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PEOPLE & ARTS A31
UCLA: Movies make more $$$ when half the cast is white
RYAN NAKASHIMA
AP Business Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Movies
make more money when
exactly half their casts are
non-white, according to an
annual analysis released
Thursday that shows an in-
creasing demand for diver-
sity in film.
In previous years, movies
did better at the box of-
fice if two or three of the
top eight billed actors were
non-white. In 2014, four of
eight was the magic num-
ber, ticket sales show.
“These aren’t momentary
glitches. It’s the handwrit-
ing on the wall,” and it
points to how profoundly
out of touch the motion
picture academy is when
giving Oscars only to white
actors, said Darnell Hunt,
who directs the Ralph J.
Bunche Center for African
American Studies at the
University of California, Los
Angeles.
The Bunche Center has
taken a close look at each
year’s top-grossing films
since 2011, grouping each
movie according to how
many non-white actors
hold the top eight roles,
and calculating the me-
dian global haul of each
level of diversity.
The best performers, with a
median ticket revenue of
$122.2 million, turned out
to be movies in which half
the main cast was non-
white. That’s more than
double the $52.6 million
median haul for films with
no non-white actors in the
top eight. Films where more
than half the principal ac-
tors were non-white also
did worse, with a median
of $52.4 million.
Casts with non-whites in
four of the eight top roles
also provided the best re-
turn on investment, deliv-
ering ticket sales that were
3.4 times the films’ budgets,
on average.
The study points to “Lucy,”
a science-fiction film with
Morgan Freeman, Min-sik
Choi and Amr Waked in
prominent roles alongside
Scarlett Johansson, gross-
ing $444 million worldwide
according to IMDb.com;
and “Annie,” with Jamie
Foxx cast as Daddy War-
Saturday 27 February 2016

ture Association of Amer-
ica. But U.S. Hispanic and
Asian audiences punch
above their weight, making
up a greater proportion of
frequent moviegoers than
their population.
Sometimes diverse audi-
ences are core — 60 per-
cent of the “Transformers”
audience was non-white.
The motion picture acade-
my has been responding to
an uproar after nominating
an all-white acting pool for
the Oscars again this year.
Academy president Cheryl
Boone Isaacs has taken
steps to diversify the mem-
bership of the overwhelm-
ingly white and male insti-
tution.
This undated photo released by Universal Pictures shows Morgan Freeman, left, and Scarlett Jo- Sony Pictures CEO Michael
hansson in a scene from “Lucy.” Lynton said recently at the
Code Media conference
Associated Press that the move was a “posi-
tive step” toward aligning
bucks and Quvenzhane you feel like it adds to the ket in a few short years.
Wallis as the orphan, with box office. Absolutely.”
Cameron Diaz in a support- Not every box-office hit
ing role. That multiethnic has a hugely diverse cast
update of the classic musi- — you have to scan down
cal made $119 million, ac- to the eighth listed actor to
cording to IMDB.com. find Chinese actress Bing-
And for franchises like the bing Li in 2014’s top-selling
widely hailed “Fast and movie, “Transformers: Age
Furious” — which has swal- of Extinction,” which made
lowed $3.9 billion in global $1.1 billion worldwide.
ticket sales — marketing But that may be changing
campaigns and posters — especially with actors
have purposefully played who can draw crowds out-
up the multiracial casts of side the U.S. and Canada.
the seven movies. Overseas audiences rep- This undated file photo released by Universal Pictures shows
“The main payoff is always resented 72 percent of the Min-Sik Choi, center in a scene from “Lucy.” Associated Press
going to be the seven total global box office of
people on that poster,” $36.4 billion in 2014, up from The trend has given rise to the awards with the reality
said Kenny Gravillis, chief 66 percent just four years direct appeals to Chinese that diversity can be good
creative director and co- earlier. audiences, with filmmakers for business.
founder of movie marketing China alone is on pace to inserting scenes with Chi- “You only need to look at
company Gravillis Inc. “The overtake the U.S. as the nese actors in a handful of a film franchise like ‘Fast
diversity of that ensemble, world’s largest movie mar- recent films, including “Mis- and Furious’ to see what
sion Impossible: Rogue Na- an enormous success that
tion” and “Iron Man 3.” movie has been, and in
It stands to reason why a large part I would argue it’s
modestly diverse cast pays because of the diversity of
off. In the U.S., Caucasians the cast,” he said. “I think
remained the largest mov- the Academy has reacted
iegoing demographic in very, very quickly and posi-
2014 at 54 percent, ac- tively to what I think was a
cording to the Motion Pic- very, extremely unfortunate
situation this year.”q
In this Dec. 4, 2014 file photo, the cast of “Annie” from left, Bob-
by Cannavale, Quvenzhane Wallis, Marty the dog, Cameron
Diaz and Jamie Foxx poses during a photo call in New York.
Associated Press