the buzz log
Buzz Multiplex: Measure of a Man As a Woman
You'd be forgiven if you thought Tyler Perry was a winter holiday. Every year, with clockwork regularity, a Perry movie draws in millions of box office dollars. The Guardian, just a pond-leap from Hollywood, dubbed him "Lionsgate's Most Valuable Player." Mr. Perry should prove he's the studio moneymaker again with "Madea Goes to Jail," another stage-to-film project.
For those who haven't caught up with the Kingdom of Perry (and missed Buzz reports on him in 2007 and in March and September of 2008), peruse these five (plus) factoids...
- Perry of course plays larger-than-life matriarch Mabel "Madea" Simmons (and she's large partly because Perry's 6-foot-5). The character blends his mom Maxine's wisdom and aunty Mayola's persona and gun. (The Atlanta Journal Constitution points out that Madea's a typical Southern endearment for grandmoms, short for "Mother Dear.")
- He has three successful projects out in three different mediums: television ("House of Payne"), film ("Madea Goes to Jail," tracking in the top 5,000 searches on Yahoo! this week), and stage ("The Marriage Counselor"). Hollywood Reporter calls him "one of the biggest theater draws in the country." Oh, his book—still on sale.
- Once a wristcutter to get away from his abusive father, Perry ultimately turned to religion as a salve.
- The former bill collector and homeless man could probably pay off a bunch of bills, after grossing $130 million in 2007, although he's having billing tiffs with contractors over his new house and Tyler Perry Studios, which opened in October.
- Besides email communications, Perry pays attention to his message board to see how much his audiences will let him get away with.
How does Perry measure up as a woman, by the way? Entertainment Weekly's slideshow "Cross-dressed to Kill" shows how tough it can be to be a man in a woman's world.
Filed under: Movies, Celebrities, Directors, Tyler Perry
Buzz Multiplex: The Women Burn
Three tepid openings made for a five-year box-office low last weekend, but the All-Stars have returned. Will the Coen Brothers set the Buzz Multiplex afire with criminal quirk? Can Tyler Perry bring out the faithful? Or will Meg Ryan and her all-female posse show that 2008 is truly the year of the woman... at least on the big screen?
1. "The Women" (PG-13). Nearly 70 years separates the original 1939 vehicle and this remake, yet an all-female cast still seems bold in 21st-century Hollywood. While the comedy doesn't pull in superhero numbers, it is among the top 5,000 searches this week buoyed by a 82% female majority. Lead Meg Ryan reprises the Norma Shearer role as a happily married, successful woman ... until she finds out her husband may have a distraction in the form of Eva Mendes (taking the role played by, oh yes, Joan Crawford). Mendes has more than her fair share of Web interest, but Ryan as well as Annette Bening, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Debra Messing, Candice Bergen, and Cloris Leachman are getting a nice online embrace, as well.
2. "Burn After Reading" (R). Brad Pitt's joy in doing a Coen Brothers project dampened a bit after finding his tailored character was an idjit, but a CB movie is still a CB movie. "Burn," with only slightly fewer searches than "The Women," actually has wider geographic appeal. The comedy pairs Pitt with "Fargo" favorite Frances McDormand as dumb-jock fitness trainers blackmailing former CIA analyst John Malkovich. George Clooney pulls in some Search love as a philanderer noodling with Tilda Swinton as the analyst's wife. This is the kind of film that people actually seek out reviews for, and so far the New York Observer critic (admittedly only favoring two CB movies) calls it "willfully awful," whereas Rolling Stone calls the post-"No Country" release as "wildly funny, but just as wildly uneven." NYT identifies the problem as a heartlessly comic landscape, in which Pitt proves one of the "saving graces."
3. "Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys" (PG-13). Another auteur project, the melodrama with the horror-film title looks at the respective families of best pals, played by Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard. The buzz, though, circulates around Sanaa Lathan, with Cole Hauser providing the male eye candy. "Family" may be the first Perry effort to feature a white lead, but the real story—as TimeOut New York reveals—is his continued emphasis on strong women. The strategy works, as Web interest breaks down along the same gender lines as "The Women."
Others sought out on the Buzz Marquee... "Righteous Kill" (R) generates Search sparks with nuclear powerhouses Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino, but bad reviews could do them in, even with 50 Cent in the mix... The coming-of-age tale of an Arab-American teen has launched search buzz up 665% Limited release for "Towelhead" ... Sundance prize-winner documentary "Flow" takes its investigation about the nation's water supplies only to New York and Los Angeles this week, but its buzz is strong.
Filed under: Movies, Women, Brad Pitt, Tyler Perry
Buzz Multiplex: Meet Tyler Perry
In this week's three most-searched premieres, crowd-pleasing producer/directors like Judd Apatow and Tyler Perry are the ones getting their names on the Buzz marquee. Normally all other comers should just bow down and hope for matinee attendance with Perry around, but surprise buzz for an immigration tale of a boy in search of his mother has been challenging his dominance.
1. "Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns" (PG-13). A single dad got another shot at love in Perry's last celluloid outing. This time around, delicious Angela Bassett (+41%) plays a single mom meeting her paternal kin for the first time. Perry built the film specifically around Bassett, and also brought back his grandma Madea character. While Perry outdraws Basset in online popularity, neither can match cast member Sofia Vergara's appeal. The family movie of the week should see lines forming largely in the Eastern half of the United States.
2. "Under the Same Moon" (PG-13, limited release). This small sentimental film about a 9-year-old Mexican boy who gets himself smuggled into the U.S. to find his mother carries huge political undercurrents. That—and a cameo by America Ferrera ("Ugly Betty")—may explain the surprisingly hefty online attention. The film is up nearly 200% and trails "Meet the Browns" by just a few hundred searches. The limited release has drawn interest from all over, with California, Texas, Illinois, Nevada, and Arizona leading the state searches. Another surprise: While ages 13-54 have been interested, teens make up nearly a quarter of the film's lookups.
3. "Drillbit Taylor" (PG-13). The first film to roll off the Judd Apatow-Seth Rogen production powerhouse may fall with a thud into the DVD bin, given the search stupor. Three hounded high school freshmen employ a homeless, self-proclaimed vet as their bodyguard, played by Owen Wilson. The kinder, gentler MPAA rating may let teen searchers (11%) buy tickets, but scrubbing out what MTV calls Apatow/Rogen's signature "avant vulgarity" might've dampened overall interest.
Filed under: Movies, Owen Wilson, Tyler Perry
top movers
| Rank | Subject | 1-Day Move |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nidal Malik Hasan | Breakout! |
| 2 | Fort Hood Shooting | Breakout! |
| 3 | Tyrannosaurus Rex | Breakout! |
| 4 | Fort Hood | 43518% |
| 5 | Tropical Storm Ida | 4377% |
| 6 | Willie Aames | 3325% |
| 7 | Shannon Dedrick | 3299% |
| 8 | Gretchen Rossi | 2702% |
| 9 | Epic Mickey | 2583% |
| 10 | Lee Harvey Oswald | 1907% |
top leaders
| Rank | Subject | Move | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Danica Patrick | +194 | 207 |
| 2 | Fort Hood | +185 | 185 |
| 3 | Angelina Jolie | +114 | 164 |
| 4 | Rihanna | +39 | 157 |
| 5 | New York Yankees | +54 | 154 |
| 6 | Alicia Keys | +139 | 153 |
| 7 | +1 | 153 | |
| 8 | NFL | +6 | 138 |
what's the buzz?
A subject's buzz score is the percentage of Yahoo! users searching for that subject on a given day, multiplied by a constant to make the number easier to read. Weekly leaders are the subjects with the greatest average buzz score for a given week.
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