Lionsgate Acquires Rights to Next Tyler Perry Film, Agrees to Be Home to Daddy's Little Girl
Third Film in Tyler Perry Franchise Set for February 2007 Release, Following in Footsteps of First Two Hits
SANTA MONICA, Calif., and VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 16 -- Fresh off the success of Tyler Perry's latest hit Madea's Family Reunion, which was number one at the North American box office for two consecutive weeks and has already grossed more than $55 million in domestic box office in its first 17 days of release, Lionsgate (NYSE:LGF) Toronto, the leading independent filmed entertainment studio, is keeping its Tyler Perry juggernaut rolling by acquiring worldwide rights to his next picture Daddy's Little Girl. The announcement was made today by Michael Paseornek, Lionsgate President of Production. The film will be written and directed by Perry with Perry and Reuben Cannon producing along with Lionsgate. The film is fast tracked for a June production start date with a theatrical release set for February 2007, following the successful release pattern for Tyler Perry's two previous hits for Lionsgate, Diary of a Mad Black Woman (February 2005) and Madea (February 2006).
In addition to achieving two straight number one box office hits, Tyler recently conquered the DVD charts as Lionsgate sold over six million copies of Diary and his stage plays combined. Perry is also nearing the end of his two-year tour with Madea Goes to Jail, the sold-out stage show he wrote, produced, scored and stars in nightly, even as another one of his productions, Meet the Browns, was touring nationally.
"It is clear that Tyler's audience is expanding with each new theatrical release," said Paseornek. "He has superb instincts for creating characters and themes with universal appeal, and we are delighted to continue building our Tyler Perry franchise and bringing it to a mainstream commercial audience worldwide. We believe that Daddy's Little Girl will be another commercially potent, richly rewarding addition to this franchise, and audiences will find his latest film as entertaining as the box office hits that Tyler has already created."
"I am so pleased to be working with Lionsgate once again," Perry said. "They have continuously proven their commitment to my film projects, as well as their expertise at innovative marketing and distribution campaigns time and time again. I am very proud and blessed to be able to bring another one of my scripts to the big screen for audiences worldwide."
Daddy's Little Girl is a heartfelt, reverse Cinderella ("Cindefella") tale about a young, beautiful and successful female attorney who falls in love with a single father of three daughters who works as a janitor in her office building. Despite her father's strong objections, love triumphs in the end. The deal was negotiated for Lionsgate by Paseornek and Peter Block, President of Acquisitions and Co-productions. Charles King of William Morris Agency and Matt Johnson of Ziffren Brittenham negotiated on behalf of Tyler Perry.
Next up for Tyler is conquering the book world, with his first title, Don't Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings: Madea's Uninhibited Commentaries on Life and Love, set for publication on April 11, 2006 by Riverdale/Penguin Books. With only the TV realm left uncharted, Perry is taking a bold step and has produced 10 episodes of "House of Payne" starring Allen Payne as a curmudgeonly fire chief -- which he is offering free to local stations in place of current syndicated programming.
