Tyler Perry has achieved another milestone in his long list accomplishments. In the final film of his appropriately titled Tyler Perry’s Madea franchise, A Madea Family Funeral, reportedly brought in an astounding $1.1 million during its preview night. This makes A Madea Family Funeral the top grossing film out of all of Perry’s films and more than any other film of the series, as reported by Deadline.
The last and final Madea films rank number one ahead of Boo! A Madea Halloween which occupies second place with a take of $855, 000. According to projections, A Madea Family Funeral is set to earn $17 million-$21 million opening weekend.
In an interview on TODAY, Perry was asked about his decision to end the Madea series and why didn’t kill off his most famous character. He responded, “She doesn’t die. She’s a family member… to a lot of people. You can’t kill off a family member.”
Describing the creation of Madea in a 60 Minutes interview, Perry said, “She’s a strong figure where I come from. In my part of the African-American community,” he continued. “And I say that because I’m sure that there are some other parts of the African-American community that may be looking at me now going, ‘Who does he think he’s speaking of?’ But, for me, this woman was very, very visible.”
After riding the wave of Madea to unprecedented success, Perry confirmed that this will be the final curtain call for Madea.
“Listen, I’m turning 50 this year, I don’t want to be her age playing her, OK?” he told co-host Hoda Kotb and Craig Melvin in a recent interview. “It’s been a great run, the franchise has been amazing, and it’s done a lot of things for a lot of people, I think it’s time.”
Although the Madea character is coming to an end, we look forward to whatever else Tyler Perry has in store.
