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But Exhale's message about relations between black men and women is far less urgent than the one it is sending about the strength of the black pop-culture market. Though whites largely ignored the film when it debuted at Christmas, so many African Americans flocked to see it that it became the No. 1 box-office draw its first week. By last week, when it dropped to fourth, it had already earned $40 million. In this, the film is repeating the success of McMillan's novel, which stayed near the top of the best-seller lists for nine months almost exclusively because of its strong sales among black women. Says McMillan: "When the [executives at 20th Century Fox] found out we were No. 1, they were trying to figure out, 'How can we reach a white audience, because the movie isn't playing real well in white communities.' My point is that you really don't get it, do you? This is about black people." Only now, she says, are whites, especially women, coming out to the theaters to see for themselves what the fuss is about.
In short, Exhale demonstrates that it is no longer necessary for a book or movie to be targeted for whites to be a smash. The black audience alone can make it one. That could mean a further Balkanization of the mass-entertainment market, as the movie, book and music industries turn out new products designed to exploit each sufficiently lucrative ethnic niche. Says McMillan: "I told the executives at the studio, 'Watch and see after the holidays how many scripts you have on your desk about middle-class black people who go to the grocery store and live regular lives.' There are going to be a lot more films too, because this is America. It's trend oriented." Unfortunately, if the black-oriented romance novels that came to market after McMillan's well-written book struck gold are any indication, it's also trash oriented, no matter what ethnic group it's aiming at. What a tragedy if African Americans' understandable desire to see themselves on the big screen becomes an excuse to smother all of us in slick Hollywood trash.