Box Office Roundup

Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? opened strongly at number one with 21.3 million. I have never seen any of Mr. Perry's films but perhaps I should. I am always interested in modern day "word of mouth" audience driven films. He also wears all hats, usually producing, directing, and acting. Not to mention that his first two films, the Medea vehicles, have as their main star a black christian drag queen. From what I gather these films tend to have an urban grit in dialogue and style with extremely blatant Christian, conservative moralizing. The kind of melodramas that if the cast were white would be so stale and tired that they wouldn't get the greenlight on the PAX network as a TV movie of the week. But since it is filtered through the black experience it is fresh and new.
Michael Clayton opened at number four, a disappointment. I had a chance to see it this weekend and it is a smart, well acted, and the key word ADULT thriller/drama so of course it's only natural that it underperformed. Interesting to note though that George Clooney is seen as an A list star whereas Tyler Perry is not. However, check the box office records and Tyler Perry is a much safer bet. Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy are also extremely bankable stars who still in consistently profitable low budget comedies. And I think a case could be made that WIll Smith is the most sure thing to ensue a box office hit. However from a media representation standpoint they are nowhere near the same level as say Brad Pitt [ who has a very spotty box office track record]. What exactly constitutes a mega watt, A list star? Being white certainly seems to help.

But don't feel too sorry for Mr. Perry. There is an informative NYT profile on him which contains these ... interesting tidbits,

"In my mind,” he said, “going to a clothing rack in the pursuit of happiness is a total distraction. For me, it’s disheartening. Black people, especially, have gotten so lost in it.”

It is surprising, then, to hear Mr. Perry boast about his Rolls-Royce and his five houses, including one in the Hollywood Hills and three in Atlanta, as well as an apartment in Midtown Manhattan. (“Can you imagine being in my position and not having real estate in New York?” Mr. Perry said. “That would be an idiot move.”) He is also building his dream house, a 30,000-square-foot French Provincial, in a prosperous Atlanta neighborhood.

Inspired by evangelists like T. D. Jakes, who preach that the devout shall prosper, Mr. Perry sees no conflict in advocating austerity but coveting fine things.

“There is a movement within the black church that teaches it’s not a sin to have money,” Dr. Neal said. “The thinking is that money is part of the blessings you receive because you have been a good Christian.”

And Mr. Perry continues to accumulate material blessings: he has already outgrown the 75,000-square-foot studio he bought less than two years ago, and intends early next year to expand into the former world headquarters of Delta Air Lines in Atlanta, in a 30-acre campus. There he plans to continue filming new projects including “Meet the Browns,” starring Angela Bassett as a woman who leaves the Chicago projects to move in with her family in the South.

And Mr. Perry dreams of creating a TV network with cartoons, news broadcasts, comedy shows and dramatic series that “will reinforce positive good messages.”

And beyond all that? “Someday I’d like to own my own island,” Mr. Perry said."

Good luck with that Tyler! I can't get too mad at him though after watching him stick up for Janet in a recent CW31 interview. Nasty hosts of some dumb innocuous Sacramento morning program decide to start berating Janet about her career ending superbowl incident. It comes about two minutes in and this is after the smug condescending hosts accuse Mr. Perry of ripping off The Big Chill. It is out of left field and unfair to Janet considering it is not at all relevant to why they are on the morning show and happened THREE YEARS AGO. She has had to discuss and apologize for that "wardrobe malfunction" more times than she would probably care to and Tyler Perry actually steps in and doesn't let them bully her. And speaking of stepping in for defense, if memory serves me correctly, Justin Timberlake was the man who ripped it off. Now call me crazy but if he is the sexy, womanizing lothario that he claims to be. why didn't he step up, be a man and say, "yeah I ripped it off and its a damn shame you all only got to see one boob. Leave her alone, I was involved too" Instead he ran away with his tail tucked between his legs, notoriously silent as she was crucified by the media and the FCC.


UPDATE: from imdb.com
"Tyler's message of family values and personal redemption speaks very strongly to people who are not frequent moviegoers." (Perry's films appeal mostly to older black churchgoers; almost 90 percent of Married's ticket buyers were black.) Lionsgate distribution chief Tom Ortenberg.

90%! that's crazy!