Jordan Peele, who is best known for his work on the TV series Key & Peele, has become the first Black director and writer to earn $100 million in ticket sales for a debut film.
According to studio estimates on Sunday, Peele’s satirical horror film, Get Out, made with a budget of $4 million, earned $21.1 million in its third weekend, bringing its total to $111 million. It made $30 million when it debuted on February 24.
The film has diverse audiences, attracting 39% Black, 36% White and 17% Latino moviegoers on opening weekend, according to the Associated Press.
The success of Get Out, which has a diverse cast, brings to light the findings of UCLA’s Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies annual Hollywood Diversity Report, published last month. The report examined the 200 top-grossing theatrical film releases in 2015. Researchers found that relatively diverse films excelled at the box office between 2011 and 2015, regardless of genre.
Other findings include:
People of color bought 45% of all movie tickets sold in the United States in 2015.
Latinos accounted for 23% of ticket purchases alone.
Films with relatively diverse casts enjoyed the highest median global box office receipts and the highest median return on investment.
Peele’s film centers on a Black man who discovers that his White girlfriend’s liberal, all-White hometown is guarding a sinister secret. Get Out, which uses a combination of comedy and horror, focuses on the state of race relations in the U.S.
