Stars: Andrew Jacobs, Molly Ephraim, Richard Cabral, Crystal Santos
It will be interesting to see how this latest film in the Paranormal Activity franchise does at the box office, given America’s predilection for cinema apartheid and the fact that the cast is largely Hispanic. A big brouhaha was made over the fact that USA Today characterized The Best Man Holiday as a “race-themed” film, this despite the universal themes of love, loss, career stagnation and family that permeated the film. Best Man did not do well with white audiences, and typically other than historical films (The Butler, 12 Years a Slave), films with predominately black casts do not do well with mainstream audiences, regardless of the subject matter. The same is not true in the other direction; blacks do support films peopled by white actors, if they did not, they would not have many moviegoing experiences.
One other factor worth noting: Apparently, Paranormal Activity drew large numbers of Hispanics to the theaters, prompting the studio to make a sequel with a Hispanic cast.
Say what?
Yeah, not hating on my brown brothers and sisters, but that kind of responsiveness from Hollywood is, in a word, stunning. So I’ll be intently watching the numbers to see who supports this film. –p.d. lee
