Miles Maker
Chris Brown Makes "This Christmas" SpecialRecent box office receipts have been swept away by a wave of feature films with black star power. In October, Tyler Perry's "Why Did I get Married?" crashed ashore at #1 with $21.4 million on its opening weekend, marking another successful launch for the Tyler Perry brand. Last month, the first crime saga to eclipse the $30 million mark went #1 with a bullet on its opening weekend, with Denzel Washington as Frank Lucas in "American Gangster." Next month the last man on earth will not be in theaters alone when Will Smith's "I Am Legend" opens in theaters, but a surprise holiday gift was delivered early when "This Christmas" arrived this weekend. "This Christmas" is a feel good movie about growth and acceptance. Once the table is set, a satisfying film leaves you rubbing your stomach and picking your teeth with content. Among the ensemble cast of familiar faces, a shining young star makes his presence known. With pretty boy looks, a golden voice and a charismatic smile, Hip hop R&B singer Chris Brown makes "This Christmas" a very special movie for all ages.A dancer since the age of two, Brown was not aware of his vocal abilities until he was 11. He can now add acting to his resume of showbiz talents with an accomplishment that included not one, but two vocal solos and a compelling performance in the role of Baby, the youngest child of the estranged Whitfield family. As they attempt to reconnect over the holidays, dark secrets are revealed as a family in crisis searches to rediscover unity and togetherness. The dramatic comedy boasts an ensemble cast including Delroy Lindo, Idris Elba, Loretta Devine, Columbus Short , Sharon Leal, Mekhi Phifer, and the incomparable Regina King, who plays a memorable role as a submissive housewife to an unfaithful husband (Laz Alonso). However, the powerful actress gets the last laugh in a must-see showdown reminiscent of "Waiting to Exhale," and appears not once, but twice in her underwear! Why don't we see more of Regina King?Brown has made appearances in UPN's. "One on One" and the N's "The Brandon T. Jackson Show." He appeared as a band geek in the fourth season of FOX's "The O.C. early this year and made a very brief film debut in the dance movie "Stomp The Yard." Brown's character was murdered in the opening scene, but not before astounding audiences with inhuman dance moves and a star quality that could not be denied. Chris Brown's acting career was waiting to happen.Producers Rob Hardy and Will Packer know all about punching tickets at the box office. In fact, they've been doing this for more than a decade. They created Rainforest Films and promptly released their feature, "Chocolate City" to critical acclaim in 1994. They followed with their independently funded, produced and distributed breakout feature "Trois," which became the fastest African-American distributed film to ever pass the million dollar mark and put Rainforest at #34 among the top 500 film distributors of 2000 (listed by the Hollywood Reporter in August 2001). "Trois" was one of the top 50 highest grossing independent films of that year (Daily Variety, July 30, 2001). Until "This Christmas," Rainforest's last release was the surprise talk of the charts—Screen Gems/Sony's "Stomp The Yard" kicked off the holiday weekend last season at #1 with an appeal far beyond African-American youth. It stomped the competition with an estimated $26.5 million over the 4-day weekend. Exit polls showed the Stomp audience was 59% female and 41% male, with 62% over 18 and 65% African-American. "This Christmas" should yield similar results, with $27.1 million in total gross receipts, in second place at the box office despite showing in less than half of the theaters of the "The Enchanted," which grossed $50 million at #1."This Christmas" boasts strong performances and refreshing twists to not-so-original subplots. A surprise pregnancy is far from cliché as the family quickly accepts Claude Whitfield's (Columbus Short) pregnant white wife (Jessica Stroup), as the real bolt from the blue is that Claude is also AWOL from military service. Delroy Lindo and Loretta Devine have a screen chemistry you can feel, and Idris Elba delivers a compelling role as an alienated jazz musician and gambler who remains bitter after their birth father's disappearance years ago. The legacy of the Whitfield men is that they never seem to stick around, but Chris Brown's performance will undoubtedly make you do just that.Miles Maker is an independent filmmaker, screenwriter and freelance columnist:
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