Halle berry respectfully declines aretha franklin role

[juicefree20]

If this happens, regardless of who gets the role, it would be nice. However, I'm not much into fantasy & there are a few realities to consider. Keeping it real, here's just one of them. The truth of the matter is that biopics are a very, very tough sell in Hollywood.

Here are the numbers for the highest grossing biopics & overall, they don't paint the prettiest of pictures, much less, any great support by anyone other than the most hardcore of fans. Read them & weep...

Rank/Movie/Company/Lifetime Gross/Theaters/Opening/Theaters/Opening Date
1 Walk the Line [[Johnny Cash & June Carter) Fox $119,519,402 3,160 $22,347,341 2,961 11/18/05
2 Ray [[Ray Charles) Uni. $75,331,600 2,474 $20,039,730 2,006 10/29/04
3 Coal Miner's Daughter [[Loretta Lynn) Uni. $67,182,787 - $3,366,443 437 3/7/80
4 La Bamba [[Ritchie Valens) Col. $54,215,416 1,251 $5,651,990 1,251 7/24/87
5 Amadeus [[Mozart) Orion $51,973,029 802 $505,276 25 9/21/84
6 What's Love Got to Do with It [[Tina Turner) BV $39,100,956 1,100 $1,222,718 58 6/11/93
7 Notorious [[2009) FoxS $36,843,682 1,641 $20,497,596 1,638 1/16/09
8 Shine [[David Helfgott) FL $35,892,330 1,050 $162,179 7 11/22/96
9 Selena [[Selena) WB $35,281,794 1,873 $11,615,722 1,850 3/21/97
10 The Doors [[Jim Morrison) TriS $34,416,893 1,236 $9,151,800 840 3/1/91
11 The Soloist P/DW $31,720,158 2,090 $9,716,458 2,024 4/24/09
12 The Buddy Holly Story [[Buddy Holly) Col. $14,363,400 - n/a - 5/19/78
13 Great Balls of Fire! [[Jerry Lee Lewis) Orion $13,741,060 1,417 $3,807,986 1,417 6/30/89
14 De-Lovely [[Cole Porter) UA $13,456,633 410 $292,963 16 7/2/04
15 Why Do Fools Fall in Love? [[Frankie Lymon) WB $12,461,773 1,377 $3,946,382 1,369 8/28/98
16 La Vie en Rose [[Edith Piaf) PicH $10,301,706 178 $179,848 8 6/8/07
17 Immortal Beloved [[Beethoven) Sony $9,914,409 463 $120,108 4 12/16/94
18 Sweet Dreams [[Patsy Cline) TriS $9,085,049 778 $2,161,284 778 10/4/85
19 Cadillac Records [[Chess Records artists) Sony $8,195,551 701 $3,445,559 687 12/5/08
20 American Hot Wax [[Alan Freed) Par. $7,932,571 - n/a - 3/17/78
21 El Cantante [[Hector Lavoe) PicH $7,556,712 542 $3,202,035 542 8/3/07
22 Beyond the Sea [[Bobby Darin) Lions $6,318,709 383 $45,264 6 12/17/04
23 Topsy-Turvy [[Gilbert & Sullivan) USA $6,208,548 224 $31,387 2 12/15/99
24 Hilary and Jackie [[Jacqueline du Pre) Oct. $4,912,892 300 $92,956 6 12/30/98
25 I'm Not There [[Bob Dylan) Wein. $4,017,609 149 $730,819 130 11/21/07
26 The Runaways [[The Runaways) App. $3,573,673 244 $805,115 244 3/19/10
27 Sid and Nancy [[Sid Vicious) Gold. $2,826,523 43 $50,829 2 10/17/86
28 Backbeat [[The Beatles) Gram. $2,392,589 211 $126,740 10 4/15/94
29 Bird [[Charlie Parker) WB $2,181,286 93 $27,116 1 9/30/88
30 Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould [[Glenn Gould) Gold. $1,319,521 - n/a - 11/26/93
31 24 Hour Party People [[Tony Wilson) MGM $1,184,096 37 $34,940 2 8/9/02
32 Control [[Ian Curtis) Wein. $872,252 29 $27,674 1 10/10/07
33 What We Do Is Secret[[The Germs) PArch $58,776 7 $5,888 1 8/8/08
34 Stoned [[Brian Jones) Scre. $38,922 6 $15,409 6 3/24/06

TOTAL [[All Movies): $724,392,307
AVERAGE [[All Movies): $21,305,656 714 $3,630,222 591
TOTAL [[Wide Releases Only): $557,778,693
AVERAGE[[Wide Releases Only): $39,841,335 1,496 $10,216,532 1,529

The AVERAGE biopic does roughly $24 million, which doesn't leave much room for a decent budget, much less profit margin.

http://boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=musicbio.htm