DreamWorks Animation's 'Home' is huge win for representation in Hollywood

DreamWorks’ latest animated feature, Home, with the vocal star power of Rihanna and Jim Parsons, effortlessly dominated the box office this weekend with a whopping $54 million opening, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The 1st place finish is huge for a multitude of reasons: For starters, it signifies a strong re-entry into the children’s musical animation genre for DreamWorks (potentially its biggest since the first three Shrek titles), which has long been dominated by Disney’s features. The movie also overpowered the critically denounced crude-comedy Get Hard starring Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart, which brought in $34.6 million. Home‘s 60% female turnout is unsurprising, but telling, in terms of how much revenue movies catered towards that demographic can generate.

Additionally, Tip (voiced by Rihanna) is the first black lead character in a DreamWorks animated film:

Look at all that curly goodness.

Representation matters. It does. Being able to see yourself reflected in the stories your society tells is monumental. Just look how happy these little girls are:

Hopefully seeing the opening weekend success of Home will inspire more animated studios to make a commitment to diversity.

Images via Ruined Childhood, Drmwrks.Tumblr.com, and DreamWorks Animation.

Akilah Hughes is a comedian, YouTuber, and staff writer and producer for Fusion’s culture section. You can almost always find her waxing poetic about memes and using too many emojis.