WHITNEY - Whitney Houston Documentary

[Willi Berg]

Is anyone going to see this? It opens in the US and some other parts of the world this Friday (July 6th.)

I saw it at the Sydney Film Festival.

I am a big fan of Whitney and there were quite a few revelations in the movie. It doesn't focus so much on her music, though it does cover big moments in her career.

I was pretty down after seeing it, feeling bad for Whitney. But I got more of an understanding of what she actually went through. It's not an uplifting thing but, like AMY, the Amy Winehouse documentary, it shows what drove Whitney and what made her how she was. Beyond tabloid type of judgement. Though, like the 'Amy' movie, there could always be more music/singing.

 

[Willi Berg]

Article about popularity of documentaries this year, including 'Whitney':

Box Office: Whitney Houston Film Seduces Moviegoers As Docs Boom

'Whitney' joins a handful of docs — namely, 'Won't You Be My Neighbor?' and 'RBG' — in powering the genre to its best showing in years.

More than a decade ago, documentaries about 9/11, migrating penguins and global warming captivated summer moviegoers. Then, a long drought set in and the genre faced box-office extinction.

That is, until now.

Docs have become the unexpected heroes of the 2018 summer season, beginning with the May release of RBG — an ode to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg — and continuing with separate films about the late Fred Rogers, Pope Francis and, in the latest offering, Whitney Houston.

Over the July 6-8 weekend, filmmaker Kevin Macdonald's Whitney, which looks at the turbulent life and tragic death of the singer, opened to $1.2 million from 454 theaters following its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May. Roadside Attractions and Miramax partnered on the release of the film, which earned an A CinemaScore and appealed heavily to females (65 percent), as well as to African Americans (72 percent).

"There is very little that the studios are offering for the upscale, older audience," says Roadside co-president Howard Cohen. "It's classic counterprogramming. The good news for the indie sector is that it's been a long time since docs have done this well."

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box-office-whitney-houston-fred-rogers-ruth-bader-ginsburg-fuel-documentary-boom-1125567

 

[Jh7058622]

Sounds interesting. I wasn't aware this was happening.

 

[Willi Berg]

Sounds interesting. I wasn't aware this was happening.

I'm glad documentaries are doing well. There are a few good ones coming out. I've heard good things about "Three Identical Strangers"- about triplets separated at birth for a sociological experiment.

 

[Jh7058622]

It's fascinating to see the documentary resurgence as I remember from childhood Farenheit 9/11 and Supersize Me being so important. Then they seemed to just stop after that or at least not ever to that level of mainstream appeal.