Are audiences as color-blind as they claim to be?
You’re watching Beyond The Trailer’s review of Annie...
What color is Perry White? What color is Deadshot? What color is Annie? Hollywood has a long
history of remaking films to transfer ownership to a new generation, but what about to include
a new ethnicity? What is the core of a fictional character, and how much can you change before
that character is no longer recognizable - or, even worse for Hollywood - no longer appeals
to the majority of audiences? One one side, there are black and latino audiences which
are quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with, and courted, by Hollywood. Kevin Hart
movies consistently open at number one, as do Will Packer’s films, while Malcolm D
Lee and Antoine Fuqua also rule the box office. And it looks like Selma’s Ava DuVernay is
on track to become the first black female director ever nominated for Best Director
- she’s already got a Golden Globe nomination. Marvel has finally greenlit a Black Panther
movie with Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa, while Warner Bros and DC have Dwayne Johnson
starring as Black Adam in Shazam for 2019 and a Cyborg film set for 2020. They’ve
also re-imagined Deadshot as black, with Will Smith cast in the role for Suicide Squad in
2016. Speaking of Smith, he and his wife Jada had tremendous success re-imaging The Karate
Kid as a launching pad for their son Jaden - grossing over three hundred and fifty million
worldwide. They’d hoped to do the same for their daughter Willow with a re-imagining
of Annie, yet even after the hit single Whip My Hair she seemed to lack the confidence
- or maybe just the interest - to be a movie star. But Smith, who’d already brought Jay-Z
on board to co-produce and oversee the soundtrack which includes three new songs, felt this
was too good an opportunity to pass up. So Oscar nominee Quvenzhane Wallis took on the
role of Annie, and so far so good as she’s landed a Golden Globe nomination for her work
- Best Actress in a musical or comedy! But while Will Smith, Jay-Z and the industry seem
interested in this new Annie, will changing the classic character’s ethnicity make her
- and this musical - more appealing to black and latino audiences? And what about white
audiences? Black and latino audiences have been seeing movies featuring a predominantly
white cast for - well - forever, but will white audiences be open to seeing a film where
the cast is predominantly black? The answer has to be yes if “black film” and black
talent are going to move fully into the mainstream with movies that can compete at the same level
as “white film” and white talent. Annie isn’t expected to be a huge performer, and
perhaps is handicapped by the film leaking weeks ahead of its release online, but it’s
being watched careful by an industry that’s thinking of changing - but doesn’t yet have
enough hard evidence
to do so
with confidence...