Underground Movie Analysis

The black experience is one that always needs to be told. There is always a new story because much of Black history has been omitted from American History. More recently, Singer/Producer John Legend inked a deal with WGN to develop a dramatic series on this very story. Underground, a black slavery experience, became WGN’s highest rated series in the station’s history, outpacing WGN America’s 2015-2016 primetime average by 508 percent in total viewers and 1,005 percent among adults 18-49 in live-plus-seven viewing (DVR). Netflix’s 13TH, a documentary which tackles race and mass incarceration, was the first non-fiction film to open the prestigious NY Film Festival in its 54-year history. There is already talk about it being an Oscar nominee. Currently, the American public is about 40 percent minority and that’s increasing by about half a percent every year. The viewing audience

are aiming to uncover another tale from Black History. The production company will join forces with Tika Sumpter to create a series based on Black Wall Street for WGN. This makes the documentary more relevant than any other reason. It could possibly be released around the same time of the dramatic series. Still early in the development stage, Black Wall Street could debut in 2018 if picked up as a series.

African American Viewership

A Nielsen report found African-Americans favor programming with diverse casts. According to the report, African-Americans watch 37 percent more television than other demographics, and their consumption proclivities are equally influential. Every year for the past half-decade, the average white American has bought a ticket to fewer films than the average black, Hispanic or Asian moviegoer, industry data shows. Though 37 percent of the U.S. population, minorities bought 46 percent of the $1.2 billion in tickets sold in the United States last year.

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