Tyler Perry

Tyler Perry, who often appears in drag as the gun-toting grandmother Madea in his movies, will adapt the 1975 groundbreaking play "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf" for the big screen. Perry will produce, write and direct the film for Lionsgate, which plans to release the movie next year. The Obie-winning play by Ntozake Shange is structured as a series of poems spoken by female characters, addressing issues of love, abandonment, rape and abortion.

'Tyler Perry's Good Deeds' Rating: PG-13 for some violence, sexual content, language and thematic material Running time: 1 hour, 51 minutes Playing: In general release

Aaron McGruder of "The Boondocks" and Tyler Perry of "Meet the Browns" and TBS' "House of Payne" are unlikely allies, but they have a common link. Both are the key creative forces behind some of Turner Broadcasting's popular hits. Still, executives for the broadcaster, which owns both TBS and the Cartoon Network (home to "Boondocks"), might be wise not to sit the two men together at the same table during the next company picnic. The latest episode of "The Boondocks," the satirical animated TV series that airs on the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim slate, takes brutal aim at Perry and his brand, which blends melodrama, raucous comedy and religious themes.

Even as Tyler Perry the industry grows more and more stable and certain, reliably putting out cost-effective cultural products across a number of platforms, Tyler Perry the filmmaker remains a work in progress. There is still something both oddly thrilling and endlessly frustrating about his work as writer, director and performer. When Perry sets films within the universe of broad tones steered by his signature character of Madea, veering madly from comedy to melodrama, he seems more sure-footed than when he makes films set ostensibly in the genuine contemporary here and now. In "Tyler Perry's Good Deeds" he plays, indeed, a character named Wesley Deeds III who learns how to be genuinely good.

This week I was asked to speak at an evening program at a local temple on the ever-popular topic of "Jews in Hollywood." I brought along a true Hollywood Jew, Sony Pictures' Amy Pascal, who spoke quite eloquently and insightfully about her faith and how it's sometimes tested by her job.

Perry wedded to success Tyler Perry is doing just fine without 3-D, thank you. The writer, director and producer's latest effort, "Why Did I Get Married Too?," took in a most impressive $30.1 million in its first weekend. The sequel to his 2007 hit "Why Did I Get Married?" not only beat the opening of that movie by almost $10 million, but it was also Perry's biggest start for a movie that didn't feature his Madea character. With nine hits in the last five years, none of this should come as a surprise.

Even as Tyler Perry the industry grows more and more stable and certain, reliably putting out cost-effective cultural products across a number of platforms, Tyler Perry the filmmaker remains a work in progress. There is still something both oddly thrilling and endlessly frustrating about his work as writer, director and performer. When Perry sets films within the universe of broad tones steered by his signature character of Madea, veering madly from comedy to melodrama, he seems more sure-footed than when he makes films set ostensibly in the genuine contemporary here and now. In "Tyler Perry's Good Deeds" he plays, indeed, a character named Wesley Deeds III who learns how to be genuinely good.

Los Angeles theater producer Gary Levingston calls "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf" one of the most transcendent works of the American stage. Ntozake Shange's 1970s play about the struggles of several black women is "life-changing and life-saving," said Levingston, who has brought two stagings of the play to life in the last two years. Although Levingston has nothing but praise for Shange, he is notably more reserved about Tyler Perry, Hollywood's most commercially successful and controversial independent black filmmaker.

Lionsgate has renewed its movie and home entertainment agreement with its most prolific supplier, filmmaker and actor Tyler Perry. The new contract keeps Perry, whose films such as "Madea Goes to Jail" and "Why Did I Get Married?" are hugely popular with African American women, in business with the Santa Monica studio for three more years. Over the last six years, Lionsgate has released 10 movies produced by Perry. Since his debut in 2005 with "Diary of a Mad Black Woman," Perry's films have grossed an average of $52 million domestically, although they typically take in very little overseas.

The films (and videos and plays and book and television show) created by Tyler Perry have always been first and foremost about brand formation and management more so than any conventional notion of cultivating an artistic voice.

A roundup of entertainment headlines for Thursday. Tyler Perry addresses his fans regarding outrage over casting Kim Kardashian: "YOU HAVE BEEN HEARD!! ...LOL. " ( TylerPerry.com ) Ricky Gervais will be returning to trash Hollywood's elite for January's Golden Globe Awards. ( Los Angeles Times ) But the excitement of his return isn't shared by all. ( Los Angeles Times ) Today, Jimmy Kimmel celebrates National Unfriend Day. Will it rival Thanksgiving one day?

A roundup of entertainment headlines for Tuesday: Kim Kardashian lands a role in the new Tyler Perry film "The Marriage Counselor. " ( Los Angeles Times ) Kelly Clarkson says she's never been in love. ( USA Today ) Is the third time a charm for Robin Williams? The funnyman ties the knot in Napa with graphic designer Susan Schneider. ( Los Angeles Times ) Coming up this week on "South Park": Stan's parents go to Broadway to take in the musical "Wicked.

A roundup of entertainment headlines for Tuesday: Tyler Perry and Jerry Bruckheimer are the top-paid men in entertainment, according to Forbes. ( Forbes ) Paul McCartney is honored as the 2012 MusiCares person of the year. ( Los Angeles Times ) Selena Gomez has Justin Bieber's name inked on her wrist. But don't worry. The tat's a fake. ( E! ) Meanwhile, the Biebster says he wants to be a young dad. ( Women's Wear Daily ) Miss Angola takes the Miss Universe crown, beating out 88 other beauty queens from around the globe.

'Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family' MPAA rating: PG-13 for drug content, language and some mature thematic material Running time: 1 hour, 46 minutes Playing: In general release

Lionsgate has renewed its movie and home entertainment agreement with its most prolific supplier, filmmaker and actor Tyler Perry. The new contract keeps Perry, whose films such as "Madea Goes to Jail" and "Why Did I Get Married?" are hugely popular with African American women, in business with the Santa Monica studio for three more years. Over the last six years, Lionsgate has released 10 movies produced by Perry. Since his debut in 2005 with "Diary of a Mad Black Woman," Perry's films have grossed an average of $52 million domestically, although they typically take in very little overseas.

The NAACP Image Awards' love for writer-director-producer-star Tyler Perry continues to flourish. Perry, his movies and TV series garnered 19 nominations Wednesday morning for the 42nd annual awards. Two of his features ? "For Colored Girls" and "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too?" ? were nominated for best film of 2010. Janet Jackson was nominated for actress and Jill Scott for supporting actress for "Why Did I Get Married Too?," and Michael Ealy for supporting actor and Anika Noni Rose, Kimberly Elise, Phylicia Rashad and Whoopi Goldberg for supporting actress in "For Colored Girls.

Here's what filmmaker Tyler Perry does well: features characters not traditionally seen in movies. Here's where he could use help: toning down grossly over-the-top dramatics. In "Why Did I Get Married?" he tackles the all-too-familiar terrain of the ups and downs of matrimony, introducing us to eight married friends (he plays one of them) who met while they were undergraduates at a historically black college.

You could talk about: John Cusack grows up even more. Like most women of our generation who spent years renting "Better Off Dead" every other weekend, we have always loved John. We loved him in his high school phase ("One Crazy Summer," "Say Anything"). We loved him when he played dark loners ("Grosse Pointe Blank," "Pushing Tin"), and we think we're going to love him in his third phase: parental figure. This fall he plays a dad in two films: "Grace Is Gone" (sad) and "Martian Child" (spooky).

"For Colored Girls" is not easy. Its poetry is hot and searing, its story an unbroken current of rage and pain and sex and abuse and solidarity and self and empowerment. Nine women ? in screams, whispers and weeping ? demand that you listen, that you don't look away, that you deal with the discomfort as they did. It is a film destined to polarize. Many will hate it. Hopefully more will love it, or at least allow room for it, for its raw brutality, its extremes, its difficult truths.