Brian Damage
02-18-2008, 11:52 PM
NEW YORK -- Tyler Perry is turning Madea into a cartoon.
The multihyphenate has teamed up with animation company Exodus Film Group to adapt one of his flagship characters for an animated series.
Perry will create, write and exec produce an undetermined number of 22-minute standalone episodes of the series. Perry, who conceived of the idea with William Morris' Charles King and Exodus' Jerome Williams, will produce along with Williams and Exodus' John Eraklis and Max Howard, with Exodus financing. Perry is attached to voice Madea.
The untitled project has not yet sought distribution; it could go to a television network, to DVD, or to both.
Perry had previously adapted his plays about Mabel "Madea" Simmons, known for her hard-bitten wisdom about family and life, with movies such as "Madea's Family Reunion" and "Diary of a Mad Black Woman," all of which earned at least $50 million at the boxoffice. The next Madea feature, "Meet the Browns," will be out next month from Lionsgate.
He also has written for television with the current TBS series "Tyler Perry's House of Payne."
Perry, who has never written an animated project before, said his goal was to take the more adult-themed Madea and gear it toward younger viewers. "A lot of the plays were not kid-friendly ... I wanted to do something more appropriate and this seems to be it," he said.
Exodus is teaming with studios on a number of film projects, including the John Cusack- and John Cleese-voiced "Igor" with the Weinstein Co. and "The Hero of Color City," which Magnolia is distributing.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3ifd9d309a05210550b8dfd25d10f0e420
The multihyphenate has teamed up with animation company Exodus Film Group to adapt one of his flagship characters for an animated series.
Perry will create, write and exec produce an undetermined number of 22-minute standalone episodes of the series. Perry, who conceived of the idea with William Morris' Charles King and Exodus' Jerome Williams, will produce along with Williams and Exodus' John Eraklis and Max Howard, with Exodus financing. Perry is attached to voice Madea.
The untitled project has not yet sought distribution; it could go to a television network, to DVD, or to both.
Perry had previously adapted his plays about Mabel "Madea" Simmons, known for her hard-bitten wisdom about family and life, with movies such as "Madea's Family Reunion" and "Diary of a Mad Black Woman," all of which earned at least $50 million at the boxoffice. The next Madea feature, "Meet the Browns," will be out next month from Lionsgate.
He also has written for television with the current TBS series "Tyler Perry's House of Payne."
Perry, who has never written an animated project before, said his goal was to take the more adult-themed Madea and gear it toward younger viewers. "A lot of the plays were not kid-friendly ... I wanted to do something more appropriate and this seems to be it," he said.
Exodus is teaming with studios on a number of film projects, including the John Cusack- and John Cleese-voiced "Igor" with the Weinstein Co. and "The Hero of Color City," which Magnolia is distributing.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3ifd9d309a05210550b8dfd25d10f0e420