Nate Parker’s ‘American Skin’ seeing commercial success

The film's success is largely due to a strategized social media initiative

Feb 7, 2021

Nate Parker’s American Skin, a drama that explores police violence and racism in America has grossed $4 million over a two-week time span.

Written, directed, and starring Nate Parker, American Skin debuted on Jan. 15 in select cinemas and on premium video-on-demand platforms such as Apple, Amazon, Vudu, and Google Play.

In this follow-up to his 2016 directorial debut, The Birth of a Nation, Parker plays an Iraq War vet whose son is shot and killed by a police officer. Along with actor Omari Hardwick, Parker shares the screen with Beau Knapp, Theo Rossi, Shane Paul McGhie, Milauna Jackson, Vanessa Bell Calloway, and Sierra Capri.

#AmericanSkin …Powerful movie! Thanks to everybody who told me to watch it! One of the best movies I have seen in a long time! It’s difficult to watch at times but very necessary! Salute @NateParker 👏🏽 pic.twitter.com/HvvdhLADZL
— SuavA (@SuavA) January 31, 2021

As previously mentioned by theGrio, Parker’s last film was initially expected to be a massive hit, but the trajectory of his career was adversely affected by rape claims that resurfaced during the the height of the #MeToo movement.

Distributed by Vertical Entertainment, American Skin is one of the company’s highest grossing titles on PVOD. The film’s success is largely due to a strategized social media initiative which was supported by tastemakers such as Lebron James, Diddy, E40, David Oyelowo, and more.

Thank you King 👑 @Diddy for your support of ‘American Skin’ #AmericanSkinMovie pic.twitter.com/usNayubmFl
— 𝙰𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚂𝚔𝚒𝚗 (@americanskinmo1) January 17, 2021

Because of the social media initiative which included reminders and countdowns, the film reached 2.08M impressions on Instagram.

A YouTube fan reaction video was created for the American Skin trailer which gained 55K+ views. There was also an initiative to have social media followers call their local theaters and request American Skin for viewing. Additionally, the trailer on Facebook garnered over 1 million views, according to Deadline.

Started Black history month off with the “American Skin” movie. Really good movie. Very eye opening. Strongly encourage everybody to watch it this month.
— Tyvis Powell (@1Tyvis) February 1, 2021

“We are in the midst of a pandemic and everyone usually pays attention to who’s No. 1 at the box office,” said American Skin producer Mark Burg. “None of this really matters especially now — we knew when we read the American Skin script in 2019 that audiences around the world would connect to the story! It’s 2021 and I’m happy that we are changing the narrative.”

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