Economic Corner 45 08/16/2026

It all began with Get Out, a movie, written and directed by a black person and starring a number of Black people in the top roles. A fantasy film. It made a ton of money. Disney then made Black Panther, a huge budget fantasy film directed and written and mostly starring black people based on a character originally written by a white man. That film made a ton of money.. So all the white producers noted it but didn't react. And I said then, this is the beginning of a genre. White producers want the money of Black PAnther. Then came Black Panther 2 and Sinners. Black PAnther 2 made a ton of money and showed a big budget fantasy film [not urban romance aka just wright or urban drama aka soul food or black southrern drama aka tyler perry films ]written/directed/mostly starring blacks can have a financially successful series Sinners showed fantasy film with a potent but small budget, written/directed/partially financed by blacks /with no white protagonist character or all the white characters were antagonist, can make a ton of money. All three films directed by Ryan Coogler. So white producers know, it is possible for films produced by whites while in all other ways Black can be huge financial victors.

Thus Children of Blood and Bone from Tomi Adeyemi is paramounts answer. ORiginally Disney bought the rights. But they held on. Disney in my view wanted to hold on to Adeyemi's work till after Black Panther 2 or 3. But, the delay allowed other white producers to bid for the work. So, Paramount, who weren't able to utilize the Star Trek brand to keep their company from receivership or being sold to Skydance , in their dire desires , paramount also owns Black Entertainment Television, wanted to have their own black panther, and felt Tomi Adeyemi's work can be as financially profitable as Black PAnther, hopefully even better.

PAramount was so desperate they gave Adeyemi more money for the rights but also gave her the screenwriting credit alongside the mulatto female director BLythewood , [blythewoods biological mother is white , but she was raised by two whites as an adopted child, who knows her black father]. The cast seems to include no one white, with a minority of mulattos/yellas/light skinned folk, all of whom call themselves black.

I wish the film the best, not for the producers who are all or mostly white but for the writer/director /thespians/ and other blacks in the creative process being paid by the producers to make the work.

But I see the problem financially, that no one is addressing. The problem with the modern art world isn't that Black people have money. I rephrase, black people throughout humanity have money. Black people in Africa are billionaires, not all, a minority, but they are not one person. Black people in south america, like Brasil have many millionaires, yes through sport, but that is honest money, it isn't killing native americans through germ war fare or slaughtering weapons. Black people in north america, like the USA have many millionaires. Black people in continental europe have a number of millionaires. Black people in India and throughout asia have millionaires. So. the global black populace has money and thus can pay to see themselves in media. But the problem is that the white producers of the arts , correctly, aren't going to over finance these films. Unlike the 1970s film industry in the united states of america, where many white producers for small budget films were willing to provide black thespians with opportunities, barely any black directors or writers got opportunities then, The Get Out to Black Panther era is demanding significant financial stimulus from any producer for these films. Thus the opportunities are still few, although with large checks.

The only way more Black fantasy films will be made is when Black Money will be willing to risk. The problem, also correct, is that Black Money, unlike White Money, in modernity is majority warranted. Majority of white money in modernity comes from white militaristic power killing non white europeans for land or enslaving non white europeans for labor or legalizing white crimes through a legal system supported by white militaristic power. Black Money in modernity ,does not come from genocides or enslavements or military might allowing a legal framework to support. Sequentially, Black Money is far more cautious about investing. Black Money doesn't have military power to recover financially , to lose all money and still recover all wealth. But the only way Black art in film will grow is when black money invest more., and it has to start with black artist themselves. The lesson in Get Out plus Sinners is that the black artists in question put their own money up. Like Baum, who made the first Wizard of Oz movie with his own money, Black Artists must invest in the multimedia expression in their art. Unlike the world of art auctioning, which has become a boon for black painters/sculptors and other craft arts. Movie making investment can not build on itself. Basquait's paintings value grow with each auction , with each resale, but a film can become a deadly investment .This is why , so many film studios go bankrupt, United Artist/MGM/Warner Bros./ PAramount /New Line Cinema and many others get sold , not because they are making money but their owners can't afford to make any more films and use their film vaults as investment to sell themselves and get one last financial boost before becoming part of another firms portfolio.

As for Adeyemi.... again, Baum, who wrote the Wizard of Oz financed the first Oz film from his own pocket. She could had done likewise as her book is a bestseller. But she decided to sell the film rights and cut a deal. The only way an writer can control a film based on their work is to finance it themselves. But writers like getting paid and have residual earnings by selling rights. Once rights are sold, you lose control, so whether you are Alzburg with Jumanji or Ende with Neverending story or Adeyemi with Blood and Bone, a writer has to blame themselves for signing their film rights, when they could had paid to make the movie themselves, but that is a gamble.

Toni Adeyemi and children of blood and bone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYPP0QblvsE

my comment

I see , so tomi promised to use nigerians in the casting.

I knew about the phenotypical elements in the story. I will love to know the background of casting. I think children or blood and bone is also suffering from being one of the few films with so many black thespian roles in a high budget context. So, a fight is over the film.

yeeesshh thanks for sharing the situation. the author is online supporting it and then hate it.

good point on Colleen Hoover , if Children and Blood and Bone financially fail, it will end her book series going into movies. The more odd scenario, is what if children of blood and bone becomes financially the next black panther, what will Adeyemi do? what will paramount do? studios want to milk the breast, and they will want the next book and the next book.

the video if you want to see here

POST URL

https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12862-thoughts-to-tomi-adeyemi-and-the-children-of-blood-and-bone/

POST CONTENT

I think Tomi Adeyemi's scenario with The Children of Blood and Bone film is interesting. She is a black writer, very successful financially. And film producers cause of the fiscal results of black panther, want black fantasy that can yield big dollars. Many black thespians in the story are making good money and it has the potential to be a series. But, Adeyemi has spoken for it and against it, variably. I don't think she comprehended that the film making business isn't like writing a book by yourself. The film making process is a collaborative art work project. And in that collaboration mamy things happen you don't like. You have to accept this truth. Adeyemi will not be the first or last writer not to, but I hope the film does well and she can take the lessons from here and have a better relationship to the film making business.

What say you/

Economic Corner 45

Economic Corner 45 08/16/2026 - RMCommunityCalendar - African American Literature Book Club

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