Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection
Release Date:
June 29, 2012
There are two types of Tyler Perry movies thus far in his career. The division is those that feature Madea versus those that do not. Madea, for those of you unaware, is the nickname of a character named Mabel Simmons who happens to be the most popular African-American comedian since Richard Pryor.
The numbers support the notion that Madea is a massive box office draw. Recent Tyler Perry movies that do not feature the character include Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds, Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys and Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girls. These movies averaged opening weekends of $14.7 million and final domestic revenue of $36 million.
The three most recent films with Madea (and Tyler Perry) in the title are Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion, Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail and Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family. The opening weekend average for these three titles is $32 million while their final domestic box office average is $65.7 million. Yes, having Madea in the title almost doubles the potential revenue of Tyler Perry movies.
In a shocking turn of events, the summer of 2012 will include the release of another Madea film. This one is entitled Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection. Do not let the title confuse you. Madea is not the one relocated in a witness protection program. Instead, Eugene Levy will utilize all of the tricks he learned hitting on Queen Latifah in Bringing Down the House (“You got me straight trippin’, Boo!”) in order to provide comic foil to Madea.
Levy portrays the patsy in a Ponzi scheme who is forced to move to Georgia. He has been framed by the mafia as the instigator in the bilking of millions of dollars. I am confident that somehow Madea will save the day and allow him to get the drop on the various bad guys who do not care how funny Eugene Levy was in American Pie.
Madea’s Witness Protection will be a blockbuster. The primary questions are whether it earns more or less than $32 million on opening weekend and $65 million during its domestic run. And we should expect to see another Madea movie in the next 18 months. Tyler Perry will keep making them until people stop watching them…and there is no sign of that happening any time soon. (David Mumpower/BOP)
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