Madea Goes to Jail makes 41 million!

Batutta

Batutta

Major Contributor
Okay...My black people...Please explain these movies to me. I grew up in a white, Jewish suburb of Chicago, so maybe I'm missing something cultural, but why are these films so popular? By any standard of movie-making they are lousy. I don't get it. I edit a lot of promos for 'urban' home video companies, and there seem to be three movies 1) The angry black woman who's through with brothers film. 2) The rapper who thinks he can act who makes a movie about 'life in the hood', usually a drama but sometimes a comedy. 3) The wacky black family film with some guy playing five roles, one of whom is a randy old woman who speaks her mind and embarrasses everyone. Somebody has got to step up and do better.
 
It's called Tyler Perry worship. He has a lage following among black women. It started out with those stage plays he wrote/produced/starred in for many years before he put one into the movies out of his own pocket (I think for $5 million). Since then he has appeared on Oprah....and ....you know what happens to folks once they've been on Oprah.....tthey blow up to almost "cult" status. I've caught a few of his flicks (not in theaters...on cable only) and you're right....we need better.
 
We've done better, and we have better. We, as a culture, simply won't support better. These ridiculous movies keep getting huge box office numbers while people like Bill Duke struggle. I was VERY pleased to see Training Day do so well, but I don't know if it get's there without Denzel.

But honestly, for every wacky Tyler Perry movie there are 5 Ben Stiller/Alicia Silverstone/Mike Myer's movies out there just as bad.

There are all kinds of tastes in movies. In 2007, There Will be Blood and No Country spoke to me. They both cleaned up at the Oscars. This year, the only Oscar nominated movies I saw were WALL-E, Changeling (lukewarm on that one), and The Dark Knight. My favorite two movies for the year were Ironman and Dark Knight, and we see how they did.

Black audiences are a fickle bunch.
 
PerroneFord said:
But honestly, for every wacky Tyler Perry movie there are 5 Ben Stiller/Alicia Silverstone/Mike Myer's movies out there just as bad.
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I suppose so, it's just, every time crap like this makes so much money a little piece of me dies inside.
 
You can just as easily look at the box offices and see films like 'Mall Cop: Paul Bart' being the #1 grosser for two weeks in a row. Point being, bad movies make money, because ___________.
 
PerroneFord said:
I'm guessing you didn't see "How High" or "Soul Plane"...
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Soul plane was horrible. But "How High" still makes me laugh.

I am done trying to analyze what's crap and what isn't. Is a movie really wack if millions of people enjoy it? Is a movie really Great if millions of people enjoy it?

Tyler Perry is not to my taste. But "family reunion" made me laugh a few times and I sat through the whole thing. And Black people are not the only ones who go see Tyler Perry movies either. I wonder out of that $41 million how much of that was black money? also his story is an amazing one. To go from living in his car to entertainment mogul, is simply a good story. Oprah damn sure helps. Plus there are plenty of black folks, myself included who have people in their family that are similar to the characters he puts on stage and screen. Depending on your background many of us can relate to his movies. good or bad.

And there is nothing wrong with hood movies either. There is a place for everyone to tell any story they wish to tell. I though shottas was awful but almost all of my dudes think that movie is the sh!t. maybe I don't think there is any movie that has ever been made, black, white or whatever that have universal A+'s across the board. I have some respect for anything black I see in the theater, sitting on the shelves in blockbuster or Redbox, etc. Bad or not.

Just my 2.
 
PerroneFord said:
...people do NOT want to be challenged at the movies...
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Good answer :thumbup:


The the record of this thread, the best parody hood movie of all time is without a doubt
Don't be a Menace to South Central while Drinking your Juice in the Hood
 
filthrich said:
And there is nothing wrong with hood movies either. There is a place for everyone to tell any story they wish to tell. I though shottas was awful but almost all of my dudes think that movie is the sh!t. maybe I don't think there is any movie that has ever been made, black, white or whatever that have universal A+'s across the board. I have some respect for anything black I see in the theater, sitting on the shelves in blockbuster or Redbox, etc. Bad or not.

Just my 2.
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The thing with me is, I've done a gazillion promos for too many of these bottom of the barrel hood movies, so I've got a slightly different perspective. And I'm talking about movies that make Shottas look like a masterpiece.
 
Batutta said:
The thing with me is, I've done a gazillion promos for too many of these bottom of the barrel hood movies, so I've got a slightly different perspective. And I'm talking about movies that make Shottas look like a masterpiece.
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LMAO! Whoa. Whoa. A masterpiece?! oh man, You Win. I would love to see some of those.
 
At first I didn't understand how Madea made so much money either, but if you look up the movie user ratings on Yahoo or Rotten Tomatoes, you'll find that it get's high marks. Now, I haven't seen the movie, but the majority who have seen it really enjoy it. If you can make people laugh, you'll make money.

And I hear Tyler Perry is a good guy, and I'm all for good people being successful.

He's even gaining geek cred for appearing in the Star Trek movie.
 
some1shero said:
And I hear Tyler Perry is a good guy, and I'm all for good people being successful.

He's even gaining geek cred for appearing in the Star Trek movie.
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From what I understand, he is a good and decent chap. Maybe the movie is just funny. If this was a nice exception to the norm, good for him.


Star Trek? Oooooo, is he another black Vulcan? That would be kewl!
 
I honestly believe that much of what drives these numbers is how under-served the market is by filmmakers in general. There's a hunger for movies made by (and largely for) african-american audiences, just as there is for movies made by (and for) Christian audiences like Fireproof. That these movies do the numbers they do means, in my mind, that the market needs to be better served.

Part of that service is our responsibility and opportunity to make better movies for them.
 
One element of success for theatrical releases that can't be overlooked is... timing. A movie can get drowned in a sea of competition or catchy a lucky wave depending on the timing of its release.
 
Here in suriname African movies are a hit and I dont mean African Americans I mean real AFRIKA movies are a hit if its not about voodoo its about an angry blacksister.
I have to pu*e every time they show one on tv .Cause its worst then the once from indonesia. beautiflull women with really ugly short man .
Thank god Im a mix of white , really white , yellow and black.Thats french, german, indonesian and Surinamese african or is it the other way around :)

I went to help out this medicine doctor once , and he was wacthing one of those africanmovies . To return a favor he was willing to borrow me dvds from his best out of Africa movies . Which ofcourse was something he never did .
Let anybody thouch his collection.
It was one of those times that I just had to say No and feel good about myself.
Be happy with your Tyler Perry movies you dont know how good you got it until you see one of these handeld consumer , bathroom audio , AFRIKA movies.
 
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