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According to a recent study black movie attendance doubled last year.
Conducted by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the report revealed that the number of frequent African-American moviegoers nearly doubled to 5.6 million last year, and that African-American moviegoers went an average of 4.2 times to the theater, an increase over the 3.5 times they averaged in 2015.
Part of this is likely because of the amount of films released last year that featured a prominent black cast, or black actors in lead roles. Fences, Hidden Figures, Moonlight — even the James Baldwin documentary I Am Not Your Negro — each film offered a different representation and story of blackness.
Following Moonlight's win for Best Picture (as well as several other awards) at this year's Oscars, the film ended up being expanded to 1,500 theaters across the United States. Moonlight never surpassed 1,104 screens, with most major wide-release films opening on 3,000 or more screens.
The expansion surely added to the money the movie has already earned. Made for just $1.5 million Moonlight has already grossed $22.3 million in its domestic release — nearly 15 times more than its budget.
And although 2017 has just begun, it is likely that Get Out has contributed to what will hopefully be another increase in black movie attendance for this year.
Jordan Peele's directorial horror film debut has scored over $100 million at the box office, becoming the second non-franchise film to earn over $100 million this year (with the first one being M. Night Shyamalan‘s Split). But Peele himself has made history, being the first black writer-director to score $100 million for a film debut.
You can read more about the study here via Variety.
