Monday Actuals: ‘Jump The Broom’ Leaps

COMMENTS (17)

• These studio estimates on African-American female targeted movies (Tyler Perry, TD Jakes, ETC) always discount Sunday post-church audiences, which is a huge movie going time in the AA culture.
  That’s where the extra $$ came from in the JTB estimate.

  SB

  Comment by Sarah b — Monday May 9, 2011 @ 2:49pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Very pleasantly surprised to see JUMPING THE BROOM beat out SOMETHING BORROWED and that FAST FIVE is doing so well in its second weekend. It’s a testament to the fact that American audiences are becoming more open with films with more diverse and lesser known casts.

  Comment by Anonymous — Monday May 9, 2011 @ 3:00pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • I just can’t watch another Kate Hudson wedding romcom, ever. Can’t even believe Letterman when he claimed it was good. So hard to believe that yet another wedding themed gal movie is a good thing. Who’d ever think Apatow would have a better buzzed romcom than Kate Hudson.

    Comment by Everest — Monday May 9, 2011 @ 7:57pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • JTB beating Kate Hudson`s latest crapfest is a fantastic news.

    Comment by addison — Tuesday May 10, 2011 @ 3:20am PDT  Reply to this post

• ‘Jumping The Broom’ is a great example of a movie with a targeted demo but also wide appeal. Regardless of the ethnic background they’re telling a story about families, class structure, tradition, etc. and they filled that in with very appealing/talented cast.

  Add to that a really solid trailer and you’ve got a sleep hit. After seeing this trailer in the theaters I added it to my “I’d rent it” list which is what “Something Borrowed” did not make.

  Comment by JJ — Monday May 9, 2011 @ 3:40pm PDT  Reply to this post

• What this hopefully should prove to the studios is that the African-American audience is STARVING for stories about US outside of Tyler Perry. Kudos to all involved with Jumping the Broom, from the writers, director, producers, studio execs, to the amazing cast.

  A movie made for less than 7 million, more than doubles its return in one weekend. Yes, diversity matters. As evidenced by Fast Five, which also got my support.

  Please studio system, start buying and making some more quality black films! You take risks everyday on higher budget, white romcoms that don’t make money (How do you know?, Something Borrowed, Going the distance, etc), so why not continue to make low budget quality black films for an audiene that is hungry to see them?

  Comment by Studios need to pay attention — Monday May 9, 2011 @ 4:13pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • I co-sign with everything your saying. Unfortunately the studios will NEVER see what ur talking about. The people who run the studios dont go to baptist church, they go to synagogues and scientology centers so that will NEVER understand anything remotely relative to the urban audience. They will continue to use the change they find under the couch to finance a few urban flicks a year just to appease Jesse Jackson and the NAACP. Over 20 years ago, Beverly Hills Cop made over $280 million domestically off of Eddie Murphy and if NOBODY saw that as a reason to put more diversity in movies, then dont think $16 million from JTB is going to.

    I will continue to support diversity in film even if the movie isnt all that good!! lol

    Comment by Mr. Rod — Monday May 9, 2011 @ 5:05pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • When Fiddler on the Roof played in Japan, the reaction reportedly was, “Why did they set a story so Japanese in a Russian Jewish village?” We all need to realize that there is a universal in the specific–and Hollywood needs to realize they can sell that.

      The Kids are All Right was able to transcend being “narrowly” about lesbians. Worse, lesbians who were (gasp) middle-aged! I hope Jumping the Broom enjoys the same kind of success. Maybe, slowly, but surely, studio development and marketing people will catch on.

      Comment by Hope — Monday May 9, 2011 @ 9:21pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • And not just “black” films – films that EVERYONE can relate to. Let’s mix it up a little Hollywood. This weekend was an example – people want to see more then Kate Hudson attempting another humdrum, white washed romcom.

    Comment by Diversity! — Monday May 9, 2011 @ 5:09pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Laz Alonso, who stars in JTB, is a fantastic guy and an amazing talent. I work with him on BREAKOUT KINGS and I believe he is a huge star in the making.
  And though I understand the obvious reasons for calling JTB a “Black” or “African American” film, I can say that anyone of ANY persuasion should go see it. It deals with ubiquitous themes and issues that anyone can relate to.
  I’m not Black and I LOVED it.
  Congrats to Laz and the JTB team!

  Comment by Nick — Monday May 9, 2011 @ 4:53pm PDT  Reply to this post

• When I saw the trailer JTB I knew right away that I had to go view this movie and the talented all-star cast line-up made it all the more appealing for me. The release of this particular movie on the peak of the wedding season was an fantastic idea. The location in Martha’s Vineyard is a beautiful scene and often not acquainted with other culturals, is certainly a breath of new air. I am excited for the entire production team (T.D. Jakes & staff) for this project who saw the opportunity to create this film to include laughter, traditional values, personal presentations and spiritual views on the importance of the marriage institution. I absolutely, loved the movie from beginning to end

  Comment by Nubian Queen — Monday May 9, 2011 @ 6:12pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Agreeing with Mister Rod. We just aren’t talking about big business here. All is well is and good with “niche” audience dollars, there is legitimate money to be made and I’m sure good people are making a solid living and able to keep their kids in private school. But we’re talking about a picture with grade school humor sensibilities laced with melodrama wrapped in a church box, presented by, across the board, a not quite A-list production entity. Pic is newsworthy because 7-8 mil AA movie makes 12-15 back.

  Bottom line: Tyler Perry is still king of AA pic. Never thought I’d see the day I wished Spike Lee would make more movies. WELP, back to my job at the post office. La di da………….

  Comment by Bill Beezley — Monday May 9, 2011 @ 9:21pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Can we please stop labeling movies with a predominately black cast as a “BLACK” film or African American targeted? Why are films with White stars never labeled as “White targeted?” If you don’t label white films that way, you should stop labeling any film due to the ethnicity of it’s primary cast.
  Please, can we just grow up and put this kind of silliness behind us.

  Comment by Kale 32 — Monday May 9, 2011 @ 10:45pm PDT  Reply to this post

• It was really nice to go to the movies two weekends in a row and see two very different movies (Fast Five and JTB) with diverse casts.

  And the real interesting story here is how JTB outgrossed Something Borrowed without the benefit of a big “star” like Kate Hudson.

  Comment by RLS — Tuesday May 10, 2011 @ 5:36am PDT  Reply to this post

• We all came to see the one and only Angela Bassett!

  Comment by Anonymous — Tuesday May 10, 2011 @ 8:20am PDT  Reply to this post

• I went to see it because of Paula Patton.. HOT!

  Comment by moviegoer — Tuesday May 10, 2011 @ 11:04pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Jump the Broom was worth every penny! Kept me interested, funny, realistic, and beautiful scenery-the 1st 5 minutes the girl seemed waaaaay to bubbly-I was on the verge of dissappointment…she definitely calmed it down and I even forgot all about being annoyed.

  It was very good on a scale of 1-10 given it’s genre’ I would give it an 8.5.

  Comment by Joy Riley — Friday May 20, 2011 @ 4:01pm PDT  Reply to this post