Studio Estimates: Tyler Perry is the undisputed box office king of Oscar weekend as MADEA GOES TO JAIL grabs a stunning $14.65M opening day for a $41.12M start!
by Steve MasonTyler Perry is the king of the Hollywood box office for Academy Awards weekend. Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes To Jail (Lionsgate) debuted with just 2,032 playdates on Friday and scored a monstrous $14.65M for a Per Theatre Average of over $7,000. The final weekend take could be $41.12M.
The box office king....err....queen of Oscar weekend
Although I am not necessarily a fan of Tyler Perry movies, I am a Tyler Perry fan. He traveled the country for years doing live stage shows in order to fine-tune his act, and he identified an under-served audience – African Americans, and more specifically black, Christian women. Now he makes two movies a year, and he has two television series’ on TBS – House of Payne and Meet the Browns. He built a multi-million dollar studio in an under-served area in Atlanta, taking advantage of tax credits for building in a blighted neighborhood. Now he is building a mini-empire. He produces, writes, directs and stars in his projects, and he even helps to finance them.
Perry has proved that it is possible to reach out to an audience that Hollywood has generally ignored. He saw a demographic market, and now he knows how to hit that “sweet spot” over and over again. He is an unabashed capitalist and, although he may never win an Academy Award for this brand of movie, he is selling a lot of movie tickets. Madea Goes To Jail was not screened for critics, and it wouldn’t matter anyway. Here’s TP’s movie resume.
ALL-TIME TYLER PERRY OPENINGS
1. Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes To Jail – $41.12M opening (studio estimate)
2. Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion – $30M opening – $63.25M cume
3. Diary of a Mad Black Woman – $21.9M opening – $50.6M cume
4. Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married – $21.3M opening – $55.2M cume
5. Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns – $20.1M opening – $42M cume
6. Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys – $17.3M opening – $37.1M cume
7. Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girls – $11.2M opening – $31.3M cume
As I was discussing the numbers with studio execs today, everyone was amazed. This is about Perry’s unique voice, but there’s something else happening. The first two months of 2009 have been filled with movies that have beaten industry expectations. Paul Blart: Mall Cop (Sony) with $31.8M in its first 3 days and almost $120M by Monday? Notorious (Fox Searchlight) comes out of nowhere to grab $23.4M over MLK weekend? A micro-budgeted French import like Taken (Fox) will pass $100M in the US? Clint Eastwood delivers his biggest wide opening weekend and top-grossing picture of his career with Gran Torino (Warner Bros)? The reboot of Friday The Thirteenth (Warner Bros) scares up an amazing $43.5M 4-day start? The movie business is incredibly healthy despite an uncertain economy. I continue to believe that Hollywood is recession-proof.
Even the bad movies are doing better-than-expected. For example, Sony’s low budget teen comedy Fired Up is a throw-away this weekend, and most of my regular sources had it opening in the $4M-$5M range. Instead, it grabbed a decent $2.3M on its opening day, and Sony says it reached $6M. It will likely finish ninth for the 3-day, but that’s so much better than it could have been.
Luc Besson’s Taken was second for the day at $3.43M, and will finish #32 for the weekend as well with about $11.4M according to Fox. That will give this Pierre Morel-directed action flick a head-turning $95.15M, and it should pass $100M this week.
The $60M Coraline (Focus), the spectacular 3-D film from Henry Selick, will wrap up the weekend at #3 with about $11M, down just 25%, after a $2.8M Friday (fourth for the day). This movie will have banked $53.4M by Monday, and, if you haven’t seen it yet, do yourself a favor and experience just how far 3-D has evolved from those cardboard glasses with the red and blue lenses.
The Flower Films rom-com He’s Just Not That Into You (Warner Bros) seems likely has nosed out the fast-fading Friday The Thirteenth for fourth-place. Based on the Greg Behrendt-Liz Tuccillo self-help book, the Ken Kwapis-directed chick-flick managed another $3M on Friday (#3 for the day), which has translated to $8.54M for the 3-day.
Friday The Thirteenth is drowning, and there's nothing Jason can do about it
Meanwhile, movie-goers showed up at Crystal Lake last weekend, but America’s teens have quickly lost interest. Friday The Thirteenth from director Marcus Nispel and Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes fell to only about $2.8M in second Friday sales (the movie stunned with over $19M last Friday), and Jason has limped to just $7.82M. That is a drop of almost 81%, one of the ten biggest weekend-over-weekend tumbles in modern box office history.
Finally, Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight), which will almost certainly win the Academy Award for Best Picture on tonight, added 600 or so playdates Friday, and it picked up another $2.1M or so to start the weekend. Searchlight has handled this film perfectly, and it will finish the weekend with about $8M, which would put its domestic cume at about $98M when it collects Hollywood’s biggest prize. It will probably surpass $100M in the US as soon as Monday as it rides an Oscar wave.
EXCLUSIVE STEVE MASON EARLY FRIDAY ESTIMATES
1. NEW – Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes To Jail (Lionsgate) – $14.65M, $7,210 PTA, $14.65M cume
2. Taken (Fox) – $3.43M, $1,106 PTA, $87.18M cume
3. He’s Not That Into You (Warner Bros) – $3M, $984 PTA, $64.54M cume
4. Coraline (Focus) – $2.8M, $1,299 PTA, $45.13M cume
5. Friday the Thirteenth (Warner Bros) – $2.75M, $1,299 PTA, $49.97M cume
6. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Disney) – $2.4M, $957 PTA, $23M cume
7. NEW – Fired Up (Sony) – $2.3M, $1,271 PTA, $2.3M cume
8. Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) – $2.1M, $936 PTA, $92.06M cume
9. Paul Blart: Mall Cop (Sony) – $1.54M, $545 PTA, $115.92M cume
10. The International (Sony) – $1.42M, $604 PTA, $14M cume
11. Pink Panther 2 (Sony) – $1.1M, $414 PTA, $26.77M cume
12. Gran Torino (Warner Bros) – $1M, $493 PTA, $131.79M cume
STUDIO ESTIMATES
1. NEW – Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes To Jail (Lionsgate) – $41.12M, $20,236 PTA, $41.12M cume
2. Taken (Fox) – $11.4M, $3,675 PTA, $95.15M cume
3. Coraline (Focus) – $11.03M, $5,119 PTA, $53.39M cume
4. He’s Not That Into You (Warner Bros) – $8.54M, $2,800 PTA, $70.08M cume
5. Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) – $8.05M, $3,587 PTA, $98.02M cume
6. Friday the Thirteenth (Warner Bros) – $7.82M, $2,520 PTA, $55M cume
7. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Disney) – $7.01M, $2,800 PTA, $27.65M cume
8. Paul Blart: Mall Cop (Sony) – $7M, $2,469 PTA, $121.38M cume
9. NEW – Fired Up (Sony) – $6M, $3,315 PTA, $6M cume
10. The International (Sony) – $4.45M, $1,882 PTA, $17M cume
11. Pink Panther 2 (Sony) – $3.7M, $1,392 PTA, $29.37M cume
12. Gran Torino (Warner Bros) – $3.64M, $1,793 PTA, $134.43M cume
Steve Mason is on Facebook and now also on Twitter.
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26 Comments
so sorry for F13!
I note that only one Oscar nominated film, Slumdog Millionaire is in the top 12 box office films, and considering the nominees that is as it should be. (Though by all rights, Gran Torino should have some nominations which might have move it up a couple of notches in the box office list.)
The other thing worth noting about the Tyler Perry franchise is that his films have got to be pretty low budget (by current Hollywood standards) so the box office take is already mostly profit.
I'm not a fan of his, but I can recognize his talents as a writer and performer even so.
As to "Friday the Thirteenth"; was there any reason whatsoever to remake that film? I haven't seen either version, so I may not have an informed opinion about this, but on the other hand this is the internet so since when has subject knowledge become a requirement for posting?
Basically, don't you have a guy in a hockey mask chasing half-naked teenage girls around the woods with a big knife? For me, if Jason never showed up you'd have formulaic soft-core pron. Which I would frankly prefer over the finished product, and consider as a healthier appetite for my teenage son…
I'll point this out again, but Tyler Perry films are one weekend wonders. Look at how his final BO tally isn't really that much more than the opening weekend.
Friday the 13th can drop 100% and make $0 this weekend. Listen it made $47M in 7 days and its on its way to $56M in 10days. On a $19M budget thats amazing especially for a horror flick its the first slasher horror flick (not including Saw films) to crack more then $70M domestic since 2003! Like it or not Friday the 13th did amazing overall at the box office I thought this wouldn't have even made $50M domestic. Sequel time and I honestly can't wait this flick was so much fun from start to finish!
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I've tried to sit through Tyler Perry's movies and I just don't think he's very funny at all. They borderline on just plain stup!d. The wife and I rented one of his movies thinking it was going to be like Big Mommas House or something similar. We were very disappointed.
His television show isn't all that good either.
But hey
Wow.
ChrisK — I don't get Perry's brand of humor, either. But my step-mother — who is black and Christian– loves his movies. They reach her on a level that I don't understand, probably in the same way that leftist, liberal Hollywood doesn't understand what reaches conservatives. For all their multi-culti tolerance-shilling, they have no capacity to serve anyone who isn't exactly like themselves. Perry's genius is his recognition of what was missing and moving in to fill the gap. It's capitalism 101: see a demand and create the supply. Now, if only someone would do that for us conservatives…
i saw taken and the jail movie. it amazes me i have seen taken several times at all times the start to middle to the end. every theater was almost totally full. with people actually clapping at the end. went last night to jail. it was funny as long as madea sjhowed up most of the movie was boring with the prostitute deal. shouljd have been done totally in jail.as for mall cop it was way more funny than madea in jail. by the way the only tyler film i saw that was good he wasnt in it at all "my three girls" was his best work. more mellow and truer.
Black man dresses up as black woman. Comedy gold… apparently.
I think congress needs to investigate these excessive studio profits and assign windfall profit taxes where necessary. Let's haul up these studio execs before congress and give 'em the business!
Yeah, Tyler Perry films are notoriously low budget. His biggest movie, Madea's Family Reunion, cost like 6 million to make and it made over $60 million domestically. His movies are like the "Saw" franchise- one-weekend wonders in which they make back the budget the first weekend, and drop like a rock the next.
Yeah, but Perry's movies are so inexpensive that they are far more profitable than most movies made within Hollywood. I'd be shocked if Madea Goes to Jail's budget was $10 million, which is covered by the movie's opening box office.
By contrast, Superman Returns was a flop because its $200 million-plus gross couldn't cover its $300 million budget. This is even more shocking when you consider how popular the first two Superman flicks were.
Hence, can you really blame major studios for taking Perry seriously despite his obviously Christian films being produced outside Hollywood?
I think you mean "Daddy's Little Girls," which I rate as my second favorite Perry flick. Why Did I Get Married is at the top of the list.
Incidentally, Girls demonstrates another reason why Perry's films are successful. Apart from Pursuit of Happyness, name five Hollywood films that portrayed Black fathers in a positive light? Heck, is it possible to name five Hollywood movies that positively portray fathers, period?
It's Perry's bold bucking of Hollywood's "anti-family" values that make his movies stand out.
I like most of TP's stuff. I'm not a big sit-com watcher but I laugh more at House of Payne then I do at Two and a Half Men. I think what he does is more like a 21st century Berry Gordy rather than a new Oprah. TP's work has put a lot of little know talents out into the spotlight and Oprah has built her empire by mainly spotlighting Oprah.
I am one of the few non-movie goers who post here. I don't watch very many, even on pay channnels, or On Demand. However, I did watch the Tyler Perry "Madea Family Reunion" movie one weekend when I had a cold. Personally, I liked the message. It railed against young blacks who acted like hip-hop trash, it showed family being the most important thing, it showed family supporting an abused wife, and ostracizing the beater. There was even more, but isn't that a good thing? Yes, there was silly stuff, and the movie did drag in certain sections, but overall, I liked it. I would watch more of his flicks.
Plus, as a Georgia native, I see where Perry has employed a lot of locals, and given a positive image to the black community that he is trying to support. I say, good on him. There are a lot of hip-hop businesses around the ATL area, and most of them glorify the negative side of the business. Perry is trying, so I support that.
yeah i see what you mean. but the best work he does is when he isnt in the film. i am talking about "daddy's little girls" great story great acting.
his best work was "daddy's little girls" he wasnt in it.have you seen it?
[...] some Oscar predictions here. Big Hollywood with what’s hot on Oscar weekend … “Madea Goes To Jail,” and the news that if you wanted to see the nominees, you might have to hunt them [...]
is Tyler Perry satan? I think it's a distinct possibility. watch "my thoughts on MADEA GOES TO JAIL" over on youtube. the dude says all that really needs to be said about the mega-talented Mr. Perry!
[...] Steve Mason has the figures and analysis. [...]
As a young black woman… i thought madea goes to jail hillarious…parts of madea remind me of my grandma…and I can identify with their family dynamic. Sorry to those who may not find Madea funny but honestly…its a cultural thing. And its nice to go to the theater and see blacks protrayed more positively than negatively. Hollywood seems to portray the black community so poorly. Heck, Denzel won an oscar for playing a crooked cop…a thug…the very thing I find distasteful. What message does that send to our young black children….that was not a proud day for me….
yes i think she is hillariously funny. but if you look at all his movies there are two stories going on in one movie. honestly i laughed when media shows up. but i was bored with the drama part . as most in the audience was. the movie i loved the most was daddys little girls.it was funny inspiring and showed we are all elitists what any hue we are. but like aesop the ending was a moral and great ending. have the movie on my computer watch it all the time. extremely well acted and the script was great. now that type of movie i can get into and have a good time with. he should do more of these. as for medea they could have done a whole movie with her in prison it would be hillarious.
[...] Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail bighollywood.breitbart.com [...]
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