Ms. M

I understand that a lot of people (especially white people) don't get Tyler Perry's style. But he gives his audience what they like to see and his films generally have positive messages so why put him down? It isn't like most of his audience would have gone to Michael Clayton instead.

I just saw Michael Clayton with my movie club. I enjoyed it but the others did not appreciate its admittedly stately (they said glacially slow) pace. It probably isn't a film destined for mass popularity.

wm lopez

It's a culture thing like not being taught manners by parents.

treszoks

I've never even heard of or seen a commercial for the #1 movie this week.

Michael T Hudson

I guess IMDB had not heard about the movie either.

Tight Race at Box Office Predicted
Box office analysts are having a tough time figuring out which film is likely to come out on top this weekend. Several figure that the George Clooney starrer Michael Clayton, which opened in limited release a week ago, is likely to take the lead this week, despite the fact that it is likely to see a significant drop in the major cities where it played. In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. distribution chief Dan Fellman said, "We have a very solid shot at (winning) the weekend, but it's certainly going to be a close race. I expect to be there at the finish line, but it's all up to the movie gods now." The strongest competition is likely to come from Sony's crime drama We Own the Night, starring Mark Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix. Elizabeth: The Golden Age, starring Cate Blanchett, is likely to draw an older crowd, while Disney's The Game Plan, which dropped only 28 percent last week, could also remain among the top contenders.

PacMan2006

I see what you're saying, but it's not like this movie was "Soul Plane" or some utterly stereotypical black movie that shows blacks in a poor light.

Instead of him having to comform to a white audience, I would pose this question: Why can't white audiences just accept a movie with an African-American cast for what it is and enjoy it? Now, if you don't like the writing or plot, then that's fine. But it almost seems like you are saying that black writers and directors can't make movies they feel are significant and authentic to their own experiences because white people can't and won't appreciate them.

DeanoBKN

If I was in that theatre that the article talked about, I would have walked out and requested a refund

A-aron

that, Sir, is sig-worthy

shoppingbear

My fiance and I (both of us white) went, because we saw it as a movie about marriage and relationships. We loved it. We thought it was funny, honest, relevant, and truthful, something a lot of romantic comedies fail to pull off (ever notice how many romantic comedies either ring true, OR they're funny, but not both?).

Honestly, neither of us had ever seen a Tyler Perry movie before, nor had I read much about him, so maybe we didn't go into it with expectations (including expecting to hate it because he made it). It was what we thought it was: an interesting movie about relationships in general, not "black relationships" or "white relationships".


Exactly. It's not a bad movie just because it has his name attached or an all black cast.

One interesting thing: we were literally the only white people in a half-full late-night showing. I wonder how many white people passed on this movie because they assumed it was only relevant to black people?

PopcornTreeCt

Blame it on Halo 3

http://us.i1.yimg.com/videogames.yah...e-take-/534234

Halo 3 hurting box office take?
Is video game blockbuster to blame for movies' box office shortfall?

By Mike Smith

Could the release of Halo 3 be behind October's underperforming box office numbers? That's the suggestion made by industry journal Advertising Age. In a Monday article, the publication linked Ben Stiller flick The Heartbreak Kid's disappointing first-weekend take of $14 million to the release of Halo 3 the previous week.

September 25, Halo 3's launch day, saw the game haul in a gargantuan $170 million, more than doubling the October 6-7 weekend's total box office take of $80 million -- the lowest October weekend since 1999. According to Advertising Age, execs at Paramount are investigating the possibility of a correlation.

Ben Stiller's next movie, an adaptation of Scott Smith horror bestseller The Ruins, is due to release on April 4, 2008. Cruelly, this stands a significant chance of sharing the stage with what's expected to be the biggest video game release of next year: Grand Theft Auto 4.

Rypro 525

also, that halo 3 costs about 60 bucks, and that there was nothing worth seeing that week anyways.

DeanoBKN

Excuses perhaps?

Giantrobo

I fuckin' knew the "Weekend BO thread" would be filled with confused mean spirited Tyler Perry Haters who don't get him or his movies as soon as I heard his movie was #1.

For the record, I've never seen any of his films and don't plan on seeing any. but how hard is it to understand? It's a very simple formula...you give people movies they can relate too and that speak to them on some level and they'll spend their money.

Jackskeleton

I'm not sure it's just "haters" more so than the fact that it seemed like this film came out of nowhere. The advertising for it, compared to the other films coming out was very small and really not even in the same ballpark.

So it's more of a surprise that a film could come out of the shadows like this and over take the competition when no one really even realized it was coming out.

Iron Chef

MICHAEL CLAYTON

B5Erik

As I noted on the movie thread, We Own the Night came in at #1 in San Diego for the weekend.

I thought that was interesting since it's a pretty significant discrepancy over the nationwide numbers.

paradicelost

Didn't Ebert get called a racist for giving a Tyler Perry movie a bad review. I don't if it went that far, but he got a lot of hatemail if remember correctly.

fumanstan

I think that's been the case with all of Tyler Perry's movies. When the first one came out (forget which one, Diary of a Mad Black Woman?) it made a lot of money on the first week and I had absolutely no idea who Tyler Perry was or heard of his work. Now his name is known for these sort of movies, and people are still surprised.

fitprod

I need to dig around to find some regional breakdowns on how this film did...

fitprod

d2cheer

I don't get the hate for Perry either, I have seen all of his movies and enjoyed every one of them and I am white as well. Sure they may follow a familiar story but that does not mean they can't be entertaining. I don't really relate to them at all but find them interesting. That is all I expect out of a movie.

The Bus

I don't get the hate for Perry, especially this movie where he doesn't dress up as an overweight sassy grandmother. At least give him that.