Tyler Perry’s been underestimated by both critics and audiences since he moved from theater into the film world with “Diary Of A Mad Black Woman.” He’s built an Apatowian cottage industry from his films, all of which he’s written and directed, save for “Black Woman,” and as such his lower budgeted films, always revolving around black characters of faith, have been counted on to do at least $40 million, and much more on DVD. The ability of his art to challenge or provoke is severely limited, but critics have simply marginalized his work instead of probing just exatly what it is about Perry’s brand of faith-and-love-and-broad-comedy that connects consistently with audiences. One day, someone will re-evaluate his body of work and observe how it speaks to the modern black audience and what it has to say about faith-based America in the new milennium.
Becuase there’s such a ridiculous divide between how good his films are and how many people see them, however, that day is not today. Perry’s latest, “Madea Goes To Jail” scored his biggest debut yet, pulling in $41 million in its first weekend, eclipsing the last effort, “The Family That Preys,” which pulled in $37 million overall and optimistically hinted that Perry’s brand was dead. Perry’s Madea has popped up in each Perry movie so far, save for “Daddy’s Little Girls,” so the collective audience for all these films showed up this time, as this is on pace to be his biggest effort yet. Still, like all faith-based films, this is an anomaly, as it largely plays to those that only see three or four movies a year, and would not set a trend- look for Perry to expand his empire and maybe add some magazine covers to his resume, but otherwise, business as usual.
It was business as usual for the rest of the box office as well, as 2009 continued to be robust, the top ten bringing in 31% more than its corresponding weekend last year. “Taken” stayed strong at #2 with $11.4 million, and by later this week it will be the fourth film to cross the $100 million barrier this year- we’re only halfway through February, people. At #3, “Coraline” only lost about a quarter of its audience with a $11 million gross, bringing its solid total to $53 million. Riding the Oscar momentum was “Slumdog Millionaire,” which climbed to #5 with $8 million, an increase of 10.5% from the holiday weekend.
The biggest news might have been made by last weekend’s champ, “Friday the 13th.” Slashers have never been big blockbusters, so the $40 million plus opening was a surprise. The 81% drop to this weekend, however, was not. “Friday” came in at #6, collecting $7.8 million worth of tickets, a sharp decline even for the typically front-loaded horror genre. It may struggle to reach “Freddy Vs. Jason”‘s $85 million take, suggesting a ceiling for an audience who wants to watch masked killer Jason kill teens. Here’s an idea, Platinum Dunes, since you’re already moving ahead on a sequel to the very affordable film- next time make a film with an actual protagonist, someone who Jason has a hard time with. Advice for free, baby. Better than sex. You’d think the audience would be divided by the other new release this weekend, “Fired Up,” but the PG-13 cheerleader sex comedy (how does this genre exist?) opened at #9 with only $6 million.
1. Tyler Perry’s Ernest Goes To Prison- $41.1 million
2. Taken- $11.4 million
3. Coraline- $11 million
4. He’s Just Not That Into You- $8.5 million
5. Ineffectual Best Picture Oscar Winner In A Weak Year- $8 million
6. Friday the 13th- $7.8 million
7. Confessions Of A Cute Redhead Who Should Call Me If She’s Reading This- $7.01 million
8. Paul Blart: Fatass- $7 million
9. Fired Up- $6 million
10. The International- $4.5 million