Director George Lucas’ corny, fictionalized account of the heroics of the Tuskegee Airmen in World War II finished a respectable #2 at the box office this weekend.
According to Box Office Mojo, Red Tails took in more than $19 million over the 3-day weekend. The #1 box office hit this weekend was ‘Underworld Awakening,’ which raked in $25.4 million.
Lucas, who financed Red Tails with $6 million of his own money, could have made a more realistic movie rather than the romanticized Star Wars remake that it became. But he chose to go with the bells and whistles rather than the harsh realities of flying escort for heavy bombers in Hitler’s cold war in 1944-45.
The Tuskegee Airmen were the first black military aviation bombers to see air-to-air combat in the U.S. military. The name ‘Red Tails’ was derived when the pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group painted the tails of their P-51’s red.
Red Tails stars Cuba Gooding Jr., Terence Howard and Tristan Wilds (“The Wire” and “90210”). The movie was technically directed by Anthony Hemingway (“The Wire”) and written by John Ridley (“Three Kings”) and Aaron McGruder (“Boondocks”), who worked with a budget of nearly $100 million.
Eonline, EBONY.com and Wikipedia.com
