This time three years ago, Tyler Perry was gearing-up to release what he thought was his final Madea movie ever, “A Madea Family Funeral”. It opened to a $27 million weekend from March 1-3, 2019 and grossed $73 million total in North America — a very respectable big screen sendoff for the iconic character.
But when the pandemic hit, Perry realized that people needed laughter, joy and positivity more than ever. So he brought Madea back from the dead (though, to be clear, Madea didn’t actually die in “A Madea Family Funeral”). But a Lionsgate theatrical play wasn’t in the cards this time, as Perry’s primary film distribution focus has shifted to Netflix.
The streamer will debut “A Madea Homecoming” this Friday Feb. 25. It’s also the home of an upcoming dramatic film directed by Perry called “A Jazzman’s Blues”, which will premiere later this year.
In between the “Madea” installments, Perry kept himself quite busy. He wrote, directed, produced and acted in thriller “A Fall From Grace” (also on Netflix) and played a talk show host alongside Cate Blanchett in Adam McKay’s “Don’t Look Up” (Netflix again). Perry previously played the late Colin Powell in McKay’s 2018 “Vice”.
Perry also had a walk-on role in the Angelina Jolie action film “Those Who Wish Me Dead” and lent his voice to a truck driver in the opening sequence of “Paw Patrol: The Movie”. As he recently mentioned on “Good Morning America”, “Paw Patrol” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows” are the only films he’s been in that he’s shown his young son. “He’ll get to meet Madea when he’s about 30.”
Perry has also done an incredible amount of work for the cast and crew of his TV shows at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, GA — especially during this COVID era over the past two years. His contributions to the entertainment industry and the American people have not gone unnoticed, as Perry received the Governors Primetime Emmy Award and the Humanitarian Academy Award within a seven-and-a-half-month period (Sept. 2020 and April 2021).
His speeches were the highlights of those awards shows. He told meaningful stories and advocated for kindness, fair judgment, hard work, diversity and to refuse hate. On Oscar night Perry asked everyone to, “Stand in the middle. That’s where he healing happens. That’s where conversation happens. There’s where change happens. It happens in the middle.”
Perry is an inspiration to performers, producers, business owners, content creators and those just looking to do good in this world. As Mark Wahlberg said on “GMA” just minutes after Perry’s appearance, “Tyler has been a huge influence on me. I actually just financed my first film. Tyler owns all of his intellectual property. He’s been an absolute trailblazer in that way. So I’ve learned a lot from him and… I’m gonna continue to pick his brain and follow in his footsteps. He’s amazing.”