Makin' a List of Holiday Movies
The Holidays Are Getting More Colorful
Black Ensemble Comedies Highlight the Holiday Season
With the recent box office success of the ensemble comedies This Christmas and The Perfect Holiday, the holiday moviegoing season is becoming more all-embracing than ever.
actor Tyler Perry.
© Getty Images
In the past five years, more actors of color have been nominated and— gasp—are winning mainstream awards for their end-of-year work on the big screen. More people of color are working behind the camera. Tyler Perry and others have proven that films that positively portray the African American experience fare well at the box office.
With five movies focusing on the African American family dynamic being released between December and early February, some might see this cultural embrace as a trend. Some within the African American creative community who have seen the doors in this town open and close with the rush of a new wind, however, feel that it’s simply coincidental that This Christmas, Dirty Laundry, The Perfect Holiday (all now playing in theaters), First Sunday (Jan. 11) and Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (Feb. 8), have release dates which are within a few weeks of each other.
The holidays are the ideal season to release family films directed at black audiences, says Lance Rivera, writer/director of The Perfect Holiday, a romantic comedy with fantasy elements. “I don’t think Hollywood believes black family films [automatically generate] good opening numbers,” Rivera said. “It’s about the economics of marketing. It’s simply a great season to release movies that can capture the family audience.” As well, it wouldn’t make sense to release a movie like Preston A. Whitmore II’s This Christmas in July.
But Malcolm Lee, director of Roscoe Jenkins, a story about an L.A. talk show host (Martin Lawrence) reconnecting with his Southern roots, thinks that the issue might be a little more complex than release dates.
“I think it’s a case-by-case basis,” Lee said. “Each studio has had a track record with either filmmakers or with the types of middle-class black movies that have been successful for them. And, of course, Tyler Perry [Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Madea’s Family Reunion, Why Did I Get Married?] has his own brand, which has worked wonders for his audience.”
Old Formulas, New Audiences?
Although classic movies like Sounder and A Raisin in the Sun focused on the “Woe, woe are we” aspect of African American life in the ‘60s and ‘70s, Hollywood’s new black characters are middle class and dealing with cheating spouses and unruly kids just like their white counterparts.
Tyler Perry’s formulaic redemption flicks are not solely responsible for that trend, but the success of his grassroots marketing efforts—particularly with the church crowd—have made it easier for these stories to be made. Yet even with all of his success at the box office and the universally relatable themes, Perry’s movies have not enjoyed huge crossover audiences.
“The hope is that we will expand beyond a black audience,” says Roscoe Jenkins director Lee. “This Christmas and my film certainly have universal themes. Will people other than African American see our films? You certainly hope so, because these movies are just about people.”
Adds This Christmas’s Whitmore, “I wanted [the characters] to be a real family and I wanted everybody to be able to relate to the universality of the story. We don’t have to change who we are for the rest of the world to check us out.” Whitmore also feels there could be some backlash to Perry’s success. “I’m proud of Tyler Perry and what he’s been able to do,” Whitmore says. “He’s setting a buffet for other people of color who want to make movies, which is what Spike Lee did in his early years. But what I hope doesn’t happen is that we become pigeonholed and all we can make is family movies.”
Newcomer Maurice Jamal (writer/director of Dirty Laundry, about a dysfunctional family in the South dealing with homophobia),says the success of any film is contingent upon the bottom line. The only color Hollywood never rejects is green.
“It all depends on what happens at the box office” Lee says. “This Christmas is like one of the first African American Christmas movies. It’s clearly a holiday movie for black families. If it continues to do well, they’ll be like “We can make a black Easter movie! New Year’s Eve! Thanksgiving!”
© Columbia Pictures
© Yari Film Group
Who’s Your Cast? It’s All in the Family
This Christmas stars veteran actors Loretta Devine, Delroy Lindo, Regina King and Mekhi Phifer, actors chosen, Whitmore says, to hopefully appeal to every demographic. “We were very fortunate with the cast that we put together for this movie. While all of these people are very, very recognizable to people in the African American community, none of them have had an opportunity to try and open a picture on their own.”
Conversely, Roscoe Jenkins features Martin Lawrence, a proven winner at the box office, along with comic heavyweights Cedric the Entertainer and Mo’Nique. The Perfect Holiday features Queen Latifah, Terrence Howard, Gabrielle Union and Morris Chestnut. As well, Sony’s First Sunday stars proven box office champ Ice Cube (whose Friday films were huge for New Line Cinema), plus comedians Tracy Morgan and Katt Williams, in a caper comedy about a church robbery.
"I think that the audience goes out and votes by going to see the movie," says Whitmore, who is obviously happy with the favorable audience reaction to This Christmas. “What I’d like to see is any day of the week I can go out and see an action movie, a romantic comedy or drama all depicting people that look like me."
Miki Turner is an award-winning journalist, television producer, and radio personality. The former pop culture critic for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Turner is currently a contributing columnist for MSNBC.comSend feedback to editorial@fandango.com.
