Our News Now is reporting that a new Black Entertainment Television study finds that 81 percent of the movies seen by African Americans don't prominently feature an African-American cast, lead actor or story line.
Matthew Barnhill, senior vice president of market research at BET Networks, said, "The African-American community has diverse tastes, an appetite for quality movies and entertainment that can range from blockbuster mainstream action films to African-American romantic comedies."
In the study, only three of the top films in 2010-11 mentioned by African-American moviegoers had a predominantly African-American cast or story line or a lead African-American actor. The study found that the genres African Americans spent the most money on were comedy, action adventure and romance.
We're glad that BET released a study about what we already knew: Black people see everything at the movies, not just films with black casts. A special note to Hollywood: This should not be interpreted as a reason to make fewer films with black casts. It simply means that black folks are open to many genres and films, regardless of race.
Read more at Our News Now.
In other news: CBC Chairman Cleaver Denounces Republican Vote Against Medicare.
Like The Root on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.