"Hidden Figures", an Oscar nominated film about the true story of the three African American women mathematicians who helped send NASA to space, is still in theaters doing numbers. Over the weekend, the biographical drama's domestic total increased to an impressive $162.8 million. This amount surpasses its fellow 2016 releases, "Jason Bourne", "X-Men: Apocalypse", and "Star Trek Beyond", which domestically earned $162.4 million, $155.4 million and $158.8 million respectively. What's even more impressive is that "Hidden Figures" was made with a $25 million budget, while the other three films' budget were well past $100 million.
The inspiring film starring Taraji P. Henson as Katherine Johnson, Janelle Monáe as Mary Jackson, and Octavia Spencer as Dorothy Vaughan, had a limited release in 2016 on Christmas Day and then a nationwide release on January 6. Since then, it hit the number one spot in the box office in its opening weekend, surpassed fellow 2017 Best Picture nominee "LaLa Land" to become the Academy's highest-grossing Best Picture nominee of the year, and now even earned more money than three high profile summer franchise films.
Monáe said it best in her acceptance speech for Essence's Black Women in Hollywood Breakthrough Award:
"It was Black women, Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monáe, three female protagonists that have earned over $140 million dollars gross right here in America. When they said Black women could not be number one, we were that, two weeks in a row. There’s nothing we cannot do….”
Yessss! Congratulations to the cast and crew on accomplishing yet another milestone.