Denzel Washington: Still On Top Despite Legal Drama, Decline

By Karu F. Daniels, Blackvoices.com

Though his newest film is dying a fast death at the box office and an impending legal battle ensues for the one before it, Denzel Washington is still on top of his game.

The two-time Academy Award winner and star of films such as 'Glory' and 'Training Day,' was voted No. 1 as the favorite movie star in this year's Harris Poll -- a nationwide tally of 1,114 American adults surveyed online last month by Harris Interactive.'I Am Legend' star Will Smith made the list at No. 5 with his 2007 film, while Tom Hanks (No. 2), Johnny Depp (No. 3) and Julia Roberts (No. 4) rounded out the top five.

However, Washington, who may or may not be up for an Oscar Award -- for his work in the recently released Oprah Winfrey-produced drama 'The Great Debaters' and/or the Ridley Scott-directed 'American Gangster' -- is in the midst of a legal drama for the latter film, and experiencing disappointing ticket sales for the former.

To date, the masterfully executed period drama 'The Great Debaters,' which he also directed, has amassed a disappointing $26.4 million at the box-office.

Distributed and marketed by The Weinstein Co., the film debuted with a paltry $6.3 million.

Black Enterprise magazine's website stated that the film's "box office fate may have more to do with its overall subject matter than Denzel and Oprah's entertainment muscle," noting the turnout for other black period dramas of yore (John Singleton's 'Rosewood,' Winfrey's ambitious adaptation of Toni Morrison's best-seller 'Beloved' and Smith's Academy Award nominated turn in 'Ali').

'Debaters'' failure can also be attributed to a shoddy publicity campaign.

While the film was heavily saturated in mainstream media outlets before its release, a "grassroots" marketing initiative (involving the film's young stars doing school tours) didn't attempt to take form until post-release.

Furthermore, Washington – as a last ditch effort – was offered up to media outlets, including Blackvoices.com, well after the fact the movie underperformed at the box-office.

Rule No. 1 in movie marketing: Know your audience. Rule No.2: Respect your audience's media.

Movie studios (and their in-house employees and independent vendors) too oftentimes think that public relations geared towards the black community is limited to placements in Ebony and Jet magazines, respectively.

Uh, no! It's 2008.

That's lazy and antiquated thinking.

But if they think that works, so be it.

Unfortunately, many times a great product winds up being the real casualty.

In addition, on Jan. 4, the movie studio publicists-loving daily New York City tabloid, The New York Post reported that the inspirational movie – marketed as a true story about a championship black debate team at Wiley College (circa 1930) -- was "full of historical inaccuracies," quoting a knowledgeable source.

Blacks were not truly considered part of college debating circles until after World War II, the Post noted. "And no Harvard administrator would have ever referred to the university as an all-white college since it had long been integrated," added the source.

Isn't that something?

And while Washington's other flick, 'American Gangster' performed extremely well at the box office – grossing a whopping $130 million since opening in November – the three-hour epic has become a centerpiece of a legal battle.

According to published reports, a group of retired federal drug enforcement agents sued NBC Universal ('Gangster's' distributor) this week, saying the movie falsely portrayed them as villains in the story of a Harlem heroin trafficker named Frank Lucas.

"Most of the movie is not true," former DEA agent Jack Toal, who identified himself as one of the agents who worked with Lucas after he became an informant, said to the Associated Press.

"If they had said, 'This is based on a false story,' it would have been a lot better," he quipped.

The suit, filed in federal court in Manhattan on Jan. 17, claims that 'Gangster' defamed hundreds of DEA agents and New York City police officers; the class-action suit – filed on behalf of over 400 agents who worked in the city between 1973 and 1985 – asks for at least $50 million in punitive damages.

Washington's next film, 'Taking of the Pelham' – co-starring John Travolta – pits a transit cop against a group of hijackers who take over a subway train in order to rake in a hefty ransom.

Currently in production, the film – fortunately for Washington – is not based on a true story. It's set to start shooting sometime this spring.