No films from Nigeria, South Africa or the UK make the list – By Dapo Oshiyemi
We are now well into 2015 but how did black films do at the box office in 2014?
Film 2014 | Box Office |
1. The Equalizer | $192m |
2. Ride Along | $154m |
3. Think Like a Man Too | $70m |
4. No Good Deed | $54m |
5. About Last Night | $49m |
6. Get On Up | $32m |
7. A Haunted House 2 | $24m |
8. Addicted | $17m |
9. Tyler Perry’s The Single Moms Club | $16m |
10. Beyond the Lights | $15m |
…
As usual the list is completely dominated by African-American films and that’s deeply worrying. Tyler Perry has two films on the list as he continues to rule the black space, but seriously? Not one single film from Africa or the UK made it into the top ten? Are we saying to the whole world that black culture, experiences, lifestyle and history can only be told successfully on film through African-American eyes?
Where are the Nigerian and South Africa films? In fact the whole of Africa has an over-whelming abundance of riches in black history, culture and modern lifestyle, why are they not producing films of equivalent quality to the African Americans to reach global audiences?
It’s also equally baffling as to why no great black films ever come out of the UK. The Country has all the right characteristics, a large thriving black population with centuries of historical, political, economic and social ties within and outside the country, considerable know-how in front of and behind the camera that continues to supply the USA with talent and access, although limited to financial resources.
These are just some of the questions I keep asking myself and hopefully this article will kick start a healthy debate amongst people, black or white who want to develop great films for an estimated $12billion segment of the global film market which is still under served and under developed.