The producer of Girls Trip, Will Packer, posted an Instagram announcement that the film has crossed the $100 million threshold at the box office, making it the first film with an all-Black starring cast, production group (Will Packer and Malcolm D. Lee), and director (Lee) to do so. Incredible as it may seem, there has never been a movie with 100% Black ownership to make over $100 million — ever.
Credit the cast, including Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith, and hilarious newcomer Tiffany Haddish for delivering performances that boosted the uproarious comedy to a $31 million opening weekend, prompting a strong word-of-mouth campaign complete with many, many repeat viewings.
The info in Packer’s post comes via BlackFilm, which wrote:
At a time when articles are being written on how this summer has been brutal for films with, according to box office mojo, ticket sales are down 12% from last year, Girls Trip is one of the few bright spots. Not only did it defy expectations, having grossed $31M in its opening weekend but it held up over the following weeks.
It dropped 36% in its second weekend for a $20M take and has remained among the top five at the box office since then. This comes as other competing films that were released at the same time and afterwards such as Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Atomic Blonde, The Dark Tower, and The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature failed to live up to their potential. Girls Trip and Warner Bros.’ Dunkirk as the only films released on the same date this year (July 21) to gross over $100M domestically. The last time two films did that was Passengers and the animated film Sing, which were released during Christmas week (Dec.21).
The article also pointed out that the film continued a recent trend of female-led films that have been huge box office successes. That trend should absolutely continue, bringing more diversity to a movie industry that has run low on ideas lately; there are only so many superhero reboots anyone can get excited for.
