Tyler Perry's rise to fame and fortune is inspiring. He's proved that there is a market for culturally rich material that speaks to a particular market that also has appeal for the mass market. Critics claim his characters and characterizations can be trite and over the top, but his fan base shows that his style is appealing to them. Frankly, I like the old-fashioned "corniness" of it all and I laugh and cry and laugh until I cry when I see his works.

To hell with the critics, we like what we like and I like Tyler Perry's plays and movies and I love the character Medea. If you grew up in a black household where the wise older women expoused on love and life, Medea takes you back to that time when you realize that that those old women spoke the truth and knew just what they were talking about.

And now that I am one of those older and oh-so-much-wiser women myself, I *know* she knows what she's talking about.

Based on Tyler Perry's hit play, the comedy drama features a cast including Janet Jackson and the filmmaker himself.
By Josh Friedman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 15, 2007
Why did he get overlooked?

In a competitive weekend at the box office with several higher-profile films opening, "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?" outsold them all with a surprisingly strong $21.5 million in revenue, distributor Lionsgate Films said today.

Photo Gallery
Tyler Perry's streak
Related Stories
- 'Married' should have dialed back the drama

The Atlanta-based filmmaker's fourth feature knocked Walt Disney Co.'s family comedy "The Game Plan," starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, to No. 2, with $11.5 million at U.S. and Canadian theaters. Based on Perry's hit play, the PG-13 comedy drama about relationships and fidelity features a cast including Janet Jackson and the filmmaker himself.

"My strong hunch is that this is the last time anybody will underestimate Tyler Perry," Lionsgate President Tom Ortenberg said, noting that three of his four films have opened at No. 1. "Tyler's message of family values and personal redemption speaks very strongly to people who are not frequent moviegoers."

The thrillers "Michael Clayton," starring George Clooney, and "We Own the Night," with Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg, were in a tight race for No. 3 at an estimated $11 million each. The highbrow historical drama "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," starring Cate Blanchett, placed No. 6 with $6.2 million in a mildly disappointing premiere.

Box-office analysts, most of whom predicted Perry's new film would open in the $10 million to $15 million range, relied on consumer tracking surveys that continually underestimate the filmmaker because his audience comprises nontraditional moviegoers, Ortenberg said.

Perry's base is rooted in black churches, especially among African American women, although it continues to expand.

Close to 90% of ticket buyers for the new film were African American, Ortenberg said. But the percentage of non-black ticket buyers was the highest yet for a Perry film.

With his enthusiastic fan base, Perry's films have been highly "front loaded," doing a big percentage of their business in the first weekend. And while most of his movies have been solid hits domestically, they have done almost no business overseas.

If "Why Did I Get Married?" follows the pattern of his two biggest successes, "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" and "Madea's Family Reunion," it will end up as a $50-million hit rather than a $100-million blockbuster.

Even so, Ortenberg said he was optimistic that the new film would show legs and that with the right marketing the filmmaker could start to make inroads abroad. "Why Did I Get Married?" received an A-plus rating in exit polls taken by CinemaScore, and in Lionsgate's own surveys 98% of patrons rated it "excellent" or "very good."