In yet another victory for women in Hollywood, Girls Trip—the new R-rated comedy starring four black female leads—has just had a stellar opening weekend at the box office. The film, which cost about $20 million to make, earned an estimated $30.4 million in ticket sales in its first outing, and has become the latest proof that audiences are interested in seeing more than just superheroes and Disney characters on screen.
The movie, about four childhood friends—played by Jada Pinkett Smith, Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, and Tiffany Haddish—who travel to New Orleans for a raunchy girls weekend, received mostly positive reviews last week, and has become the breakout vehicle for Haddish. (If you haven’t already seen her in this hilarious interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live! talking about hanging out with Will and Jada Pinkett Smith on a swamp tour, you are truly missing out.)
Aside from already turning a profit, Girls Trip also just had the best opening of an R-rated comedy in two years, and has bested the first weeks of other films with bigger budgets, including Baywatch (which boasted Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron) and The House (Amy Poehler and Will Ferrell). This weekend also saw Wonder Woman officially become this summer’s number-one movie in America. If you take these two recent box-office wins and add in the commercial successes of Hidden Figures, Get Out, and Fifty Shades Darker, Girls Trip’s success is less surprising than the fact that Hollywood and headlines continue to be surprised at all when movies starring women or minorities perform well.
Time and time again, Hollywood has perpetuated the myth that only comic book characters and sequels will draw audiences to the theater. It’s the reason why this summer we’re getting yet another reboot of Spider-Man, and one of the reasons why studios like Marvel and DC Comics seem to be on an endless production schedule. It’s also the explanation given for why stories like the one in Girls Trip—about four black girlfriends having a good time—rarely make it on screen. As The New York Times pointed out, one of the last times a studio bet on a movie with four black female leads was more than 20 years ago, with 1995’s Waiting to Exhale. In comparison, we were subjected to three Hangover movies in four years.
It’s worth noting that during the same opening weekend of Girls Trip, Luc Besson’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets effectively tanked at the box office. (The sci-fi action film cost about $150 million but only recouped $17 million or so in tickets its first week.) The message this weekend was loud and clear: Viewers want to see more than just special effects on screen. Here’s hoping that Hollywood will listen.