What about Sin City? Is far form being black and white in it's entierty, but it is a major part of it.
I think the "far from" was the important key. If that
movie had been entirely in B&W... who knows?
I think is about visual stmulation.
Black and white might be "plain" for some people, meaning that it needs a more stilized look to reach a wider audience.
Transformers in black and white, might look "cooler" than The king's speech.
You may be right. But it sure seems in general that audiences
do not care to see a movie in black and white no matter how
much cooler in might look.
There hasn't been a financially successful B&W movie since 2005's
"Good Luck, and Good Night". And before that 1994's "Clerks" and
maybe, "Ed Wood". But that was Tim Burton's lowest grossing movie
by far.
Alice in Wonderland - $334,191,110
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - $52,898,073
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - $206,459,076
Big Fish - $66,432,867
Planet of the Apes - $180,011,740
Sleepy Hollow - $101,068,340
Mars Attacks! - $37,771,017
Ed Wood - $5,828,466 (black and white)
Batman Returns - $162,831,698
Edward Scissorhands - $53,976,987
Batman - $251,188,924
Beetle Juice - $73,326,666
Pee Wee's Big Adventure - $40,940,662