Madea's Family Reunion

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Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion

Theatrical Release Poster
Directed by Tyler Perry
Produced by Michael Paseornek
Peter Block
Tyler Perry
Written by Tyler Perry
Starring Tyler Perry
Blair Underwood
Lynn Whitfield
Boris Kodjoe
Henry Simmons
Lisa Arrindell Anderson
Maya Angelou
Rochelle Aytes
Jenifer Lewis
Tangi Miller
Keke Palmer
Cicely Tyson
Johnny Gill
Cassi Davis
Distributed by Lionsgate
Release date(s) February 24, 2006
Budget $6 million
Gross revenue $63,308,879
Preceded by Diary of a Mad Black Woman
Followed by Meet the Browns

Madea's Family Reunion is a film adaptation of the stage production of the same name written by Tyler Perry and sequel to Diary of a Mad Black Woman. It was written and directed by Perry and features him playing several characters, including Mabel "Madea" Simmons. It was released on February 24, 2006. The independent film was produced by Lionsgate.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The southern matriarch Madea (Tyler Perry) Mabel 'Madea' Simmons may have finally taken on more than she can chew. She has just been court ordered to take care of Nikki (Keke Palmer), a rebellious runaway, who has been in foster care most of her life. Madea is also planning a family reunion. Her niece Lisa is getting married to one of the most eligible bachelors in Atlanta, Carlos (Blair Underwood), but Lisa's fiance has been abusing her since their engagement. Lisa's sister Vanessa, who has two young children and has had trouble trusting men, is starting to fall in love with Frankie (Boris Kodjoe), a bus driver.

Vanessa is staying in Madea's house under the condition of paying rent in exchange for room & board and watching her kids. Vanessa has never had a healthy relationship with her mother, Victoria (Lynn Whitfield). Yet, Lisa has always been close to Vanessa and her kids. Frankie continues to ask Vanessa out and, after many advances, she accepts a date. Vanessa suspects that he is just like the other men she has dated until he reveals that he is a single father with a 5 year old son and is an artist when away from his job. Vanessa is attracted by this as she is a poet and also has children. He takes her to a local poetry lounge where he signs them up to participate. Surprised, she recites one of her poems while Frankie paints a picture inspired by the poem on stage. After many dates with Frankie, Vanessa begins to trust Frankie with her kids. Meanwhile, Lisa tries to leave her fiance but is caught. Carlos threatens to drop her from the balcony if she doesn't say that she will stay. Lisa tells him she will stay.

One night when Lisa is visiting Vanessa and Madea, Lisa reveals to Vanessa that Carlos is beating her. Following Vanessa's advice, Lisa stays at Madea's house for the next few days. After a week, Victoria comes by to pick up Lisa unannounced. Vanessa takes charge and refuses to let Lisa leave with Victoria until Victoria tells Lisa the "truth". Vanessa reveals that when she was a child, Victoria let Lisa's father rape Vanessa. Also, she reveals that Victoria set Lisa up with Carlos in exchange for his money. She orders Lisa that to marry Carlos in order to take care of her mother. Lisa feels controlled by her mother, but decides to leave with her and return home. After weeks of planning for the wedding, a fight at the family reunion Madea is hosting, and days of beatings, it is time for the wedding.

The day of the wedding, Lisa is trying to hide at Madea's. Carlos arrives and Madea leaves the house with Joe and Nikki for the church. Madea previously advised Lisa to fight back and leaves a pot of boiling hot grits on the stove intentionally. Carlos hits Lisa and she fights back by throwing the grits on him and beating him with a frying pan. She drives to the church with Vanessa and announces that Carlos has been beating her since they were engaged. Frankie then impulsively proposes to Vanessa and they are married instead. Victoria finally apologizes to her daughters for all the pain she caused them.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Soundtrack

The soundtrack was released by Atlantic Records on February 21, 2006.

Soundtrack listing:

[edit] Box office

  • Budget: $6 million
  • Box Office Receipts: $63.3 million

Small independent filmmaker Tyler Perry has garnered one of the highest wide-release openings to date in 2006, in both gross ($30 million) and screen average ($13,687).[1]

"The number one movie is Madea's Family Reunion, a small comedy/melodrama which grossed an astounding $30.3 million from 2,194 venues. It had a super-hot venue average of $13,787...."[2]

"Playing at 2,194 locations across North America, the film averaged a remarkable estimated $13,788 per screen, demonstrating the enormous breadth and depth of Perry's audience. The debut weekend of Madea's Family Reunion outperformed the opening weekend of Lionsgate's first Tyler Perry film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, by nearly 40 percent."[3]

The reasoning for the film's relative success,[4] according to Steve Rothenberg, Lions Gate president of domestic distribution, is due to its targeted market appeal, "I believe that we're in all the right theaters...I'm not sure there's much room for expansion."[5] To illustrate the point, Lions Gate exit polls[5] showed 52 percent of the audience were black women over the age of 35.

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?view2=opening&yr=2006&p=.htm
  2. ^ http://www.boxofficeprophets.com/column/index.cfm?columnID=9450
  3. ^ http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060226/nysu016.html?.v=39
  4. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2006&wknd=08&p=.htm
  5. ^ a b http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2013&p=.htm

[edit] External links


v • d • e
Tyler Perry
Stage
Film
Television
Books
Don't Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings: Madea's Uninhibited Commentaries on Love and Life
See also
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madea%27s_Family_Reunion"