Tyler Perry: It’s hard getting my movies in white theaters.

Tyler Perry: It's hard getting my movies in white theaters.

Tyler Perry

Tyler Perry: It’s hard getting my movies in white theaters.

Despite making a serious killing at the box office, Tyler Perry still has challenges when it comes to showing his films.

In a new interview, the director and actor revealed that often times it’s hard for him to get his film shown in white areas of the country. He says,

I still have issues getting screens in white neighborhoods believe it or not.

His latest film, “Boo! A Madea Halloween,” landed number one over the weekend at the box office.

Tyler Perry: It's hard getting my movies in white theaters.

He says that it could have done even better if it were shown in white neighborhoods.

I think the numbers could have been bigger had people who are in the white suburbs had the option to go to their own theaters to see it. It’s something I’ve been dealing with for many many years.

Perry is an American actor, producer, director, screenwriter, playwright, author, and songwriter, specializing in the gospel genre. He wrote and produced many stage plays during the 1990s and early 2000s.

Tyler Perry: It's hard getting my movies in white theaters.

Perry is known for both creating and performing as the Madea character, a tough elderly black woman. Perry also creates films, some produced as live recordings of stage plays, and others professionally filmed using full sets and locations with full editing. Perry is estimated to have earned around US$75 million by 2008. Many of Perry’s stage-play films have been subsequently adapted as professional films.

Perry has also created several television shows, his most successful of which is Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, a show that ran for eight seasons on TBS from June 21, 2006, to August 10, 2012.

Tyler Perry: It's hard getting my movies in white theaters.

Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry

In 2012, Perry struck an exclusive multi-year partnership with Oprah Winfrey and her Oprah Winfrey Network. The partnership was largely for the purposes of bringing scripted television to the OWN network, Perry having had previous success in this department. Perry has created multiple scripted series for the network, the most successful being The Haves and the Have Nots. As of 2014, The Haves and the Have Nots has given OWN its highest ratings to date.

Are you surprised that some white neighborhoods won’t show Tyler Perry’s movies? 

Follow us: @theJasmineBRAND on Twitter | theJasmineBRAND on Facebook| theJasmineBRAND_ on Instagram

Authored by: TJB Writer