The Best Man Holiday director, Malcolm D. Lee, gave his take on the new variety of Black films that are making it to theaters, why many movies no longer release soundtracks and hints that a Best Man 3 isn’t out of the picture.
The Best Man Holiday was one of the year’s most anticipated films and most theaters across the U.S. were completely sold out of tickets hours before each of the movie’s screening times.
The director behind the highly anticipated film was not only proud to put out a successful sequel, but he dished on how ecstatic he was to see other genres of films with Black directors or producers also making it to theaters.
“There’s been some really, really good movies over the past, I would say 18 months from African American filmmakers, and they’re not just African-American filmmakers that are telling parts of the African-American experience,” Lee told the Huffington Post. “42 was not a Black director or writer, one of the producers was Black. But it was a really good movie… The Butler, 12 Years A Slave is phenomenal. Middle of Nowhere, that came out a year ago. It just shows diversity and a wealth of choices that we can finally have as moviegoers. It’s not just, ‘Oh, let’s go see the Black movie.’ There’s a ton of them.”
He also encouraged Black filmmakers to continue focusing on putting out quality work instead of rushing to complete so many films in a short amount of time.
“The saying goes; ‘It’s quality, not quantity,’“ Lee added. “Just keep making quality movies…Let’s keep raising the bar.”
As for his own film, “The Best Man Holiday,” one thing reviewers have constantly been raving about is the movie’s amazing soundtrack, something Lee admitted was rare to be released these days.
“The music industry is so different now,” he said. “Kids are taking music for free all the time. They have Spotify, Pandora… The record companies aren’t making the kind of music that they used to make. Artists make their money on tours, not from album sales. So it’s like, unless it’s going to be an event type of record then the labels aren’t going to make them. And you really can’t blame them for that.”
With the second “Best Man” film being such a success, some movie goers are already wondering if a third film will follow.
According to Lee, he hasn’t made any plans for another film, but if the audience demand is great enough he’s certainly not counting it out.
“If there’s demand for a third ‘Best Man’ it will not take 14 years,” Lee said. “If it happens, it will not be that long of a stand. We’re not doing ‘Best Man: Nursing Home.’”
“The Best Man Holiday” is in theaters now and is currently soaring past all expectations in the box office.
