UPDATED: "The Haves and the Have Nots," the network's scripted debut, opens to 1.77 million viewers and builds in its second episode.
by Michael O'Connell, The Hollywood Reporter
May 29, 2013
Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey may be the perfect match -- at least in terms of Winfrey's cable network. OWN launched its first scripted effort Tuesday night, pulling in its highest rated series premiere yet.
The Haves and the Have Nots, from the prolific writer, director and producer, brought in 1.77 million viewers with its 9 p.m. premiere. Part of a back-to-back premiere, the show managed to grow to 1.8 million viewers in its second episode at 10 p.m. The strongest premiere until now has been the recent debut of Life With La Toya (1.18 million).
Among women 25-54, OWN's ad-friendly demo, the 9 p.m. episode brought in a 1.57 rating and the 10 p.m. episode pulled a 1.67 rating.
OWN and Perry inked an exclusive multiyear deal in October, which will see the multi-hyphenate develop new series and projects for the network. The pact included the addition of The Haves and the Have Nots to the network, as well as comedy Love Thy Neighbor -- which opens Wednesday.
For the second quarter to-date, the young cable network is up 12 percent in total viewers compared to last year.
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Tyler Perry Tops List of Highest Paid Men in Entertainment
Tyler Perry
by Paul Bond - Hollywood Reporter
9/12/2011 3:23 PM PDT
The movie and TV mogul behind Madea and other hit properties earned $130 million in a year, besting Jerry Bruckheimer and Steven Spielberg.
Playing an argumentative, plus-sized woman has been a lucrative endeavor for Tyler Perry, who Forbes magazine on Monday named “entertainment’s highest paid man.”
Perry raked in $130 million in 12 months starting May 1, 2010, according to Forbes, not only from royalties associated with his Madea movie franchise but also through TV shows Meet the Browns and House of Payne and various other projects.
Second to Perry on the Forbes list of 10 is Jerry Bruckheimer, who earned $113 million as the fourth installment of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise topped $1 billion at the box office worldwide.
Forbes said it spoke to agents, lawyers, producers and a host of other insiders to determine pretax gross incomes for Hollywood's heavyweights and it did not deduct management, agent or legal fees.
It’s list of entertainment’s highest paid women is forthcoming.
Among men, Steven Spielberg ranks third with $107 million and Elton John and Simon Cowell round out the Top 5, having earned $100 million and $90 million, respectively.
Author James Patterson is No. 6 with $84 million. Perry, in fact, will star as Alex Cross, one of Patterson’s popular protagonists, in a Summit Entertainment film due next year.
Leonardo Di Caprio is the lone actor on the list and Tiger Woods the only athlete.
Tyler Perry in, Idris Elba out of Alex Cross reboot: Producer explains why -- EXCLUSIVE
by Mandi Bierly -Entertainment Weekly | Popwatch
Feb 1, 2011 - 06:15 PM ET Last August, when news broke that The Wire‘sIdris Elba was to follow in the footsteps of Morgan Freeman (Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider) and reboot the James Patterson detective character Alex Cross on the big screen, we were psyched — and this was before we’d seen his Golden Globe-nominated turn as a detective in the miniseries Luther. EW chatted with Elba last October about the film, which was to then have been directed by David Twohy (A Perfect Getaway, Pitch Black), and all he would reveal was that the script was “phenomenal” and if he could pick his dream costar/nemesis, it’d be Joaquin Phoenix. So cut to the news today that cameras will be rolling this June on I, Alex Cross with Tyler Perry in the titular role and director Rob Cohen (The Fast and the Furious and xXx) at the helm. What happened?
Elba’s rep had no comment, but Bill Block, CEO of QED International (District 9), which acquired the rights and the initial script by Kerry Williamson and Patterson late last year (and hired Marc Moss, who worked on the previous Cross films, to refine it for Perry and Cohen), just filled us in: “When we came on, we looked at it freshly, and just built it from the bottom up,” he tells EW. “Sure, Idris is a great actor; Tyler Perry is a phenomenon. Tyler Perry is one of the most significant entertainers in all of media. He is a huge cross-media talent and presence — and he’s a terrific actor whose range is going to be shown here. You’re going to see Tyler Perry like you haven’t seen him. He’s 6’5″, he is a linebacker. He is an awesome physical presence and is just going to tear it apart here. It’s an intense, dramatic role.” Block says the film — “a kickass, crusading action picture” — will be the first of several Alex Cross films. “This is going to be the new Tyler Perry franchise, a worldwide one,” he says. “That’s the other thing: Tyler Perry is going to take this to the worldwide audience. It’s just a very different, much bigger opportunity.” (It’s worth noting that Block was, in fact, phoning us as he arrived at the airport, about to fly to the European Film Market in Berlin to sell global distribution rights.) “We went to him,” Block says. “If you can get Tyler Perry or Will Smith, you try.”
Now I imagine most people, myself included, think of Elba and Perry as being two very different actors, and naturally find this to be a bemusing, almost amusing turn of events. The question is: Are you more or less interested in the film now? With Elba, I was looking forward to him getting a quality leading man role with mass appeal and bringing some heat. With Perry, I’m curious to see how he’ll handle a serious car chase (I assume there will be one), and whether his Madea fans will follow him when the makeup in the movie isn’t drag but deadly. Yes, we’ll all be dying to see the trailer. But is it the kind of curiosity that’s satisfied in two minutes or two hours?
While you ponder those questions, I’ll leave you with this: You can critique an actor’s performance after the film opens, but you can’t ever fault someone for wanting to try something new and show his range. I have no idea what kind of relationship Elba has with Perry, who directed him in 2007′s Daddy’s Little Girls, but that notion is something I’m confident Elba would agree with (at least on some level). Talking to us last October about the diversity in his credits, Elba said, “I would never be fearful of any character. I think there’s a tendency for actors like myself, and I don’t mean to generalize myself, but I’ve played ‘men’s men,’ if you will, characters that are simmering [with] rage and calculated. There’s a trend not to play anything that is opposed to that. I remember when I left Stringer [on HBO's The Wire], one of the films I did was Tyler Perry’s Daddy’ Little Girls, which was about a man doting over his three little girls. I remember there was talk, ‘Why? Why would you do that? Play gangsters. Play ruthless.’ It’s really funny because the same people who loved me as Stringer Bell were the same people that were watching Daddy’s Little Girls literally in tears. Some people don’t like the film, but some of the guys that came up to me and said, ‘Yo, I want to see you play gangsters’ were the same ones that were in tears because they had either strained relationships with their children, or they loved their children so much and they were watching a character that they could relate to. I don’t mind playing characters that are opposite of what people think I am.”
The top movies of the weekend November 5-7, 2010 1Megamind $47,650,000 2Due Date $33,500,000 3 For Colored Girls $20,100,000
Tyler Perry's "For Colored Girls," an adaptation of the acclaimed play "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf," premiered in third place with $20.1 million. That's lower than usual for the director, but still a very respectable opening, especially when considering that the film is Perry's first to be rated R.
"For Colored Girls" played a bit older than normal for Perry's movies, with 87 percent of the audience more than 25 years old. The serious drama, with its all-star female ensemble including Kimberly Elise, Whoopi Goldberg, Thandie Newton, Kerry Washington, and Janet Jackson, had no trouble attracting Perry's most supportive fan base -- African-American women. According to Lionsgate, 81 percent of the audience was African American, and 82 percent was female. And with an "A" rating from CinemaScore audiences, Perry's fan base clearly loved what they saw. (ew.com)
Domestic Total as of Nov. 7, 2010: $20,100,000 (Estimate) Distributor: Lionsgate Release Date: November 5, 2010 Budget: $21 million
Cool Black's Mad Commentary: As the article above states "Tyler Perry's "For Colored Girls," ... premiered in third place with $20.1 million. That's lower than usual for the director, but still a very respectable opening". A respectable opening for arguably Tyler Perry's most respectable film to date, still was one of his lowest openings. His 'Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail' (2009) opened with $41 million ($41,030,947 2,032). Shaking my head.
For Colored Girls Starring
Principal cast
Janet Jackson
Thandie Newton
Whoopi Goldberg
Loretta Devine
Anika Noni Rose
Kimberly Elise
Kerry Washington
Phylicia Rashad
Supporting cast
Tessa Thompson
Michael Ealy
Macy Gray
Omari Hardwick
Hill Harper
Khalil Kain
Richard Lawson
Directed, Produced, and Written byTyler Perry Released: November 5, 2010 (USA)
Summary:For Colored Girls is a 2010 American film directed, produced, and written by Tyler Perry. It is an adaptation of Ntozake Shange's 1975 stage play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf (pictured right). Structurally, For Colored Girls... (1975) is a series of 20 poems, collectively called a "choreopoem."
A choreopoem is a work that combines dance and poetry so that each complements the other in a highly dramatic way. The term first appeared in the orginal For Colored Girls... (1975), by Ntozake Shange, an African-American woman. Shange, (Paulette Williams was her birth name), wanted to create a new art form that was different from traditional western (and white) poetry. So, while working with young black girls, she developed the form, which doesn't contain traditional elements of plot and characters, it instead focuses on creating an emotional response within the audience. -Lord Nathan, everything2.com
For Colored Girls... (1975), is performed by a cast of seven women characters,each of whom is known only by a color: "Lady in Yellow," "Lady in Purple," etc. In this 2010 adaptation, since this is a movie, it is structured around a "six degrees of separation" type of storyline.
REVIEW by Cool Black
This is a really good film. I’m not familiar AT ALL with the source material (1975 stage play) so this is my first exposure to it and I have to say Mr. Perry did a really good job. As stated in the summary above all of the characters in the “choreopoem” are “structured around a "six degrees of separation" type of storyline.” And that is effective as well. The poems will make themselves evident without seeming out of context. There is no blank background or weird camera angle or lighting to let you know “this is one of the poems”, they just become a part of the scenes like a character’s monologue or soliloquy.
The performances in this film are on the most part EXCELLENT, a word I never use lightly. The standout performances are Phylicia Rashad, Thandie Newton and Kimberly Elise. The rest of the cast do great jobs as well including Kerry Washington, Anika Noni Rose, Janet Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, Loretta Devine and Tessa Thompson.
Lastly I have to give props to Mr. Tyler Perry who directed, produced, and wrote this film and did a great job at adapting a choreopoem that "doesn't contain traditional elements of plot and characters" into a motion picture.
In an October 2010 press conference with the cast, Perry credited his full body of work for being able to make the film, stating, "It took everything – Madea, House of Payne and all of that for me to be able to do For Colored Girls. Had none of that happened I wouldn’t have been able to say, “Listen, this is what I want to do next,” so I’m very proud of it all." ( UrbLife.com)
I totally agree with Mr.Perry.
Cool Black's Mad Commentary: I heard Oprah Winfrey say this film is having “Oscar buzz” and I thought blah, blah, blah, Oprah is Tyler Perry’s good friend so of course would throw terms like that out there.
Well I have to agree with Ms. Winfrey, I think the acting in this film will get several Oscar nominations. In particular I’m going to state NOW several months before the actual nominations that Phylicia Rashad, Thandie Newton and Kimberly Elise will get nominations. Since this is an ensemble piece probably for Best Supporting Actress, but Kimberly Elise might get a Best Actress nomination since she is heavily featured. Janet Jackson who also did a great job might get a nomination because she is a really famous person who did a really good job. Oscars are a popularity contest as well.
Additional quote-
Manohla Dargis of the New York Times published this November 4, 2010 in the review for 'For Colored Girls'.
As it turns out, Mr. Perry, while busily establishing his economic independence, has been finding his voice as a filmmaker. And here, working with fine performers like Ms. Elise, Anika Noni Rose, Phylicia Rashad and Kerry Washington, he sings the song the way he likes it — with force, feeling and tremendous sincerity.
Despite what has been written or said I'm not feuding with Tyler Perry. I was on a show being interviewed by Host Ed Gordon. The only words pulled from my answer about Mr. Perry were 'Coonery and Buffoonery'. Please read the below transcript of the exchange. I feel Artists should be able to critique each other's work, Athletes and Musicians have been doing this for ages. As long as it's given in a loving spirit (which my opinions were) it's all good.
Thank you for reading. Spike Lee Filmmaker Brooklyn, New York 3/17/10
-------------------------------------
Transcript from Our World with Black Enterprise: Segment where host Ed Gordon with Director and Filmmaker Spike Lee talk about diversifying African American imagery Aired: May 30, 2009
ED GORDON
There is a sense of in our community...I remember having people come to me if I interviewed the president and say, 'oh that's great' but then we'd look at our numbers and if I had interviewed Whitney or Oprah the numbers were much, much bigger. There's a school of thought that says, 'oh, we're not diversifying our imagery enough in our community,' yet there are certain images whether they be in plays, or movies, or music that we flock to -whether we like to admit it or not. I'm wondering is that just the black middle class saying, ' Oh no, that's not what we want,' but a lot of us wanting it?
SPIKE LEE
Well, this is a complex subject because each artist should be allowed to pursue their artistic endeavor, but I still think there's a lot of stuff that's on today that's coonery and buffoonery... and I know it's making a lot of money-
Audience applause.
SPIKE LEE (CONT'D)
Breaking records but we could do better. That's just my opinion. I'm a huge basketball fan and when I watch the games on TNT I see these two ads for these two shows and I'm scratching my head, ya know? We got a black president. Are we going back to Mantan Moreland and Sleep N' Eat?
Audience laughter.
ED GORDON
Yet, if those films, and we're talking about Tyler Perry at this point -
Audience laughter.
ED GORDON (CONT'D)
No, I mean look...I'm not saying...let's not give them fodder for tabloid...I'm not saying we're talking about Tyler Perry, but those are the shows that we're talking about. If we're talking about that and we look at the numbers that come and see his movies ... that view the shows on TBS...my question is that, maybe, what Black America wants to see?
SPIKE LEE
A large part.
Mumbles in the audience.
ED GORDON
I hear a lot of no's in the audience but a lot of people are watching it.
SPIKE LEE
Here's the thing though, we've had this discussion back and forth because when John Singleton...people came out to see Boyz N' Da Hood. He did Rosewood...nobody showed up. So, a lot of this is on us. A lot of this is on us, we…you vote with your pocketbook, your wallet, your time sitting in front of the idiot box. And the man has a huge audience. Tyler's very smart...in what's he done. He started off with these plays. Church buses would pull up packed and he's parlayed it into...bought his own jet. If you could buy a jet, you got money.
Audience laughter.
SPIKE LEE (CONT'D)
But at the same time, for me, just imagery is troubling.
ED GORDON
Is there disappointment from you as a director and an African American that Miracle at St. Anna won't get the same audience as some of the other movies that you will make and, therefore, the idea of what we support?
SPIKE LEE
Here's the thing, DVD is the director's best friend. A lot of people have come up to me and said they like the film a lot. For whatever reason they didn't get to see it in the theatre but they definitely got the bootleg
Audience laughter.
SPIKE LEE (CONT'D)
Or watched it on television - Pay Per View - and even if nobody showed up, I wanted to make that film because Hollywood historically has omitted the contribution of 1.1 African American men and women who fought and died for this country in World War Two and I just got tired of seeing these films again, again and again which does not give any love to us. The first person that died for this country was a black man. Crispus Attucks. We're more patriotic than anybody.
-------------(END)----------------- November 2013
Spike elaborates more on his differences with Tyler Perry
October 2019
Tyler Perry named a soundstage at his new studio after Spike Lee.
This is his pic from his Instagram.
Tyler Perry is adding some harmony to his next picture.
The writer-director has cast nine-time Grammy winner Mary J. Blige (pictured left) in "I Can Do Bad All by Myself," an adaptation of one of his early plays. Blige joins Taraji P. Henson, recently nominated for an Oscar, in the Lionsgate release, which is due in theaters Sept. 11.
In the film, Blige will play a nightclub manager and singer who is good friends with Henson's character. Madea, Perry's most iconic creation, also will appear in the movie, which is shooting at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta.
Blige is coming off two sold-out national tours and is in the studio working on a new album due out this year from Interscope Geffen. The singer already has eight platinum or multiplatinum albums.
Blige, who is repped by ICM and Kendu Isaacs, recently guest starred on "Entourage" and is lining up another TV gig for later in the year. She most recently appeared in "Prison Song," and her music has graced a host of TV and feature soundtracks.
Cool Black's Mad Commentary: I love, Love, LOVE Mary J. She is my favorite singer and has been since What's The 411?, but can she act? We'll find out this fall I guess. The only time I've seen her act was on an episode of The Jamie Foxx show where she played Ron "Mr. Biggs" Isley's daughter and...I love, Love, LOVE Mary J. she is my favorite singer.
