Tyler Perry Becomes Free Agent As Lionsgate Declines New DealPosted by Wilson Morales
February 28, 2014
Source: THR
After bringing over $700M dollars in revenues from his 13 films, not counting DVD sales, it seems that the relationship between Liongate and Tyler Perry is coming to a close. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lionsgate has not renewed its deal with the producer-director-writer-actor.
The first-look agreement with Tyler and his 34th Street Films was last renewed in March, 2011 but concluded at the end of 2013.
The site states that Perry “is closing the Los Angeles office of 34th Street and consolidating its operations at his Atlanta, Georgia, headquarters. Some loss of jobs is expected, although Matt Moore, executive VP of 34th Street is staying on, according to sources.”
His next film with the studio is The Single Moms Club, which hits theaters on March 14. That film stars Nia Long, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Amy Smart, Zulay Henao, and Cocoa Brown. It hasn’t been determined if Perry will do any Madea films with the studio.
Throughout his relationship with the studio, his films have average $52M at the box office, with his last film Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas grossing $52.5 million domestically.
His first film with Lionsgate was 2005’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman, which wrote, produced and starred as Madea. This is the character he made famous from his written stage plays. At the time of its release, box office experts had predicted it would bring in $5M, but Perry shocked the industry when the film brought in $20M on its opening weekend.
Should Perry walk away from the studio, he could take his film business to Screen Gems, who’s looking for another African American producer to bring in some product since Will Packer took his business to Universal Pictures and got his first $100M picture with ‘Ride Along.’ On the TV side, Perry is already working with OWN, having two series and an upcoming talk show.
ShareTweet
