If anybody had a reason to doubt whether Tyler Perry has become one of the most bankable brands in all of movies, be skeptical no longer. The domestic dramedy maestro’s latest release, Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail, ran away with a big victory on the typically slow Academy Awards weekend, grossing a hefty $41.1 million, according to early estimates from Media by Numbers.
That opening sum is the biggest of all time for a Tyler Perry film, besting the $30 mil debut of 2006′s Madea’s Family Reunion. Too, it’s the top bow in the history of indie studio Lionsgate, improving upon all the Tyler Perry and Saw flicks that came before it. The movie’s per-theater average of $20,236 ranks in the top 40 for all wide openers ever. And, no surprise, Madea Goes to Jail achieved all this success with a solid A CinemaScore grade from a crowd that included mostly older women.
Second place went to Taken, which added another $11.4 mil to its four-week tally, bringing said total to $95.2 mil. Fellow strong holdover Coraline (No. 3) was next with $11 mil. He’s Just Not That Into You (No. 4) declined a sharp 56 percent to bank $8.5 mil on its third weekend. And Best Picture favorite Slumdog Millionaire rounded out the top five with $8.1 mil — a sum that brings its domestic total to $98 mil.
Reigning champ Friday the 13th suffered one of the biggest drops ever, a stunning 81 percent, to finish in sixth place with $7.8 mil. And this weekend’s other major new release, the cheerleader comedy Fired Up! (No. 9), grossed a weak-but-expected $6 mil. The film garnered an okay CinemaScore grade of B from a crowd comprised of mostly younger ladies.
Overall, the weekend was up nearly 30 percent over the same frame a year ago, when Vantage Point led the way. Eight of the past nine weekends have improved upon the previous year’s grosses.
And I’d be remiss if I didn’t take a quick peek at the main Oscar contenders, for whom the box office report is mixed headed into the ceremony. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button leads the way with $124.2 mil. The aforementioned Slumdog Millionaire should clear the $100 mil mark in the next several days, whether it wins the top prize or not. Then it’s a big jump down to Milk ($28.2 mil), The Reader ($23.2 mil), and Frost/Nixon ($17.4 mil). And let’s not forget multiple nominee The Dark Knight, which may not be up for Best Picture, but did finally become the fourth movie ever to cross the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office.
But, who’ll win? Check back on EW.com later today for all sorts of fun stuff — live blog posts, galleries, reports from the Kodak Theatre, and more — from Hollywood’s big night.
More Box Office News:
Box Office Preview: Tyler Perry takes on Oscar weekend
Friday the 13th slashes records
EW.com’s Box Office Chart
He’s Just Not That Into You gets lots of love
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I believe it. Sold out shows are the first clue. I’ll have to catch it next week. Congrats to Tyler Perry and cast.
Joshua, you cannot start a sentence with “Too.” It is gramatically incorrect and very annoying to read. Try other transitional phrases, like “In addition” or “Furthermore,” “Moreover,” “Further,” “Also,” etc. Thank you in advance.
Wow huge opening for tyler perry, lets all watch free movies on http://www.defSpot.com
Tyle Perry movies just keep going up and up
Congrats on a big open at the box office!
Hilarious movie, deserving
Im just susprised it made all this money wow.
Joshua – you really need to stop making predictions. As soon as I saw yours, I knew you were wrong. Do you do any research? Do have have any black friends (Madea) or women (He’s Just Not That Into You)? With a little thought, it seems you would have known the power of these two movies. Their successes were no-brainers. Their successes aren’t surprises They’re surprises to YOU. There were no doubts. Only to you. And obviously your editor if you have one. Be glad you have a job and please do it better.
When are YOU PEOPLE going to post only about movies you are familar with? Stop tying to put Tyler Perry into your * perdiction* BOX! You need to be fired!!! Do your homework, talk to his autdience. And guess what? Im not sure if you’d learn anything then.
Have a nice day
Cree
Great. More reason for Tyler Perry’s ego to continue to inflate. After seeing his rude behavior in press tours, I’ll be skipping this and every one of his other films.
I’m not going to this movie. Trailers depict racial violence towards blonds. Black violence towards blonds has kill ten of thousands in America since MLK. Stop the War brothers, you won right, or do you want me dead also.
This is almost as depressing as when Beverly Hills Chihuahua crossed the $100 million mark. The downfall of civilization as we know it.
WTF??? what the hell is wrong with America… i know Obama is black… but c’mon it does not mean we have to watch this garbage… its horrible…
How is Tyler’s behavior bad? He was pretty damn charming on “The View” last week. He is always there to employ African American actors in lead roles when studios want them in supporting ones. And his last 2 movies funny enough had 2 current Oscar nominees. Last year Taraji Henson. This year, Viola Davis. People who trash him have probably never seen his films and are hating blindly.
And no, the fall of civilization is not that people flock to certain light hearted films or films that don’t carry Awards Season prestige because they are seeking an escape from the gloomy recession. The downfall is how pretentious and cynical everyone has become. Everyone has a negative opinion about everything. Let people enjoy their movies. Let people escape through the multiplex. Stop being so self important.