Race and the Safe Hollywood Bet

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Race and the Safe Hollywood Bet

By BROOKS BARNES

The Democrats are hoping voters will be colorblind at the ballot box on Nov. 4. Does Hollywood have the same trust in America when it comes to the box office?

Studio bosses like to portray themselves as high-stake gamblers who spend tens of millions based on instinct. The truth is that they are the most risk-averse crowd around. Executives chatter about building “four-quadrant” films — pictures that appeal equally to men and women, over and under the age of 25. Superheroes have been hitting those marks big time lately. (Cut to movie executive pounding his office intercom: “Find me more superheroes!”)

Moviedom’s reluctance to veer from the safe bet has only grown as costs have increased. The average studio feature now costs $71 million to produce and $36 million to market, according to the Motion Picture Association of America, a 35 percent increase from the average at the start of the decade. In the world of independent films, costs are up even more — 83 percent during the same period. No wonder the Marvel Comics superhero Ant-Man will be appearing in theaters soon. (Seriously.)

With the stakes high, many studio executives worry that films that focus on African-American themes risk being too narrow in their appeal to justify the investment. Hollywood has nonetheless shown a willingness in recent years to bank more heavily on African-American actors and themes.

Will Smith is now the world’s No. 1 movie star, followed closely by Denzel Washington. Tyler Perry’s “Madea” movies, which typically feature all-black casts, have grossed $250 million over the past three years and sold 25 million DVDs. And George Lucas is starting preproduction on a movie about the Tuskegee Airmen — a project he put aside over a decade ago in part because of concern that the story of pioneering black fighter pilots of World War II might not appeal to mainstream audiences. Lucasfilm now believes the topic is ready for the multiplexes.

Perhaps the ultimate indication that the color barrier is breaking down in Hollywood is the Walt Disney Company’s decision to introduce an African-American princess — its first — to sit beside Snow White and Cinderella. The animated character, Tiana, will arrive next year via “The Princess and the Frog,” a musical set in 1920s New Orleans.

But Hollywood’s open-mindedness only goes so far. Studio executives remain hugely skeptical that moviegoers are impartial to race. “The bottom line is that the major studios want assurances that film projects have the potential to attract a significant white audience,” said Joe Pichirallo, a veteran producer whose latest film, “The Secret Life of Bees,” opened Friday.

The movie, a drama set in 1964, is about three black sisters who take in a troubled white teenager. To get “Bees” made, Mr. Pichirallo and his co-producer, Lauren Shuler Donner, had to prove that the book from which it was adapted had a big following among white women. The producers also were pressed to find more “name” stars — even after they had signed Queen Latifah and Dakota Fanning. Ms. Donner said they finally got approval after adding Alicia Keys and Jennifer Hudson.

“I kept getting told that the story was wonderful but that the time period and racial elements made it risky,” Ms. Donner said.

Of course, movies of all kinds fail all the time. Only 4 out of 10 movies turn a profit, according to the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers. But because pictures with nearly all-black casts come along more infrequently, they tend to stand out more when they fail.

Several studio executives pointed to “Miracle at St. Anna,” a Spike Lee film about four black soldiers in World War II, which flopped last month, selling $7.6 million in tickets. Remember “The Great Debaters” from last year? That film, about students at a black college striving for equal footing, grossed only $30 million despite rave reviews.

And “The Express,” a drama based on the life of Ernie Davis, the first African-American Heisman Trophy winner, opened Oct. 10 and has been playing to largely empty theaters. Despite an aggressive push by Universal Pictures, the $40 million movie sold a paltry $5.1 million in tickets at North American theaters in its opening weekend, according to the theater data service Box Office Mojo.

Universal had expected the well-reviewed picture to generate nearly three times that amount. Did the sports theme drive women away? Did moviegoers choose more escapist fare as their 401(k)’s shriveled? Or did the movie bomb because it centered on an African-American hero? It’s anybody’s guess. Universal declined to comment, but studios will weigh the last question carefully when a similar script comes their way.

Even when films in the genre do become hits they often leave a lot of potential business on the table. “Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins,” a 2008 comedy starring Martin Lawrence, was a success, selling $41.2 million in tickets. But studio research indicated its audience was about 70 percent black.

A dichotomy exists even with marquee stars like Mr. Washington and Mr. Smith. The two built their careers in roles where race was unimportant to the story; Mr. Washington’s detective in “The Pelican Brief” or Mr. Smith’s alien fighter in “Independence Day” could have gone just as easily to white actors. But when Mr. Washington, for instance, moonlights in smaller genre films like “The Great Debaters” — which he starred in and directed — much of his selling power tends to evaporate.

It ultimately may not matter what American moviegoers think. In an increasingly global business, international markets — where modern movies typically make about 60 percent of their theatrical revenue — usually rebuff movies, especially comedies, with nearly all-black casts. The 2005 movie “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” sold $51 million in tickets in the United States. Overseas, ticket sales totaled $19,104.

“International audiences are hostile because they don’t understand the humor that is often present in the work of black performers,” said James Ulmer, whose Ulmer Scale rates the global “bankability” of actors.

The N.A.A.C.P. says it doesn’t buy that argument. “If that explanation is true then America is doing business with racist regimes and it should be addressed at the United Nations,” said Vic Bulluck, executive director of the organization’s Hollywood Bureau. The N.A.A.C.P. on Wednesday plans to release a long-in-the-works report card on television’s employment of black performers. “Or lack thereof,” Mr. Bulluck added.

The organization has a similar analysis of the movie business in the works. Will Hollywood’s approach to race change if Sen. Barack Obama is elected president?

“One would certainly hope,” Mr. Bulluck said.