Voices
Perry’s signature character Mable
Simmons, better known as Madea — cue urban colloquialisms,
race-based humor and predictable culture-clashes.
While the picture brought in
$25 million for its opening weekend and resurrected Perry’s legion
of loyal fans, it also drew what
have quickly become the typical
Perry critiques — he’s an amateur,
he lacks cinematic skill and is reinforcing racial stereotypes.
Critics and Spike Lee rants
aside, there’s no denying Perry’s
innate ability to appeal to his audience or garner a hefty return on
investment (the filmmaker is notorious for creating films on a shoestring budget with profits often
doubling production costs). But
when looking at Perry’s success,
one must wonder a few things.
First, after his years of blockbuster hits and discovery of a
foolproof formula, why hasn’t
Hollywood followed Perry’s lead?
Say it three times fast and it
sounds like quite the Socratic
question. With less than ten
movies released so far this year
for black audiences, one must
wonder, does Hollywood care
about the black moviegoer?
Judging from the success of
CHEVONNE
HARRIS
HUFFINGTON
07.15.12
Perry and his “for us, by us” philosophy, it’s hard to overlook the
profit Hollywood stands to gain
by tapping into black moviegoers’
pockets. Since his debut film, Tyler Perry’s Diary of a Mad Black
Woman, hit theaters in 2005,
Perry has proven the power of the
black dollar time and time again,
yet for some reason Hollywood
continues to ignore the giant cash
cow in the room. In
an industry driven by
the bottom line, it’s
After
difficult to figure out
years of
why the light hasn’t
blockbuster
gone on in some corhits and a
porate exec’s head
foolproof
to add a little more
formula,
mahogany to the
why hasn’t
screen — if not for
Hollywood
the blacks, then why
followed
not for the bank?
Perry’s lead?”
On the few occasions major black
films are released domestically,
the results often exceed expectations. The Kevin Hart comedy Think Like a Man opened
to roughly 2,000 screens earlier
this spring — 1,000 screens fewer
than the Zac Efron romance, The
Lucky One — yet still managed
to nab the No. 1 spot on opening