By Ruth Ferguson, NDG Editor
Lee Daniels’ The Butler won the box office sweepstakes the second week in a row. This achievement on the heels of the film shocking box office pundits beating out Kick-Ass 2, Jobs and Paranoia. The film in two weeks nearly earned twice the cost to produce the movie, an estimated $30 million. The first weekend’s box office was nearly $25 million and the second was around $17 million earning over $52.3 million so far.
Years ago, someone appearing on the Oprah show, schooled us to the importance of opening weekend box office. It is why I have been known to drag myself to a movie the first weekend to lend my support and walked out pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the film. One of the first was Denzel Washington’s incredible performance in 1999’s Hurricane. The second time was when I dragged myself to see Tyler Perry’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman in 2005.
Diary provided a formula that for some reason only Lionsgate (which has handled distribution for all of the Madea movies) has truly perfected. This includes a strong marketing campaign to the mature African American audience. Those of us who can barely remember high school so we are long best the 18-34 year old range Hollywood covets so much. Their lack of support for Kick-Ass 2 and Paranoia shows how fickle that crowd can be.
MegaFest this weekend also includes the Faith & Family Film Festival. Excerpts from upcoming TV shows and movies will be shown. Members of the cast and other special guests will join for a Q&A as well. For a full listing visit http://www.mega-fest.com/filmfestival/.
