NOW SHOWING
“Think Like a Man Too”
Starring Kevin Hart, Gabrielle Union, Taraji P. Henson and Meagan Good. Directed by Tim Story.
Rated PG-13 for crude sexual content including references, partial nudity, language and drug material. Check listings for theaters. 1 hour, 46 minutes.
Will Packer’s life these days is bouncing bicoastal, Atlanta to L.A. and back, “doing my Hollywood hustle, brother,” as a successful movie producer and black cinema pioneer.
With one recent detour to his native St. Petersburg, as an appreciative son.
Mom needed a new car. Packer, 40, sneaked into town and surprised her with a shiny new Buick LaCrosse, bows, ribbons and all.
Packer’s year began with pulling the strings on “Ride Along,” grossing $134.1 million to cement a profitable friendship with breakout comedian Kevin Hart. The pairing continued with “About Last Night” ($48.6 million) and now “Think Like a Man Too,” a romantic comedy inspired by Steve Harvey’s advice book for women.
The latter project, a sequel to Packer’s 2012 surprise hit ($91 million), is the inaugural release of Will Packer Productions, after signing a first-look movie and television development deal with Universal. In other words, Mom, enjoy that Buick. Call it repayment for good advice to a bright 9-year-old son.
“I remember asking her,” Packer said, “okay, if I’m good at math and English, if I can give speeches, if I’m kind of good at a lot of different things, what should I be? What job is there for me?
” ‘CEO,’ she said, ‘That’s what you want to be, a CEO.’ I had no idea what that was but it shaped my perspective on what success was.
“For me, success was going to be having my own company that was mattering, making a difference, having an impact. And that’s where I am now.”
So far, four Packer productions — all under his Rainforest Films banner — debuted No. 1 at the box office, starting with 2007’s “Stomp the Yard,” a step dancing story set at a black university in Atlanta. His filmography is marked by modest budgets — “Ride Along” reportedly cost only $25 million to produce — and savvy online marketing to urban moviegoers.
Packer’s success impresses Robert Townsend, a black cinema icon since 1987’s “Hollywood Shuffle,” which satirized show biz obstacles for African-Americans then, and some might say still now.
“When you think in terms of black Hollywood, the resurgence started with Spike (Lee) and myself,” Townsend said by telephone from Chicago. “The next resurgence came with Will Packer. He was able to navigate through the Hollywood waters. … He’s another pioneer.
“There is always the hope that you’ll open a door and somebody will walk through, understand all the pieces and take it to the next level. … I look at Will and he’s kind of kicked the door open and figured out a whole other level.”
Twenty years after he and Rainforest Films co-founder Rob Hardy made their first movie, “Chocolate City”, Packer hasn’t forgotten “the feeling of wanting to be successful, and not being where I wanted to be.
“Remembering that feeling continues to drive me now.”
Ambitious, yes, but not at the expense of his family, including four children — one a Harvard University freshman — and fiancee Heather Hayslett, still living in Atlanta to avoid L.A.’s “fish bowl” existence.
“You have to have boundaries and parameters,” Packer said. “Hollywood … can be very cutthroat and ego-driven.”
Of course, Packer’s instincts as a producer find another advantage to bicoastal life.
“It’s always so refreshing and informative for me, to get perspectives from people outside the industry, outside of L.A., the real consumers who are buying my movie tickets,” he said.
“Taking it to the people, baby. You got to be amongst the people to know what they want.”
