Black Nativity Budget

What is the budget of Black Nativity?

"Black Nativity," a music released in 2013, was directed by Kasi Lemmons and stars Forest Whitaker, Angela Bassett. The production budget was $17,500,000, placing it in the low-budget range for music productions of its era.

Key Budget Allocation Categories

While specific budget breakdowns are not publicly available, typical cost drivers for a music production like this include:

• Above-the-Line Talent: Drama films live or die on the strength of their performances.
• Location Filming & Period Production Design: Authentic locations , whether contemporary or historical , require scouting, permits, travel, lodging, and often significant dressing to match the story's time period.
• Post-Production, Color Grading & Score: The editorial process for dramas is typically longer than genre films, with careful attention to pacing and tone.

What were the major cost factors in Black Nativity?

Several factors contributed to the overall production costs of "Black Nativity."

• Above-the-Line Talent: Above-the-Line Talent is one of the primary cost drivers in music productions of this scale.
• Location Filming: Location Filming & Period Production Design is one of the primary cost drivers in music productions of this scale.
• Post-Production: Post-Production, Color Grading & Score is one of the primary cost drivers in music productions of this scale.

How Does Black Nativity's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At $17,500,000, Black Nativity sits in the low-budget range. Here is how it compares to productions with a similar budget:

• Ashfall (2019): Budget $17,700,000, Worldwide Gross $61,321,941
• 127 Hours (2010): Budget $18,000,000, Worldwide Gross $35,700,000
• A Dog's Way Home (2019): Budget $18,000,000, Worldwide Gross $17,643,857
• Amadeus (1984): Budget $18,000,000, Worldwide Gross $90,007,557
• And So It Goes (2014): Budget $18,000,000, Worldwide Gross $25,312,387

The median budget for wide-release music films in the 2010s ranges from $30 to 80M for mid-budget to $150M+ for tentpoles.

Black Nativity Box Office Performance

"Black Nativity" earned $7,018,189 worldwide at the box office. Against a production budget of $17,500,000, the film faced challenges in theatrical release. Home video, streaming, and ancillary revenue may have contributed to its overall performance.

A film typically needs to earn approximately twice its production budget to cover marketing and distribution costs. For "Black Nativity," that break-even threshold was roughly $35,000,000. With worldwide earnings of $7,018,189, the film did not reach break-even in theatrical release.

• Production Budget: $17,500,000
• Worldwide Gross: $7,018,189
• Net Return: −$10,481,811
• ROI: approximately -59.9%

At -59.9%, "Black Nativity" did not recoup its production budget through theatrical release alone.

Awards and Recognition

2 wins & 5 nominations total

Critical Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval of 51% based on 87 reviews, and an average rating of 5.6/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "It's sweetly amiable and solidly performed, but Black Nativity suffers from director Kasi Lemmons' heavy-handed treatment of its celebrated source material." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 48 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.