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PRIDE in the name of

Instead of writing about Akira, I’m gonna use this space to tell you about my adventure in trying to go see Pride, a movie inspired by the true story of a Philadelphia swim coach named Jim Ellis starring Terrence Howard (Crash).

This film is important to me because I’ve written a similar story. It’s the true story of a Black hockey team from my hometown of Detroit. You can see a short video of the team here.

I’ve been nursing this script for years and I even have a big name director attached to the project. A few studios have already told me and the other producers that their interest is directly tied to how well Pride performs at the box office. So needless to say, I was going to see this movie opening weekend no matter what!

I couldn’t rally the troops to go see it like we did 300 a couple of weeks ago. Saturday was out. Especially when I had to drive to Fullerton after work to pick up a camera for my boy Jason (who plays Jeremy in Akira so I did manage to tie this into the movie somehow) to borrow for some pick up shots for his own film. So today, Sunday, was the day. I looked on the web and got ready with the intention of going to the 11:30 show at The Plant in Van Nuys. Turns out my friend (and a producer on Akira) Eric Kalmus was down to go too. We got to the mall, paid our money, and sat down to enjoy the film. Right away we noticed some problems with the projector during the previews but didn’t think much of it. Cut to 10 minutes into the film…we’ve endured Jim’s suffering in a 60’s flashback scene and are watching him interact with the 70’s era Phily teens for the first time when the film literally starts to melt on the screen right before our eyes!

The people in the theater (all 5 of us including Eric and I) all turned to see the head of flustered young white projectionist poking up in front of the projector. He ran his hands over the feet of film spooling out. After a few minutes (Eric and I spent debating whether they’d be able to splice it back together) a lady in a uniform walked in and told us all that the film was irrepairable and we’d all get a refund. I was pretty frustrated. Nobody could understand how important it was that I see this film! I groaned, “This wouldn’t happen if it was Spider-Man III playing!” as my Conspiracy Brother side rose up. We all groaned but filed out of the theater getting refunds and free passes for a future admission.

I thought about how simple it would have been for the projectionist to splice the film back together. In the old days, when they had union projectionist, it would’ve been no problem. But today they have what my boy Brian (also my 1st AD on Akira) calls Booth Monkeys!

We huddled with the other people (a couple and another woman) about where else the film was playing. Sherman Oaks or Woodland Hills were options. So the film only opened in 1512 theaters, I read. Well after this, make it 1511! I thought about all the people who’d come out to see the film and NOT arrive in time (or be determined enough) to seek it out at another movieplex? Well not me… I was adamant about seeing this film. To the point where if we’d went to another Mann I was going to use my precious cash and save the voucher if it didn’t count towards the box office!

After a fast food run we went back home and found it playing in Burbank at 1:30. We got back in the Benz (his not mine) and found our way to the bustling mall. After parking and walking the marquee read 2:55 pm! After cursing ourselves for “trusting the internet” (to paraphrase a line in Akira) and not calling we decided to walk around. We killed some time (when’s the last time you’ve been to SEARS?) and suddenly, right before us, there was a smaller AMC theater inside the mall with 8 additional movies showing. One of them was Pride and…(drum roll, please) it was starting at 1:30!

Since it was like 1:37 and we’d seen at least 10 minutes, we decided to go in. There were about 10 people here (wow, a packed house!) and the movie was about two minutes before the part where the Mann Theater had melted down. I’m glad to say we made it through the movie and it was well worth it. It was a pretty good film. Not great, but damn good. Howard was excellent. I first saw him in The Best Man but he’s really come into his own. He carried the movie and even Executive Produced the joint. Props to him. Go out and see Pride unless you want every black film to be the same tired look at life in the “so-called” ‘hood.

Whenever it’s a “positive” Black film it seems they don’t perform as well at the box office as the films with rap soundtracks and hip-hop artists in prominent roles. The list is long…Akeelah and the Bee, Eve’s Bayou, Daddy’s Little Girls, etc. I’m even guilty of not supporting some of these. I’ve been in meetings with white stuido execs and it’s embarassing when they tell you, “the black audience doesn’t want to see that” and (sadly) sometimes they’re absolutely right with the numbers on their side to justify not making your project. I know a lot of you aren’t in the movie biz, but just remember you’re voting with your dollars each and every weekend.

Turtles and the new Mark Whalberg action flick don’t need your money. There’s gonna be more of both guaranteed. But without Pride at least staying afloat (it grossed $4 million to come in #9 which wasn’t bad since it was on 1500 screens while the weekend’s other new flicks debuted on 3200) a lot of non-traditional black films might sink.