Indie film ‘True to the Game 2’ Shines Amid Slowdown

An independent film, “True to the Game 2,” made an impact in national box office laid low by Corona-19 pandemic.

"True to the Game 2" poster. — A urban-appeal film undeterred by the pandemic slowdown.

Over the Nov 6-8 boxoffice weekend, the urban action film took in $290,000 from 247 locations with a per screen average of $1,174—a good showing in the virus social-distancing era. That per-screen average appears to rank #2 nationally among all films in theatrical release.

More theaters are booked for the second week based on the strength of the initial opening. “We’re fortunate we don’t have lot of competition in the marketplace for films that market to this audience,” said a producer of the film, Rodney Turner II. in an interview.

The theatrical distributor Faith Media Distribution, which provided boxoffice data, is a unit of Imani Media Group, which is privately-owned entertainment music, motion picture and TV producer with offices in Los Angeles and Atlanta.

Advertising for “True to the Game 2” focused on top 20 population markets to reach black audiences with metro-wide TV spots running in programs such as NBA basketball playoffs and BET Awards, said Turner. Other marketing included outdoor billboards; social media including Facebook and Instagram; and email blasts. Turner says the marketing was handled by a patchwork of specialist vendors creating all the elements of full campaigns.

The movie’s cast of established Hollywood actors also leveraged their personal digital footprints to promote the film: Vivica A. Fox (“Empire”), Andra Fuller (“The Haves and the Have Nots”), Erica Peeples (“Fall Girls”), Niatia “Lil Mama” Kirkland (“When Love Kills: The Falicia Blakely Story”), Iyana Halley (HBO’s “Sharp Objects”) and Jeremy Meeks.

“True to the Game 2” serves up vengeance, gang war and suspense in the aftermath of the death of a drug dealer. The movie is based on the New York Times bestseller by Teri Woods and is a sequel to a 2017 cinema release that grossed $1.2 million domestically, also via Faith Media Distribution.

Since “Game 2” is a sequel and based well-known novel, Turner said the film’s campaign mostly aimed to build awareness that the sequel was coming in theaters, since the underlying property is already well known. Creative messaging also highlights the Gena character (Peeples), who takes center stage in the sequel. The movie is rated R-restricted to age 17 is a cutoff for target demographic in marketing.

The prime demographic target is young urban blacks, but Yolanda Halley, also a producer of the movie, says there is a crossover push to broaden to all young adults. Further, going up the age demo ladder, the grandmother character portrayed by Starletta DuPois (with a long professional acting resume in supporting roles) is something of a magnet for older audiences. “She is the moral compass of the story,” says Halley.

“True to the Game 2” completed principal photography before the Covid-19 pandemic, which looms large of its theatrical run. Among the initiatives tailored for the pandemic environment is group sales that include a link on the website. This enables moviegoers to reserve bloc seating—providing a degree of isolation when crowd contagion is a concern—and even private screenings. Turner said that private group screenings did decent box office.

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