Sorry to Bother You, Boots Riley’s debut feature, is being rejected by international distributors, the director revealed yesterday. On Saturday (August 4) Riley explained in a Twitter post that race was a major factor, writing: “Even tho we'r outperforming a gang of other movies, distributors r claiming ‘Black movies’ dont do well internationally and r treating it as such. There'r films that bombed here, that theyr distributing. Let em know wsup”.
This comes despite the critical and commercial success of Sorry to Bother You (it boasts an impressive 94% on Rotten Tomatoes and is set to finish its fourth weekend with a domestic total of $14 million).
Despite the recent success of ‘black’ films like Get Out, Straight Outta Compton, Moonlight, and Marvel’s Black Panther, Hollywood still justifies its reluctance to make films with a majority of black actors by stating a lack of international interest. Hopefully Riley’s public call to “let em know wsup” will inspire some change in the industry, especially as it’s been revealed that representation in top films has stagnated in the last decade.