Though Kanye West is probably the most African-American named being googled, Tyler Perry’s impressive movie ticket sales shouldn’t be overlooked.
TP’s new ‘Madea’ installment, “I Can Do Bad All By Myself,” with Academy Award nominated actress Taraji P. Henson was the number one movie in the country, grossing a studio-estimated $24 million.
“I Can Do Bad” made 37% more than Perry’s “The Family that Preys” on the same weekend last year. And while “Madea Goes to Jail” and “Madea’s Family Reunion” remain his two biggest openings since he started making pictures for Lions Gate in early 2006, this weekend’s picture is his most successful that didn’t feature the popular “Madea” character front and center.
As is typical for Perry films, the audience for “I Can Do Bad All by Myself” was predominantly black women, with 75% of moviegoers female and 80% African American. Tyler Perry is the only brand that seems able to bring out this audience consistently recently.
Though I don’t check for the TP films anymore, I mean how many times can you watch a black man in drag before it gets a little creepy, I still pump my fists for a man who can turned nothing into a multi-million dollar generating business.
Not that anybody really ponders the celebrity of Boris Kudjoe and his wife Nicole Ari Parker, but it seems their presumed lameness actually is derived from a personal family matter involving his kids.
In an interview with Black Enterprise, the couple shared how their daughter’s condition has changed their lives, taught them endurance, and inspired them to help other families. After the diagnosis, the couple put their careers on hold as they struggled to learn early on that their daughter Sophie was born with spina bifida, a serious birth defect that can cause mild to severe nerve damage, paralysis, and incontinence. After the diagnosis, the couple put their careers on hold as they struggled to learn about the condition.
Check out their Q&A:
How has your daughter’s condition changed your priorities?
Boris: It has turned everything upside down. It has been hard for the past four years to find our way through this maze. It’s tough because our daughter needs 24/7 care, but we still have to make movies and TV shows because that is what supports the family. You realize that all the things that stress you out aren’t really important at all. Our daughter’s health, our son, Nicolas, our family—the four of us—that is our priority in life. We also have to be meticulous about fund raising. It’s a business, but it’s quite sobering.
How can Sophie’s Voice help families?
Boris: This is not a temporary effort. The surgical trial is our first goal, but we have goals after that. There are people who can’t afford to keep buying diapers, catheters, wheelchairs, and braces until after their kids are grown. [The average cost of raising a child with spina bifida is 13 times higher than that of raising a normal child.]
Nicole: We have to figure out how to serve families. We are not experts, but we are in it with them. Sophie’s Voice is currently planning a private introductory fundraiser in New York City this month. More long-range plans include opening a chapter in Ghana, where they’re still learning how to best care for those with spina bifida. [Read More]
So sad. This is why I have no desire for children. You just don’t know what you’re getting into and I tend to be a bit more controlling then most, which is impossible in dealing with kids.
More after the jump.
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