Boots Riley slams foreign distributors for stalling 'Sorry to Bother you'

Director of Sorry to Bother You, Raymond Lawrence Riley (aka Boots Riley) has criticised foreign distributors alleging that they refused to release his film, claiming that "black movies don't do well internationally".

The distributors, who stuck to the historic notion of Hollywood movies, having African-American characters, not performing well internally, allegedly labelled Riley's movie to be an average and unbankable one, if released internationally, reported the Hollywood Reporter.

Riley took to Twitter to vent out his anger towards the distributors and wrote, "re: the international distribution of #SorryToBotherYou : Even tho we'r outperforming a gang of other movies, distributors r claiming 'Black movies' dont do well internationally and r treating it as such," Riley, who made his feature directorial debut with the film, wrote on Twitter on Friday. There'r films that bombed here, that they r distributing. Let em know wsup."

re: the international distribution of #SorryToBotherYou :

Even tho we'r outperforming a gang of other movies, distributors r claiming "Black movies" dont do well internationally and r treating it as such. There'r films that bombed here, that theyr distributing. Let em know wsup

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) August 4, 2018

In the United States, the film in its fourth weekend earned a total of $14 million. Interestingly, the international distribution of this film is being worked out.

In the past, Hollywood films featuring African-American characters had a tough time overseas when it came to raking in the moolah. The 2016 Hollywood film Hidden Figures about three black women NASA scientists, earned only $48.8 million overseas, while another movie Straight Outta Compton released in 2015 earned just over $40 million.

However, the superhero movie, Black Panther where the primary roles were played by African-Americans earned a whopping $1 billion worldwide.