Nate Parker’s ‘American Skin’ seeing commercial success
The film's success is largely due to a strategized social media initiative
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.
Read More: Nate Parker to star in new film ‘American Skin’
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.
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.
Read More: Nate Parker apologizes for being ‘tone deaf’ about college assault scandal
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.
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.
“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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