By Ariel Worthy
The Birmingham Times
Jordan Peele has made box-office history with horror flick, “Get Out.”
The movie has earned more than $100 million, which makes Peele the first African-American writer-director to pass that threshold with his debut feature film.
Peele is well-known from the comedy show Key and Peele, where he starred with Michael Key. He took to Twitter, writing: “First of many” and following up with “Meaning I won’t be the last.”
According to Blackfilm.com, other black directors have seen their feature debuts earn $100 million. Clark Johnson’s 2003 movie, “S.W.A.T.” made almost $117 million, but none have done it with their own screenplays.
The $100M plateau also makes it the 4th fastest for a Black director, followed by John Singleton’s 2003 2 Fast 2 Furious, which cross the plateau in 17 days and ended with a total gross of $127M.
Get Out’s $100 million success was made in just 16 days which also makes the film the fastest success from production from the company Blumhouse, according to Deadline. This weekend alone, the film made $21.07 million.
Unlike most horror movies, Get Out has a staying power at the box office, with only slight dips in ticket sales. It currently ranks as the fifth highest-grossing film of the year.
And “Get Out” achieved all this on just a $4.5 million budget and a lead cast devoid of big names.
While Hollywood continues to debate diversity (or rather, lack thereof), the success of “Get Out” is another addition to the list of recent films directed, written by or starring African Americans that have gone on to become major hits, commercially or critically — often both.
“Get Out” is in good company with black film success. “Moonlight,” directed by Barry Jenkins and adapted from Tarell Alvin McCraney’s play, “In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue,” won the Oscar for best picture, best adapted screenplay and best supporting actor for Mahershala Ali’s performance.
In 2016, it was announced that Ava DuVernay would direct Disney’s “A Wrinkle in Time,” making her the first black woman to direct a live-action film with a budget exceeding $100 million.
“Hidden Figures” earned nearly $163 million last year — and it beat out action and superhero movies in the process. A movie about black female mathematicians at NASA made more money at the box office than the latest installments in the Jason Bourne, Star Trek and X-Men franchises. And it was the highest-grossing film to be nominated for a best-picture Academy Award.
Washington Post contributed to this report.
