1 – “Central Intelligence” WB (NL) $127,440,871
2 – “Ride Along 2” Uni. $90,862,685
3 – “Boo! A Madea Halloween” LGF $73,206,343
4 – “Barbershop: The Next Cut” WB (NL) $54,030,051
5 – “Almost Christmas” Uni. $41,782,465
6 – “When the Bough Breaks” SGem $29,747,603
7 – “Kevin Hart: What Now?” Uni. $23,574,605
8 -- “Keanu” WB (NL) $20,591,853
9 – “Race” (2016) Focus $19,115,191
10– “Collateral Beauty” WB (NL) $17,376,500
11 – “The Birth of a Nation” FoxS $15,861,566
12 – “Moonlight” (2016) A24 $12,048,413
13 -“Fifty Shades of Black” ORF $11,686,940
14 – “The Perfect Match” LGF $9,669,521
15 – “Meet the Blacks” Free $9,097,072
16 – “Queen of Katwe” BV $8,814,329
17 – “Loving” Focus $7,349,687
18 – “Southside with You” RAtt. $6,304,223
19 – “Miles Ahead” SPC $2,610,896
20 – “The Bounce Back” VPD $321,910
21 – “The Fits” Osci. $166,425
— The comedy genre continues to be a black cinema favorite, especially at the studio level; at least half of the films on the list can be classified as comedies or feature comedy as an important element, like romantic comedies, dramedies, action-comedies. Interestingly, the lower you go on the list (let’s say from number 10 to 20), the more likely you are to find more serious, risk-taking fare. When it comes to genre cinema, black cinema still severely lacks and 2017 doesn’t appear to do much to affect that long-standing trend. We could say that the “catching up” we still have to do is something that’s exciting about black cinema. I look forward to a time when our movie theaters are packed with films of all genres with people of African descent central to each story – thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, action, mystery, horror, etc… One film I’m definitely intrigued by that’s due for a 2017 release is Jordan Peele’s horror flick “Get Out” which is set for a February release.
— Of the 20 films, only “Queen of Katwe” tells a story about a character of African descent who isn’t American. Last year, there were 2: “Timbuktu” and “Samba.”
— 7 of the 20 films on the list tell stories that are based (firmly or loosely) on real-life people, whether alive or dead: “Race,” “The Birth of a Nation,” “Queen of Katwe,” “Loving,” “Southside with You,” “Miles Ahead,” and “Moonlight.”
