Moviefone Editorial

Tag: tyler-perry

  • Tyler Perry Is Retiring Madea After One More Movie, ‘Family Funeral’

    Tyler Perry Is Retiring Madea After One More Movie, ‘Family Funeral’

    Madea
    Lionsgate

    Say goodbye to Madea … for good.

    Tyler Perry announced he is retiring his famous elderly character after one more appearance on the big screen in “Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral” in March 2019. He’ll also play her on a farewell stage tour.

    “I’m happy to kill that old bitch. I’m tired, man,” Perry told SiriusXM radio host Bevy Smith.

    He added, “I just don’t want to be her age, playing her.”

    Perry did not divulge whether he was killing off Madea in “Family Funeral.”

    The very successful Madea franchise has earned more than $500 million worldwide.  Perry first introduced the character in his 1999 play “I Can Do Bad All By Myself” and on the big screen in 2005’s “Diary of a Mad Black Woman.”

    “She’s been very good to me,” Perry told The Advocate last year. “I love the joy that she brings to people. I love to see them laughing and smiling.”

  • Geoffrey Owens Takes Tyler Perry’s Job Offer on ‘The Have and the Have Nots’

    Geoffrey Owens
    ABC

    Geoffrey Owens will need to take a leave of absence from Trader Joe’s.

    The “Cosby Show” alum made headlines last week after being spotted working at Trader Joe’s, then getting job-shamed for it, then receiving an avalanche of support from social media.

    One of those supporters was Tyler Perry, who tweeted a job offer at Owens: “I’m about to start shooting OWN’s number one drama next week! Come join us!!! I have so much respect for people who hustle between gigs. The measure of a true artist.”

    Now, Owens has accepted that offer and he’ll recur in 10 episodes of Season 6 of Perry’s OWN series “The Have and the Have Nots.” Filming begins in Atlanta soon.

    After the public shaming and Owens’ media appearances to address the situation, he was adamant that he didn’t want handouts. He hoped to land more auditions, but only wanted an acting job if he was right for it. Still, several TV offers came in, including Perry’s.

    “It’s been a real generosity of spirit and a generosity of action where that is concerned,” he told The Hollywood Reporter.

  • Tyler Perry’s New Movie Title Was a Top Dictionary Search Word in March

    Taraji P. Henson stars in director Tyler Perry‘s new movie, “Acrimony,” which opens in theaters this Friday, March 30.

    What does “acrimony” mean? That was the question for many fans, who made the word one of Merriam-Webster‘s top lookups throughout March 2018, especially during primetime hours as ads for “Acrimony” aired.

    Merriam-Webster helpfully shared the definition, and more background on the word:

    “We define acrimony as ‘anger and bitterness : harsh or biting sharpness especially of words, manner, or feelings.’ Before the word had a meaning which enabled it to titularly function for a psychological thriller, acrimony was used in the sense ‘bitterness or sharpness especially to the taste’ (it came to English in the 16th century from Middle French, and can be traced before that back to the Latin word ācer, meaning ‘sharp, biting, keen’).”

    In this case, “acrimony” describes the feelings of Taraji P. Henson’s character: “A faithful wife tired of standing by her devious husband (Lyriq Bent) is enraged when it becomes clear she has been betrayed.”

    Tyler Perry told Page Six how he came up with this title for the movie:

    “I was watching CNN and they described our president as ‘acrimonious’ — so I looked it up. I wanted it to describe who Melinda [the character played by Henson] was, and when I found the word I knew it had to be the title of my movie.”

    Here’s the official trailer:The movie also stars Lyriq Bent, Crystle Stewart, Jazmyn Simon, Ptosha Storey, Ajiona Alexus, Antonio Madison, Bresha Webb, Danielle Nicolet, Nelson Estevez, and Kendrick Cross.

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  • Box Office: Tyler Perry’s ‘Boo 2!’ Tops a Really Crappy Weekend, ‘Only the Brave’ Flops

    LOS ANGELES, Oct. 22 (Variety.com) — Tyler Perry has prevented a disaster at the box office with the opening of Lionsgate’s comedy sequel “Boo 2! A Madea Halloween” scaring up a solid $21.7 million at 2,388 North American locations.

    That was pretty much the limit of good news at the nation’s multiplexes, where moviegoers gave limited support to a quartet of new arrivals — weather-disaster title “Geostorm,” firefighter hero tale “Only the Brave,” murder mystery “The Snowman” and faith-based drama “Same Kind of Different as Me.”

    “Boo 2!”, which received an A- CinemaScore, is finishing in line with expectations and about 25% behind original “Boo! A Madea Halloween,” which won its opening weekend last year. The sequel, set at a haunted campground, is directed and written by Perry, who also stars in his ninth iteration as the tough-talking Madea.
    Warner Bros.’ “Geostorm,” starring Gerard Butler, is finishing a distant second place with about $13.3 million at 3,246 venues — at the top end of modest forecasts but a major disappointment given the film’s estimated $120 million budget, financed by Warner Bros. and Skydance Media. (There’s also those reported reshoots that cost an estimated $15 million that won’t help the movie’s search for profitability.)

    Moviegoers gave the disaster movie a B- CinemaScore. The timing of the release, with hurricanes hitting hard in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico over the past two months, probably dampened audience enthusiasm.

    On the international side, “Geostorm” took in $36.4 million at 13,000 screens with first-place finishes in 36 territories to lift its international total to $49 million. South Korea and Russia were the strongest new markets.

    Black Label Media’s “Only the Brave,” distributed by Sony, is heading for fifth place with $6 million at 2,577 sites, finishing behind Universal’s second weekend of “Happy Death Day” at $9.4 million and Warner’s third weekend of “Blade Runner 2049,” which earned $7.4 million. “Only the Brave,” based on the story of the 19 Arizona firefighters who died in the 2013 Yarnell Hill Fire, has received stellar critical support with a 90% “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

    STXfilms’ second weekend of Jackie Chan actioner “The Foreigner” will land in sixth with about $5.6 million, ahead of Universal’s “The Snowman,” which is finishing far below forecasts with a disappointing $3.4 million at 1,812 venues. “The Snowman,” produced by Working Title, is in a tie with New Line’s seventh weekend of horror blockbuster “It,” which will win up with a total of $320 million domestically after 45 days.

    “The Snowman” fell flat with audiences, who gave it a D CinemaScore. Critics panned the movie with a 9% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

    Pure Flix’s “Same Kind of Different as Me” debuted out of the top 10 with about $1.4 million at 1,362 sites.

  • What the Hell Happened to ‘Inferno’ at the Box Office?

    As Bosom Buddies” days, never underestimate the power of a man in a dress.

    That massive thudding sound you heard Sunday morning was jaws hitting floors throughout Hollywood as Hanks’s supposed sure thing, “Inferno,” failed to open at No. 1 and had to settle for second place behind last week‘s winner, Tyler Perry‘s “Boo! A Madea Halloween.”

    “Inferno,” after all, was the third movie in Hanks and director Saturday Night Live,” giving the show its highest-rated episode of the season so far and generating at least three Hanks sketches that went viral.
    “Inferno” was also the only new wide release this weekend, so it was expected to cruise to an easy $20 to $25 million victory. “Boo!” was expected to follow the pattern of Perry’s previous movies and fall about 55 percent in its second week to land at $13 million. Instead, Perry’s film held onto the number one spot with $16.7 million — dropping only 42 percent. “Inferno” underperformed drastically, claiming just an estimated $15.0 million debut. That number could drop to $14 million after final tallies come in.

    If Robert Langdon were a real person, he might suspect a conspiracy at work. Indeed, the Tom Hanks film’s failure has many authors. Here are several factors that contributed to the movie burning out:

    1. Tom Cruise
    Hanks and Cruise share more than just a first name. They both became top leading men in the ’80s, routinely delivered $100-million domestic grosses for the next 20 years, and still remain reliable (if diminished) box office draws today. They’re also competing against each other for the same adult-thriller audience, but Cruise got a head start with last weekend’s “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.”

    The franchise film opened last weekend with $22.9 million and finished third this weekend with an estimated $9.6 million. Hanks did more damage to Cruise this weekend than vice versa, but still, “Inferno” could have done better if there had been greater distance between it and “Jack Reacher.”

    2. Grown-Ups
    Cruise wasn’t Hanks’s only rival for the adult-thriller audience this weekend. Ben Affleck‘s “The Accountant” and Emily Blunt‘s “The Girl on the Train” were both still in the top six. Yes, Fall is supposed to be the time that grown-ups go back to the movies while kids are busy at school, but c’mon, Mom and Dad aren’t going to pay to see four similar thrillers. So the one that’s last out of the gate is at a disadvantage.

    3. Baseball
    This year’s historic World Series match-up is one of the highest-rated Fall Classics in recent years. With games on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, people are staying home in droves to watch baseball. Indeed, with just an estimated $85.6 million in total sales, this is the lowest grossing box office weekend of 2016 to date. Apparently, everyone had something better to do than go to the movies.

    4. Halloween
    October is just not a good time for the Robert Langdon franchise. The first two movies both opened in mid-May, a more-ideal-time for a globetrotting action thriller. In October, “Inferno” is competing against not just the World Series and other grown-up movies, but also against Halloween.

    The spooky holiday is one reason the season-themed “Boo!” is still on top, and why “Ouija: Origin of Evil” is still in the top five. “Ouija” didn’t get good recommendations from viewers who saw it when it opened last week, but it’s the only horror film in wide release on this Halloween weekend.

    5. Bad Buzz and Terrible Reviews
    Critics haven’t thought highly of any of the Robert Langdon movies, but they gave “Inferno” an especially harsh 20 percent “Fresh” at Rotten Tomatoes. Woof. Ticketbuyers weren’t much kinder, giving the film a just-okay B+ at CinemaScore, indicating less-than-enthusiastic word-of-mouth. Critics didn’t think much of “Boo!” either, but CinemaScore audiences gave it a solid A.

    6. “Doctor Strange“
    The new Marvel movie doesn’t even come out until next week, but Benedict Cumberbatch‘s magical hero may have used his powers pre-emptively to thwart “Inferno.” It’s not uncommon, after all, when a much-anticipated movie is still a week or more away from release, for fans to save their ticket dollars and avoid the multiplex until it premieres.

    7. Ron Howard
    He’s still thought of as an A-list director, but Howard hasn’t had much commercial success outside the Robert Langdon movies in nearly 20 years.

    Aside from this (now-dead) franchise, he hasn’t had a $100-million-grossing domestic release since 2001’s “A Beautiful Mind” or an opening weekend worth more than $19 million since 2000’s “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” Even the Langdon movies, however, have trended downward.

    The first one, “The Da Vinci Code,” opened in 2006 with $77 million on the way toward a $218 million total in the U.S. In 2009, “Angels & Demons” debuted with $46 million toward a $133 million domestic total. “Inferno” will be lucky to earn over its lifetime as much “Angels” grossed in its first few days.

    Don’t weep too much for Hanks, Howard and the “Inferno” team. In the two weeks before it debuted to the sound of crickets here, “Inferno” opened in markets around the world and made an estimated $132.7 million, including a $13.3 million debut in China this weekend. “Inferno” cost just $75 million to make (about half what “Angels & Demons” cost seven years ago) and probably a similar amount to market, so if Sony has to share about half the gross with theater owners, “Inferno” has to gross only $300 million globally to make a profit. The movie’s slow start in America makes that kind of a windfall less likely.

    Still, for all the movie had going against it, making a Tom Hanks threequel in a $1.3 billion franchise for just $75 million is pretty much a no-brainer to studio accountants, no matter how the movie fares in the United States. Hanks may be America’s Dad, but he didn’t make this movie for his kids.
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  • How Did ‘A Madea Halloween’ Scare Off ‘Jack Reacher’ at the Box Office?

    This weekend, the box office gave us a battle between two sequels and one prequel that no one really asked for.

    Yep, that’s the way Hollywood works now. It’s unusual to get three sequels opening in wide release at the same time. Of the three, Cruise’s “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” was expected to do the best, having the most star power and the kind of action-hero plot that makes for blockbusters at any time of year. Even so, the 54-year-old star isn’t the draw he used to be, at least not in America. So predictions for “Never” hovered at a debut near $20 million.
    Perry’s “Boo! A Madea Halloween” was supposed to follow close behind. Perry’s drag comedies about the gun-toting granny have done very well, at least until the last one, “Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas,” three years ago. The writer/director’s last movie, “Tyler Perry’s The Single Mom’s Club,” was also an atypical box office disappointment two and a half years ago, and the usually prolific filmmaker hadn’t directed another movie since. Given the apparent loss of momentum, Perry was expected to trail Cruise.

    As for “Ouija: Origin of Evil,” no one expected it to match the $19.8 million debut of the original two Octobers ago. Neither critics nor audiences liked it very much, though it still managed to earn $51 million domestically and a similar amount abroad. Still, the new one is the only new horror movie in theaters this Halloween season, so it was supposed to come in a close third with about $17 million.
    As it turned out, however, it wasn’t that close. “Madea Halloween” ran off with most of the candy, opening in first place with an estimated $27.6 million and showing the kind of strength that the first six “Madea” movies enjoyed. “Jack Reacher” also did better than anyone expected, with an estimated $23.0 million, nearly $8 million more than the debut of the original 2012 film, yet it still had to settle for second place. “Ouija” opened to an estimated $14.1 million, almost $6 million less than the 2014 film, to premiere in third place. But considering the film’s $9 million dollar budget, that’s a respectable debut.

    Why are sequel-nomics working so much better for Perry than for Cruise or the “Ouija” franchise? Here are five factors that were at play over the weekend:

    1. A Crowded Multiplex
    The ongoing fall slump began to rebound this weekend, with total ticket sales up 24 percent, to about $123 million. So having all these sequels open wide turned out to be a good thing overall, though the films didn’t share the wealth equally.

    In fact, there were four wide releases this weekend, including the Zach Galifianakis spy comedy “Keeping Up With the Joneses,” whose low expectations going into the weekend proved justified when it opened in seventh place with a terrible $5.6 million. There were almost five wide releases until faith-based drama “I’m Not Ashamed” scaled down its release to just 505 screens. (Its distributor’s pessimism was also justified, as the movie opened at No. 16 with just $900,000 in estimated sales, or a dismal $1,782 per theater.)

    “Jack Reacher” had to compete against last weekend’s champ “The Accountant,” which lost a better-than-expected 43 percent of its first-weekend business, coming in fourth with $14.0 million. It seems unwise that Paramount sandwiched the “Reacher” sequel between “The Accountant” and next weekend’s “Inferno,” but given how much the success of “The Accountant” has surprised analysts, maybe the studio didn’t consider the Ben Affleck thriller much of a threat. Oops.

    2. Star Power
    Cruise is still huge overseas. 2012’s “Jack Reacher” opened with a disappointing $15.2 million, but it eventually made $80 million domestic and a total of $218 million worldwide. Already, “Never Go Back” has earned $31 million abroad, for a worldwide total of $54 million. Since the movie cost just a modest (for an action spectacle) $60 million to make, a third “Reacher” already seems inevitable.

    As for Perry, he’s used to openings above $20 million, especially for his movies featuring Madea, so the $16.0 million debut of 2013’s “A Madea Christmas” was a shock. An even bigger shock was that “Single Mom’s Club” opened with a meager $8 million, on the way to a total gross of less than $16 million. And then, after having averaged a movie release every six months or so for the previous decade, his assembly line shut down for two and a half years. So it’s no wonder that box office pundits figured his star power had dimmed enough to keep “Madea Halloween” from opening above $20 million.

    Fortunately for Perry, his audience has neither forgotten nor deserted him. If anything, he’s crossing over beyond his core audience of churchgoing African-Americans. They used to make up 80 or 90 percent of his ticket sales, but this weekend, they were only 60 percent, indicating that Perry is drawing a bigger non-black audience than ever before.

    By the way, the reason no one expected much from “Joneses,” besides the comedy’s weak reviews, is that Galifianakis isn’t a box office draw, as is evident from his flop “Masterminds” just three weeks ago.

    3. The Teens
    Younger audiences weren’t expected to line-up for either Cruise or Perry; rather, they were supposed to go see “Ouija.” But Perry might have stolen some of the horror movie’s thunder. “Boo!” is unusually teen-friendly for a Perry movie, with frat-party scenes, comic riffs on familiar horror staples, a tonal balance that includes more jokes and less of Perry’s usual preachy moralizing, and a cast that features rising teen actress Bella Thorne and several YouTube stars.

    Plus, it seems “Ouija” studio Universal underestimated the indifference of its target audience to the franchise.

    4. The Reviews
    But how can that be? The first “Ouija” was a sleeper hit. Critics loathed it, but they’re expected to hate horror movies. “Origin of Evil,” however, has been a shocker in that critics actually like this horror sequel — a lot. It has a healthy 81 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes, making it far and away the best reviewed of the five major releases this weekend.

    But of course, not everyone cares what critics think. Perry’s hits have been impervious to criticism, and so have horror movies that cater to young viewers. Older viewers do still care a little, which is why the poor 40 percent RT rating for “Jack Reacher” may have kept Cruise from scaring up more sales than “Boo!”

    5. Word-of-mouth
    Here’s where “Ouija” really stumbled. It earned only a C grade at CinemaScore, just like the first movie, indicating that paying customers weren’t going to recommend the movie to friends. It’s weird for critics to be so much more enthusiastic about a horror film, especially a sequel, than audiences, but then, it seems like “Origin of Evil” was made with more of an eye toward what the studio and even critics cared about than what audiences wanted.

    “Joneses” got a weak CinemaScore grade, too (B-), while “Never Go Back” earned an okay-but-not-great B+. “Boo!” earned a strong A, suggesting that Perry delivered what his audience expects and likes, in a way that his competitors this weekend did not.
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  • Box Office: Tyler Perry Crushes ‘Jack Reacher 2’ With $27.6 Million

    By Brent Lang

    LOS ANGELES, Oct 23 (Variety.com) – It was a battle of the sequels at the multiplexes this weekend, as Tyler Perry‘s “Boo! A Madea Halloween” narrowly edged out “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” to claim first place at the domestic box office.

    The latest film in the long-running Madea series racked up $27.6 million. Comedian Chris Rock may be entitled to a percentage of the gross. Perry was inspired to take his pistol-packing grandma trick-or-treating after Rock’s comedian character in 2014’s “Top Five” joked that his latest movie, a passion project about a slave revolt, was going head-to-head at the box office with “Boo! A Madea Halloween.” What was once intended as satire eventually became a seasonally-appropriate reality.AMH_D2-02027.cr2Don’t look for “Boo!” to end up in the Oscar race or on many reviewers’ “ten best” lists, but the Halloween comedy is a hit for distributor Lionsgate and reaffirms Perry’s star power. Despite being routinely derided by critics, the film series has an extremely loyal fan base. Collectively they’ve earned nearly $380 million, enjoying capacious profit margins given that most of the movies cost less than a Papa John’s Super Bowl spot to produce.

    The latest Madea cost $20 million to make, and attracted a more diverse crowd. Typically the films have an audience that’s between 80% to 90% African-American, but this installment’s crowd was only 60% African-American, with the rest of ticket buyers made up largely of Caucasians and Hispanic ticket-buyers.Left to right: Tom Cruise plays Jack Reacher and Cobie Smulders plays Turner in Jack Reacher: Never Go Back from Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions“Never Go Back” was right behind, with the action sequel earning a solid $23 million. The film brought back Tom Cruise as Reacher, an ex-military investigator with a penchant for ass-kicking. The films are based on a popular series of books by Lee Childs, but despite their best-selling pedigree, a sequel to “Jack Reacher” wasn’t exactly a given. The first film ended up making money for Paramount in 2012, grossing $218.3 million worldwide on a production budget of $60 million, but it wasn’t exactly a blockbuster.

    The studio made sure that costs didn’t escalate on the sequel, keeping the budget locked at $60 million, a feat since most franchises increase their spending with each subsequent installment. They were rewarded for the cost consciousness. “Never Go Back” improved on “Jack Reacher’s” $15.2 million debut from four years ago. It’s worth noting, however, that the previous film debuted days after the Sandy Hook elementary school killings, which may have depressed turnout for the violent adventure film.“Ouija: Origin of Evil,” the follow-up to 2014’s low-budget horror hit “Ouija,” picked up $14.1 million, a respectable return given its $9 million budget. Universal distributed the Blumhouse production, which got markedly better reviews than the original, but couldn’t translate the critical notices into a bigger opening than its predecessor. The first film in the series kicked off to $19.9 million before going on to make $103.6 million globally. Platinum Dunes and Hasbro produced the board game adaptation.

    Last weekend’s champ, Warner Bros.’ “The Accountant” had to settle for fourth place, picking up $14 million to push its domestic total to $47.9 million.

    DreamWorks’s Pictures “The Girl on the Train” rounded out the top five, earning $7.3 million. The adaptation of the literary hit about an alcoholic who becomes obsessed with a missing woman, has earned $58.9 million after three weeks in theaters. Universal distributed the film.

    The weekend’s other major new release, Fox’s “Keeping Up with the Joneses” flopped, eking out $5.6 million. The action-comedy about a suburban couple who get entangled in the world of international espionage, stars Jon Hamm, Zach Galifianakis, Gal Gadot, and Isla Fisher. It’s a rough start given its $40 million budget.

    Among other releases, “The Met: Live in HD’s” screening of Mozart’s Don Giovanni drew opera fans, grossing $1.7 million on more than 900 screens.

    Faith-based distributor Pure Flix debuted “I’m Not Ashamed,” a drama about a victim of the Columbine High School shootings, to $900,000 on 505 theaters.

    Michael Moore waded into the presidential election with “Michael Moore In TrumpLand,” a film of a one-man stage performance that the documentary filmmaker delivered in Ohio, all but begging the Rust Belt to abandon the Donald. The film earned $50,200 on two screens for a $25,100 per-screen average.

    In a statement, Moore said, “”This film speaks to and is being enjoyed by many constituencies, namely the 50% of the country planning not to vote, or those voting third party, but also among Clinton supporters and even Trump voters who know better. I’m convinced now that as millions of Americans will see this movie, it will have an impact on this election.”
    Rapturous critical notices lifted “Moonlight” at the art house box office this weekend. The film was bolstered by a love letter from the New York Times’ A.O. Scott, who labeled it “breathtaking” and stopped short of declaring it 2016’s best film with two months left to go in the year.

    The A24 release earned an impressive $414,740 on four screens, for a sizzling $103,685 per-screen average. That sets it up nicely as the indie distributor looks to expand the drama about a gay boy coming-of-age in the inner city of Miami.
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  • Quiz: Are These Real Tyler Perry Movie Titles?


    Tyler Perry is one of the most prolific directors around, but how well do you really know his work? Can you tell real Tyler Perry movie titles from fake ones? Test your knowledge of Tyler Perry’s extensive filmography right now and find out if Madea would be proud of you.

  • Tyler Perry Joins ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2’

    20th Annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards - Arrivals
    Tyler Perry is adding yet another eclectic role to his idiosyncratic acting career, joining the cast of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2.”

    Perry, creator of the wacky “Madea” series and recent co-star in “Gone Girl,” is set to play Baxter Stockman, who, as The Hollywood Reporter explains, is one of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles“‘s “major villains” and “a scientist who first creates the Mousers, a line of rat-destroying machines. Later he becomes a cyborg.” He takes over the role from actor K. Todd Freeman, who made a brief appearance as Stockman in the 2014 flick.

    Perry joins fellow new addition Stephen Amell, who’s playing classic “Turtles” character Casey Jones in the follow-up. Will Arnett and Megan Fox are reprising their roles from the reboot.

    “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2” is due out on June 3, 2016.

    [via: The Hollywood Reporter]

    Photo credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez via Getty Images

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