The Birth Of A Nation opened in 2,100 movie theaters spanning the country over the weekend (Oct 7). Many expected the Sundance Festival standout film to gross more than 10 million dollars, but the Nate Parker directed movie only garnered 7.1 million, while finishing sixth at the box office and seeing its Oscar hopes diminish. An estimated 60% of the film’s audience was made up by African-Americans.
Y’all did all that crying for us to see Birth of a Nation just for it to be historically inaccurate and flop.. pic.twitter.com/niHg7Cfrm3
— APA Twigs (@ThoughtsByJae) October 9, 2016
Nate Parker’s 1999 rape case clouded the film’s release, as many wonder could this have been the reason for the weak public showing as Parker has become a liability in his own film.
“We thought it could be a little higher, but word of mouth is going to be positive, which will allow us to string out to a good result,” said Frank Rodriguez, who heads Fox Searchlight’s distribution. The film saw a $10 million dollar budget, but will be lucky to gross $30 million over the course of its release, according to the industry experts.
So did we all think a movie about slave rebellion and killing “whitey” was gonna top the box office? Hahahahahaha oh…
— El Viejo Ebro (@oldmanebro) October 10, 2016
#BirthOfANation did 7Million? So about 460K people spent $15 on a ticket… is that right?
Remember this when you wonder .. NVM
— El Viejo Ebro (@oldmanebro) October 10, 2016
After generating quite the buzz after the Sundance Film Festival, Fox Searchlight Pictures shelled out a record 17.5 million dollars for distributing rights to the film in January, 10 months later, an additional 10 million was spent on an aggressive marketing campaign.
The Birth Of A Nation tells the story of a preacher, (Nat Turner) who led a slave rebellion in 1831 Virginia. The powerful film has generated positive reviews from critics and boasts an inspiring soundtrack. Support the film and generate an opinion of your own after viewing the trailer below.