Tyler Perry’s recent film, Boo! A Madea Halloween, crushed it at the box office, but the actor and director says he still struggles to get White audiences to see his films.
“I still have issues getting screens in white neighborhoods believe it or not,” he told The Wrap.
Over the weekend, Boo! A Madea Halloween beat Tom Cruise’s Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, even though Cruise’s film appeared on more screens.
But Perry thinks the film could have done better.
“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,” he said.
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Still, the demographic for Perry’s latest film shows that the audience is becoming a little more diverse. Sixty percent of Boo! A Madea Halloween‘s audience was Black, compared to the usual 80-90 percent.
The other 40 percent of the film’s audience was Caucasian, Latino, and Asian. The film also over-performed and made about $10 million more than expected.
While Perry thinks the number could have been better, he’s happy to see his audience growing.
“I think that it’s just broadening on its own organically, which is really amazing,” he said. Perry plans to take his next film global and says it will have “more international appeal.”