"It's because it's an all-black movie," Lucas said. "There's no major white roles in it at all. ... I showed it to all of them and they said, 'No. We don't know how to market a movie like this.' "
"I'm saying, if this doesn't work, there's a good chance you'll stay where you are for quite a while," he said of black-themed films. "It'll be harder for you guys to break out of that [lower-budget] mold."
Whether you think Lucas was earnest or cynical in rallying the troops, black filmgoers responded: Church and community groups planned outings to see Red Tails in the theater to prove that there was, in fact, a big market for big-budget, "positive" portrayals of black life. And in a surprise, it won its opening weekend.
