You don't know much about the film industry, do you? I wouldn't call $4.4 million paltry when the film was made for far less than that. Indeed, that's a big hit by indie standards. And traction is the kind of thing you get from Monster Trucks. But the movie was highly praised for its fairness on the subject of race and black life at a white university. If anything the haters don't want something that will promote racial harmony.