreamgirls has earned more than $101 million in the U.S. and Canada, but Paramount expects it will make little more than $60 million abroad. Which is particularly problematic in an era when Hollywood increasingly depends on foreign box office to drive profits. These days, 52 percent of movie earnings come from international markets. As BET Networks entertainment president and House Party director Reginald Hudlin says in the Times‘ story, "I always call international the new South. In the old days, they told you black films don’t travel down South. Now they say it’s not going to travel overseas." At home, frequent box office champ Will Smith seems like the biggest star on the planet, but the Times quotes industry watcher James Ulmer as saying that Smith ranks no better than No. 12 in terms of worldwide bankability.
Who’s to blame? "The international marketplace is still fairly racist," Ulmer tells the Times. That’s unfortunately plausible, yet there may be some things Hollywood could do to improve the situation:
• The most common type of movie that Hollywood makes with African-Americans? Comedies. Yet among the top domestic grossers of 2006, every comedy (Talladega Nights, Click, Borat, The Break-Up) fared better at home than abroad; American humor apparently doesn’t travel well.Unfortunately, studios fear that black people don’t go to the movies,so they don’t make many different kinds of movies for black people(much like they don’t make many movies for women). But as the successof Smith’s The Pursuit of Happyness (pictured) or Tyler Perry’s films (or, in the case of female-driven movies, The Devil Wears Prada)shows, those fears are misguided, a self-fulfilling prophecy. If the studiosmade more high-quality dramas with African-Americans, rather than broadgenre films, maybe international audiences would be interested. The industry certainly won’t know if it doesn’t try.
• How come, as Hudlin points out toward the end of the Times’story, black pop stars going back to Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley are sosuccessful internationally, but not movie stars? Why are Michael Jordanand Muhammad Ali considered among the most famous people on Earth, but Smith is merely the No. 12 actor? As those examples show, when amighty marketing machine (which, last we checked, Hollywood’s got) putsits mind to it, African-Americans can be embraced globally.
There are so many other avenues we can go down here. But it’s yourturn, PopWatchers: How can Hollywood fix this racial disconnect?
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I completely disagree with the statement that says ”The international marketplace is still fairly racist”. The reason why movies with African-American actors don’t make big boxoffice abroad is because the stories Hollywood choose to tell about African-Americans are even more cliched than the ones about white people. They are also much more intrinsic to the American culture because they are mostly comedies where African-Americans play stereotypes. If Hollywood told more compelling stories that feature African-American actors with a broader appeal the results would be different. I was in Europe last year for close to a year and looking from there everyone except Denzel and Morgan Freeman come off as court jesters. Forrest Whitaker, Denzel and Freeman are very much liked and respected abroad. Not so much the others and that’s because of the stereotypes they are forced to play.
Well said Delon.
It takes time for the rest of the world to catchup with America…look at race relations in Europe and religious tolerance…we’ve been at these things for 50 years, and Europe/Asia (which is very homogenous), are just now accepting people of other cultures and religions, even though Europe likes to think it’s progressive.
I think that’s a little unfair. To non-US audiences, quite a few of the African-American (or “urban” as they are odiously described) films come across as being themselves horrendously racist and offensive. I’m thinking here of the likes of Soul Plane, Norbit etc. The Tyler Perry films, meanwhile, haven’t been released here in the UK, I believe because they’re designed to appeal to a specific audience that pretty much doesn’t exist here – not people of African origin, but African-American baptists specifically.
And to base an accusation of racism on the fact that Will Smith is slightly less popular outside his own country does seem a little misguided – after all, how many Americans are familiar with Amitabh Bachchan, the biggest Bollywood star and a name familiar to half the planet? Does that make you guys racist? If Dreamgirls or Pursuit of Happyness haven’t done AS well here, maybe that’s because they tell very American stories, rather than because they star African-American actors
I completely agree with Delon’s comments. It seems to me that in the US stories like these are used to compensate for any racism that may be present in US society. Just look at Sally’s comments. No wonder people think Americans are ignorant. Europe has dealt with the presence of non-European cultures for centuries.
To say that the rest of the world is racist, is just plain stupid and ignorant. It wasn’t so long ago that America was accused of it. now just because African-American actors are winning oscars and rappers are winning grammy’s does not make Americans less racist. One should not assume that just because African-American people are more or less at the forefront of music and movies in the States, that it should automatically translate to the same success in the rest of the world. That arrogance is what people outside the US do not like, rightfully so.
Asking why Will Smith is “only” 12th on a most popular list outside the US, is like asking why Romain Duris is only 133rd in an American list. Also, have you thought about the fact that those movies mentioned are just not that good, even if they did make over $100 million dollars in the States? Or that they don’t translate well? Or that foreign audiences have become more sophisticated in their choices of movies to watch?
Sally is just plain stupid, stupid, stupid. Go read a book.
Will Smith has said several times that the reason African American films don’t do well overseas is his colleagues don’t bother doing international publicity tours. He is one of the only Black actors to make the effort, which is why his film are among the few that usually succeed outside the United States. So is there any racism involved? Perhaps, but as the lottery folks say, “you can’t win if you don’t play”.
I agree with Karen and Delon. Just because Hollywood (the greatest publicity machine in the world) makes feel-good movies like Dreamgirls and the Pursuit of Happiness, and pats itself on the back to say that “we’ve come a long way, and look how not racist we are”, when hurricane Katrina proved otherwise is a contradiction in terms. It’s actually called denial.
How many Americans watch non American films ?!!!!
Dreamgirls and Happyness aside, movies made in that area recently include Norbit, Little Man and that Tyle Perry nonsense. Maybe the international market just don’t care for such artistic output? A black British star came to the US and made a movie which bombed, and we didn’t accuse the US of racism, so calm yourself down, Ulmer.
Why should the rest of the world watch American crappy movies when Americans do not watch other countries’ movies? You pat my back, and I’ll pat yours.
I’m heartened by some of the comments here. The tone of this piece is exactly the problem with North American society – the assumption that everything American is superior and therefore it is necessary to force our junk on the rest of the world and then expect them to bow down to our greatness. Living in Canada, we have difficulty creating a sustainable film industry because American movies are forced on us. The only market that is successful is in Quebec where the French speaking population shows up for French movies. We have great filmakers who are constantly overshadowed by the imperialist Hollywood machine. It’s sad.
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS has made over $20 million in Italy. This is more than Germany and France combined.
How many Italian, German, French, Greek and South korean films have been shown in the U.S and made money.
Europeans and the rest of the world are more open to other peoples culture, Americans are not!
Wasn’t “The Pursuit of Happyness” helmed by the popular Italian director Gabriele Muccino? (Which might explain why it did better in Italy than in France and Germany combined.)
And wouldn’t it be a more fair comparison to ask how many Italian, German, French, Greek and South korean have been shown outside their country of origin (as opposed to just the US) and made money?
Maybe Tyler Perry films OUGHT to be marketed in other parts of the world.
If the religiosity were made less specifically Christian, I could see those films doing well in, for example, more socially conservative parts of Asia including, perhaps especially, Muslim countries. Leaders there share James Dobson’s views about the decadence of pop culture.
I could easily see those films doing well in Malaysia or India. After all, Perry’s films are melodramas that use VERY broad humor (slapstick travels better than verbal wit, cf Jackie Chan) and a gospel number or two. Not so far removed from Bollywood.
Woah Jason, back up. Pretty much every single “American” sci fi or action show on tv is filmed in Vancouver (BSG, Andromeda, Blade, Eureka, VIP), and tons of our “American” actors are Canadian (Shatner, Jim Carey, Pam Anderson, etc). How is the American production machine somehow imperialist?
As for whether or not Canadian productions are hits in the USA, this is a conservative country and Canada’s humor tends to be a bit racy for the general public. I can only speak for my Trailer Park Boys and Happy Tree Friends lovin’ self, and happen to LOVE Canadian shows. And show of hands, how many of my fellow “imperialists” grew up watching “you can’t do that on television” on Nickelodeon?
Guiseppe makes a great point though. Aside from a few key directors, it’s not like our movie going public makes a great effort to see foreign films about minorities elsewhere. Van Gogh’s controversial film about muslims in Amsterdam (for example) got no play in the states.
The fact is that comedies do not always travel well — especially if the humour is dependent on the nuances of language. I find many black comedies (e.g., the Tyler Perry movies) are definitely in this category. In Canada, French-speaking Canadians have an entire film and television for them alone. I even speak French and I don’t always “get it” even in translation. However, there are some great French and French-Canadian movies that I love. African-Americans should try to broaden the types of movies they make if they want to appeal to people whose first language is not English. BTW, Paris welcomed many African Americans (and let them marry whoever they wanted) in the 1920s while segregation was alive and well home — Sally should really look that up! Josephine Baker anyone?
American films generally dominate most of the film markets around the world. If foreign films dominated the U.S market there would up roar.
Ep Sato, I’m glad you can name three Canadian television shows – it’s about the same amount that Canadians can name ourselves. As for American productions filming in Canada, you make my point for me. How exactly are American productions filmed in Canada Canadian? That’s like saying that Nike shoes aren’t American because they are manufactured in a country outside America, or McDonalds is Canadian because I eat a Big Mac in Vancouver. And why can’t our beloved Canadian actors work in Canada? Why do they feel the need to run to America to work? Don’t get me wrong. I like a whole lot of American entertainment, even the stuff shot in Canada, I only wish there was some parity. I’m sorry the word imperialism offends you.
I believe that as Black Actors make more movies that don’t SEEM to be made for African-American Audiences. they’ll do better abroad. As much as I like Eddie Murphy, his movies from Norbit to the Nutty Professor are more, how can I say it, aimed at what he thinks Black audiences will enjoy. And they don’t have international appeal.
Now look at Will Smith. One of the things noteworthy about The Pursuit of Happiness is that Tom Hanks could easily have played a part like Will’s. And Tom Cruise was originally supposed to play Will’s role in Enemy of the State. As Hollywood makes more of THESE movies with Blacks as the lead, they’ll do better everywhere.
When black movie roles like Norbit are common in the black film community, how can you expect big overseas box office?
What happend to that period where we were getting movies like Soul Food and all those Whitney Houston movies, Waiting to Exhale etc?
It’s always sad to see these hot black actresses star in cheesy black movies that only undermine their careers.
As progressive as Hollywood thinks it is, there’s still A LOT of racisim.
Well, it’s pretty clear why such movies are not really popular in my country, Lithuania. It’s been 15 years since the Soviet Union collapsed and we still have a fairly white population. Although I live in the capital sometimes I don’t see a black person for weeks. Only young people favour black culture but as it was mentioned it’s music mostly. I think you can see the same situation in the whole post soviet world.
As to particular movies, I saw Dreamgirls last Friday on the 23d of February the day they first appeared in cinemas in Lithuania, although most of popular white movies premiere at the same time as worldwide or few weeks later.
Bollywood films and Jackie Chan movies travel well outside their countries of origin without tens of millions of dollars in Hollywood marketing muscle.
If you go to most of Europe its saturated with American culture. From films to music to war bases and so on. The problem for me is that this is a one way thing. English shows are never shown on mainstream TV in the U.S and you always have to remake films or T.V shows.
Maybe the rest of the world should just do remakes of American films and T.V shows and then there wouldn’t be a problem.
I’ll speak as someone who has lived in Europe, Asia and Africa. It’s not that these movies won’t do well, they are released months after they available on dvd here in the US thus those abroad already have access to them. Plus, they are also released overseas on a limited run. E.g., Amsterdam in the 90s. It was soo hard to get to watch Jason’s Lyric, Love Jones and Set it off that they would actually hold a viewing party for the four films at a club in Amsterdam. Tyler Perry films are broad and I’ve enjoyed them while not being Baptist. I still hear people complaining that the films they would love to watch are just not released overseas. May be the profit margin is just not as large as the distributors would hope. But, there is a market for them.
Jason,
First of all your hypocrisy is obvious in your own post. You begin saying this is the problem with North American society and how American movies are shoved down the throats of foreign markets. Then, like many Canadians, you seperate yourself from “American” actions, which includes Canada, when it serves your purpose. The fact that many of our movies and TV shows are filmed in your country and the fact that many of your actors and producers come to the US to work makes you Canadians COMPLICIT in what America “shoves” down the rest of the worlds throat. You guys can take the high ground when it comes the Iraq war, but not with Hollywood. Your hands are dirty too.
I also want to say I LOVE Trailer Park Boys since I realize my post might come off a little defensive
So if I don’t run to see Big Momma 2 or Norbit, I’m a racist? This must be one of the silliest assumption ever. I don’t watch those movies because they’re bad. This article reminds me of the year Chris Rock hosted the Oscars and asked black moviegoers if they saw the nominated movies and none of them did but they all cited “urban” movies. For me, that’s the explanation to the lesser success of those movies on the international market, they aim the African-American population and therefore don’t translate well. It’s funny how the journalist didn’t bother to find out if the white Americans were part of their success, or why Crouching Tiger, Amelie or Pan’s Labyrinth are only exceptions, or why great movies have to be remade to suit the American audience. I liked The Departed but there was nothing wrong with Infernal Affairs to begin with. Well it didn’t star blond, blue-eyed actors just talented Asian ones.
I wouldn’t accuse Americans of being xenophobic just because foreign movies don’t traditionally make as much money in the United States. I think the majority of us are victims of the exact same powers that force American movies down the throats of our brothers overseas. What plays in the theaters of Podunk, Ohio (my home town) is based on their assumption that we’re mostly illiterate, drunken hillbillies in American flag t-shirts shoveling greasy bacon into our mouths (and only two of those assumptions are correct). So when a decent foreign flick (or any good movie, we really don’t need Ghost Rider on eight screens do we?) finally does wend its way into our rust-belt town, it’s like a cool river compared to the dusty, arid fare that habitually blights our screens.