Tyler Perry is a prolific producer but he may not be a household name; at least not in the way of Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese or Michael Bay, but that’s obviously debatable considering race.
Perry is the mind behind “Madea” films where he dresses up as an African American grandmother style character in “A Madea Christmas,” “Madea Goes to Jail,” “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” and his original “Madea’s Family Reunion.” For white people, it’s like the equivalent of Jim Varney’s “Ernest” or Paul Reuben’s Pee-wee Herman.
Tyler Perry has never been appreciated in Hollywood and he just gave the entire industry a big middle finger with this epic move.
He’s going to change the industry and his name is Tyler Perry.
Hollywood always preaches the idea of inclusiveness through gender, race and sexual orientation, but we all know the truth; it isn’t true.
We’re finding out through a new lawsuit against Robert De Niro that he allegedly treated his executive employee like a sub-human. The voicemails he left for her are harrowing to read. They pretend to preach equal pay regardless of gender, but time and time again, they’ve paid the male actors more. Hollywood claims to be thoughtful about racial representation in film but that’s not true either.
It’s really just laughable how hypocritical the industry is.
But there are some industry players who are changing the power in television and film.
Jordan Peele is a great example. He made a $4.5 million film that grossed over $250 million with “Get Out” and then he followed it up with the hit smash “Us.” And Peele has been on record saying he’s not interested in making his protagonist Caucasian because we’ve seen it before.
And Tyler Perry is following suit in a much bigger way.
The “Madea” producer just opened the largest studio in the United States at a cost of $250 million – and it could quite possibly be the biggest movie studio in the world – in Atlanta, Georgia.
This studio is filled with everything you can possibly imagine; a bank, a prison, a hospital, townhouses, individually built houses, AND AN ENTIRE FULL-SIZED REPLICA OF THE WHITE HOUSE – THAT’S NOT A JOKE. It’s mind-blowingly impressive.
You want to know how impressive it is: Warner Bros. studio lot is 110 acres, Paramount’s is 62 acres, Fox is 53 acres and Disney is a measly 51 acres.
TYLER PERRY STUDIOS IS 330 ACRES.
This is the video you need to watch:
Size of each of these film studios:
Tyler Perry Studios: 330 acres
Warner Bros. Studios: 110 acres
Paramount Pictures: 62 acres
Fox Studios: 53 acres
Walt Disney Studios: 51 acrespic.twitter.com/Bju0jUPq96— Jon Erlichman (@JonErlichman) October 8, 2019
So why is it a big middle finger to Hollywood and the industry in general?
It’s because he built this huge studio there despite the threat that Hollywood will pull all of its productions out of Atlanta, Georgia if it becomes law.
And where is this built? Atlanta, Georgia.
Perry recently said on CBS This Morning, “I clearly believe that I’m ignored in Hollywood, for sure, and that’s fine. I get it.”
He added, “My audience and the stories that I tell are African-American stories specific to a certain audience, specific to a certain group of people that I know, that I grew up, and we speak a language. Hollywood doesn’t necessarily speak the language. A lot of critics don’t speak that language. So, to them, it’s like, ‘What is this?’”
The fifty-year-old producer is putting his money where his mouth is and is about to compete with all of the major studios on an epic level.
It’s refreshing. This kind of competitive capitalism is the way it should be.
What an amazing triumph.