Sold out at yesterdays matinee. The studio must of misjudged the audience. The trailers were all aimed at black audiences but seats were a sea of white faces, all round my age (>50).
Great movie. Surprisingly similar in style to Jersey Boys (breaking the 3rd wall, fantasy sequences, talking to the camera)
We run one of two theatres in our county of 37,000 people (52% white, 32% hispanic, 13% American Indian, and 1% black) and so far only the whites have been coming to see this. Sadly, the turnout has been low; I thought this was a fantastic film and have been trying to get word-of-mouth going in our community.
I'm not convinced anybody under the age of 35 knows what funk is here, or who James Brown is. The only radio stations are country, pop, and classic rock.
Oh, my stars and garters--I've only just now realized that I live in a cultural wasteland!
"Battle not with monsters lest ye become a monster"
http://www.last.fm/user/Sleepynaut/
You live in a county where African Americans only make up 1%? Can I ask where you live? Lol.
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Spot on, friend. We're in southeastern Arizona, and only partially by choice. I grew up here and had the distinction of being >the< weird kid in a high school of 200 for my tastes in music and film.
Truth be told, despite its horrifying lack of anything cool or hip, I love my community. Plus, I have the coolest job here!
Now I've gotta know...what's the job?
My theater here in La Jolla, a rich WHITE suburb of San Diego (82.5% White, 0.8% Black, 0.2% American Indian, 11.2% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 2.0% some other race, and 3.1% two or more races. Latinos, who may be of any race, form 7.2% of La Jolla's population) was made up of nothing but rich white people, but the theater didn't have a single empty seat.
I operate a very small laboratory, share an office with quite possibly the most laid-back guy in the state, get to play the music I like, AND am able to keep a roof over my family's heads and food on our table. All wins!
San Diego? I had no idea that any place in California had such a predominately white makeup.
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Well, here (Northern Va near Wash DC) the large theater was 80% sold out and audience was around two-thirds white, I'd say, with the rest basically African-American. That's not that far off from the general population around here, which is probably 75% white. For a Friday night it was a much older audience than normal. The teenagers were watching the superheroes movie down the hall.
There was a lot of favorable audience reaction. I thought it was an amazing movie. It has an A on Cinemascore but that doesn't guarantee big audiences. I hope it does really well at the box office, however. We want more outstanding movies like this!
I hope wom saves the boxo.
Maybe they should have given Kevin Hart a small role? :)
by mizwright » Sun Aug 3 2014 15:52:44
IMDb member since January 2005
I hope wom saves the boxo...
Here's his son's take on the movie and life:
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140805/ENT06/308050010/James-Brown-s-son-pens-revealing-memoir-biopic-Get-Up-hits-theaters
I wasn't at all surprised by the mixed, older crowd in my theater. James Brown crossed over as an artist and was admired by blacks and whites for many years.
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You sell you white people low. I give whites more credit than that. James Brown crossed over as did many black stars back in the day.
Go away troll.
I haven't seen the movie yet, but I plan to. I am an older white woman. I LOVED James Brown. He was indeed a crossover and appealed equally to whites and blacks.
He rose to fame in an era when whites embraced black music and performers.
Ray Charles
Aretha Franklin
Sam Cooke
Percy Sledge
Otis Redding
Chubby Checker
James Brown
Ike & Tina Turner (mainly Tina)
The Supremes
The Four Tops
The Temptations
Louis Armstrong
Nat King Cole (who had a variety tv show)
A heavy group of talented performers, wouldn't you say? James Brown wasn't my favorite, but he was an amazing performer, that's for sure.
I haven't seen the movie yet, but I plan to. I am an older white woman. I LOVED James Brown. He was indeed a crossover and appealed equally to whites and blacks.
He rose to fame in an era when whites embraced black music and performers.
Ray Charles
Aretha Franklin
Sam Cooke
Percy Sledge
Otis Redding
Chubby Checker
James Brown
Ike & Tina Turner (mainly Tina)
The Supremes
The Four Tops
The Temptations
Louis Armstrong
Nat King Cole (who had a variety tv show)
A heavy group of talented performers, wouldn't you say?
Yep. Many whites liked James Brown's music and other artists in that genre. This was not like rap where it catered to a smaller demographic. Like you won't see older whites go see a movie about 2Pac's life. James Brown reached a large audience.
This was a great movie. Lot of white people in my viewing as well.
The trailers were all aimed at black audiences
the fourth wall ,isn't it? I wasn't sure I liked the breaking, but it was used effectively. I am glad it was sparingly though.
I am white, and there were only four others folks, all white, at the cinema, all my age > 50 also. These were fans , had to be. No body will see this film if they don't know JB.
But you know, JB talked about 'I can dig rapping, but i can't take no back-stabbing!' The youngsters who loved Em , should see some of the origins of all that hip hop today. Just as gospel inspired Brown.
Gort? But he's a robot. Without you, what could he do?
Why is this surprising? Many Older white fans now were kids back then who loved Brown's records. Why wouldn't they fill the theater to see the movie about him now?
Actors are mere products of a good writer's imagination
When I saw the movie last night my girlfriend and I were the only white people and the theater was roughly half full. Didn't matter to me. Everyone enjoyed the movie from what I could tell. Is there something wrong with me being white and going to see this? I love the music and the people who brought it to us from the period James Brown came through.
shareThe OP is pure race baiting black trash! So what if white people packed to see a black legend movie! Aint satisfied for s^^t! When they dont see it you mad then if they do you STILL mad!!! James Brown was a pure legend with that God given stage magic talent that got everybody up on their feet! So of course white people gonna see it too!
shareOP here. I'm a middle aged white guy who grew up in a latino neighborhood. I loved the movie, I was just bemoaning that younger black audiences don't seem connected to the great black artists of the past. Of course, a lot of younger white kids don't know who the Rolling Stones were.
shareAnd the film was made by a bunch of white people. Maybe black people don't care about someone as important as James Brown. But then again, one of my favorite movies of last year Black Nativity didn't do well either. That was made by a black director.
Maybe they should make a movie where Jay-Z walks around for an hour and a half and steals other people's records. If black people go to see that then we'll have and answer (an no hope for the future).