Sensing a gap in theatrical releases, Paramount Pictures has added a limited cinema run for made-for-streaming urban film “On the Come Up.”
Time is short because the PG-13-rated youth drama is scheduled to premiere on the Paramount+ streaming service Friday, Sept 23. “On the Come Up” was well received at a Toronto International Film Festival screening days ago, giving Paramount confidence that it can book a meaningful cinema run.
“On the Come Up” is based on the 2019 young-adult novel by Angie Thomas titled “The Hate U Give.” It’s a coming-of-age drama about a 16-year-old going into rap music; the lead character’s late father was a local rap legend. In the movie adaptation, Sanaa Lathan stars and directs.
“No character can be ascribed as simply bad or good,” writes Johnny Oleksinski in an upbeat New York Post review. The film is set in a decaying contemporary urban ghetto landscape that no doubt kept movie production costs down; at the same time, that atmosphere ingrains the movie in the street/rap music culture that rides high.
Because of covid pandemic disruptions, Hollywood’s movie release flow has a big void between now and Christmas, so Paramount will find available theaters eager for new titles to fill screens. Paramount says it will book “On the Come Up” in the top 50 metropolitan areas. Those city-areas, which have concentrations of black population ideal for the black-cast movie, range from New York and Los Angeles down to New Orleans, Buffalo, N.Y., and Birmingham, Ala.
No figure available on the budget, but “On the Come Up” was made by Paramount’s Famous Players banner, which is a specialty film making moderately budgeted indie-fare. Interestingly, the flagship Paramount Pictures, which is the smallest of Hollywood’s five major studios, announced earlier this month that it plans to jack up its major theatrical releases. Paramount will go from an anemic theatrical slate of eight major titles this year (crimped by pandemic disruptions) to a 12-15 clip annually.
Films targeting the urban demographic — which is a population characteristic — can be successes in cinema release. For example, “True to the Game 2” braved pandemic hesitation for a theatrical release in late 2020.
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