By: Amanda Anderson-Niles
“Black Nativity” was released in theaters on November 27, and the movie’s very talented cast which consists of Angela Bassett, Forrest Whitaker, Jennifer Hudson, Tyrese, Mary J. Blige and Nas had a lot of promise, but the numbers show it’s struggling something serious in its first week at the box office.
According to reports, the movie only brought in a disappointing $5 million during the holiday weekend. Although the Thanksgiving holiday is usually the time of year when people go to the movie theater in droves, apparently more people went to go see “The Best Man Holiday” which was released on November 15 than the new film based off Langston Hughes’ play of the same name.
In fact, since its release date, “The Best Man Holiday” has made about $63 million overall. And that’s why a sequel is already in the works.
Some people are speculating “Black Nativity” didn’t do well because it had a weak marketing campaign, while “The Best Man Holiday” had an exceptional marketing campaign and promotion in multiple media outlets.
I think the issue is it’s a musical. Not everyone likes musicals and they generally don’t pull big numbers at the box office.
That sucks. But I have to say I forgot the movie even came out. The marketing done for this film was terrible. At least with The Best Man Holiday, they were everywhere and so were ads. You knew the movie was coming out.
I won’t lie. I saw Mary J’s blonde afro wig and got turned off immediately. Judge me.
I don’t like musicals. I love the cast but can’t get past all that singing they did in the commercials. Sorry.
Yeah I figured it wouldn’t do well. People were turned off by all the singing.
They should have marketed the movie better than they did. Besides a few posts on here and J-Hud doing some interviews, I didn’t see much about the movie on the blogs. The promotion wasn’t good.
I also think the issue was it’s competing with The Best Man Holiday. I know a lot of people went to see that during the holiday.
Aww man. I hate to see this. I gotta go see it and support!
I’m not surprised. I could only take “this ain’t livin!!! I got a mouth to feed” being yelled while Jennifer was walking down the street but so many times. That part makes me cringe every time I hear it. I wish nothing but success for people but this right here, nah…. I couldn’t do it.
BHAHAHAHA!! OMG you just made me scream because I am tired of seeing that commercial too.
To be honest I didn’t want to go see it, I was trying to see Delivery Man. But my daughter wanted to and I’m actually glad I went … turned out to be pretty good. Do like I did go for the matinee.
I’d be lying if I said I ever wanted to see the movie or that I have any plans to. The previews didn’t really help make the movie interesting, but hopefully other people will go see it. I just couldn’t get into it.