As COVID-19 mandates relax across the U.S., more and more people are getting back to somewhat of a normal life. With that comes the recreational fun that many of us have missed out on in the last year. Now that the movie theaters are opening back up, films are starting to gain back a little traction on the silver screen.
Focus Features’ Boogie, starring newcomer Taylor Takahashi, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’s Taylour Paige and the late rapper Pop Smoke (real name Bashar Jackson), made a box office gross of $1.2M over the weekend. The Eddie Huang directed pic had a limited release opening at 1,252 theaters nationwide. It’s average box office gross per screen was $958.
Huang made it quite clear that Boogie is Pop Smoke’s film in an interview he did with Yahoo Entertainment.
“At first I made this film and I was like, ‘Look, this is for my family and this is to represent for all of us overseas Chinese in America,’ but this is Pop’s film,” Huang said of the Brooklyn drill music artist. “It’s absolutely dedicated to Pop. I really miss my brother. Once I met him, the film changed.”
“He [had] no fear, Pop [wasn’t] scared of anything,” Huang continued. “He also probably had the fastest computer processor in his head I’ve ever seen. I could tell Pop something, and he would immediately adapt and make that change. And he didn’t have an ego about it, and he wouldn’t get scared about it. And he wouldn’t have self-doubt about it. He just did it. But I will tell you this. Pop’s not a dude that would’ve wanted you to be sad. He really [was] a person who was celebrating life all of the time. So happy, very sensitive. Amazing to be around. And a lotta love. He got a lotta love.”
Set in contemporary New York City, Alfred “Boogie” Chin is a Asian American basketball phenom who dreams of playing in the NBA. As he attempts to balance pressure from his parents to earn a college scholarship, Boogie must also navigate a new girlfriend, high school, on-court rivals and the burden of expectation. The script is penned by Eddie Huang.
The cast includes Mike Moh (Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood), Steve Coulter (P-Valley), Dave East (Wu-Tang: An American Saga), and Domenick Lombardozzi (Power).
Deon Taylor’s Fatale, another notable pic at the theaters, is still going strong at the box office. Over the weekend, the pic grossed $53,000, accumulating a total box office of $6,328,000M. The pic is being shown at 196 theaters in its third week after opening.
