‘Dear White People’ Courts Younger Audience, Has Big Box Office Weekend

By Jamilah King Oct 20, 2014

"Dear White People" grossed $344,136 at the box office this weekend. Amid all the chatter about the film’s national debut at 11 theaters around the country, there’s this interesting tidbit from Indiewire:

"We created an event with ‘Dear White People’ via continuous social media engagement, complemented with traditional PR and college outreach that attracted a young and diverse audience to theaters," Roadside’s Howard Cohen said. "Exit polls showed 77% of the audience was in the 21 to 39 age range, with 29% between the ages of 21 to 24 — younger than the typical specialty-film audience."

The film is based on the experience of college students and has a plot that’s literally ripped from any number of race-fueled campus headlines in recent years, so the fact that it attracted younger viewers is no surprise. It expands to 350 theaters in the top 75 markets on October 24th. Stay tuned for more. 

(h/t Indiewire)