“Madea’s Big Happy Family” Tops Box Office

“Madea’s Big Happy Family,” the latest release from the prolific filmmaker-writer-actor, is expected to gross about $30 million, according to people who have seen pre-release audience surveys. “Water for Elephants,” a romantic drama based on Sara Gruen’s bestselling novel about a Great Depression-era traveling circus, should trail with about $15 million. The weekend’s other new wide release, “African Cats,” an animal documentary featuring lions and cheetahs, will probably sell about $7 million worth of tickets.

But all of the new releases will face competition from last weekend’s top movie, the 3-D animated “Rio.” The cartoon about birds on a Brazilian adventure has been performing well over the week, probably because many children are still on spring break. On Wednesday alone, it collected $3.6 million — and the movie’s domestic total heading into the weekend stands at just over $50 million. By the end of this weekend, “Rio” should add at least $20 million more to its take.

Tyler Perry’s new film is the fourth featuring Madea — the sassy, plus-size grandmother played by the actor-filmmaker — as a protagonist. His first Madea film, “Diary of a Mad Black Woman,” opened in February 2005 to $21.9 million and wound up with $50.6 million domestically. The Madea movies have only risen in popularity since: “Madea’s Family Reunion” opened in 2006 to $30 million and finished with $63.3 million, while “Madea Goes to Jail” premiered in 2009 with $41 million and went on to gross a total of $90.5 million. All three previous films about Madea opened in February, but Perry’s ensemble drama “Why Did I Get Married Too?” debuted on Easter weekend last year to $29.3 million — his biggest opening for a movie not starring the popular character.

“Madea’s Big Happy Family” cost Lionsgate about $25 million to produce, meaning that if projections are correct, it should be off to a good start financially. However, the opening weekend will be especially important for the film, because its core audience of older African American women typically rush out to see Perry’s new movies when they debut.