Some of the movies Perry has written and directed have received small international openings, most often in South Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Only one or two ever got anything close to a European theatrical push.
“I fought for it, I asked for it,” Perry said. But often he gets the same response: “Stories with black people don’t travel, don’t translate.”
For years, minority filmmakers have pushed Hollywood studios and distributors to get over a reluctance to promote their films worldwide. They are hoping that 2018 was the tipping point.
This year “Black Panther,” “Crazy Rich Asians” and “BlacKkKlansman” all raked in money overseas, an unusual winning streak that challenged beliefs about the global appeal of actors of color.
Charles D. King, chief executive of Macro, a financial backer of “Fences,” starring Denzel Washington, and the summer indie hit “Sorry to Bother You,” said he had seen examples of an industry shift. He pointed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s and Warner Bros.’ full-bore promotion of the November boxing sequel “Creed II,” with its star, Michael B. Jordan, traveling with the film internationally.
Of the long-standing belief that films need white leads to travel, King said: “We’re seeing pockets of progression, where the studio pushes the agenda.”
Representatives for major studios declined to comment for the record, though several privately insisted that their films were treated equally regardless of the stars’ race.
But publicly available data suggests that movies with minority stars generally have not received the same international push as white-led ones.
Comparisons are imperfect, but in 2014, for example, the Kevin Hart-led remake of the romantic comedy “About Last Night” made $2 million more at the domestic box office than the rom-com “Blended” with Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler, despite opening in 1,300 fewer theaters, according to Box Office Mojo, which tracks ticket sales. But “About Last Night” was released in only a fifth as many countries as “Blended.”
“Blended” did well internationally, either proving studios’ instincts right, or as critics suggest, showing what happens when studios put more effort behind white-led films.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.