Tyler Perry Partners with TD Jacks to Expand the Tyler Perry Studios with Theaters, Retail and More
Style Magazine Newswire | 6/25/2021, 12:45 p.m.
Tyler Perry Studios is about to get bigger. According to Deadline, Tyler Perry and Bishop T.D. Jakes got the greenlight from Atlanta authorities to purchase over 130 acres for a proposed expansion of Tyler Perry Studios. The expansion is designed to be an entertainment district with theaters, retail shops and restaurants.
Perry will acquire 37 acres adjacent to his current Tyler Perry Studios. This is in addition to the more than 330 acres he purchased in 2015. It’s currently already larger than Warner Bros and Paramount Studios combined, making it one of the biggest production facilities in the country.
Jakes, who is also a filmmaker and author, is buying 94 acres. Both purchases were approved by the Fort Mac LRA Board (McPherson Implementing Local Redevelopment Authority). The organization is overseeing the land, which is a reuse of a 145- acre former military base site in southwest Atlanta.
“Today is a good day. I’m grateful for the opportunity this gives Tyler Perry Studios to extend our footprint in Atlanta and create more opportunities for the people of Southwest Atlanta with restaurants, entertainment venues, and other business opportunities,” Perry said in a statement.
”I’m looking forward to collaborating with my friend T.D. Jakes on his separate but adjacent project and I also want to thank Governor Kemp and Mayor Bottoms for their continued efforts to make Atlanta a better place.”
Perry is the first African American to own a film studio outright. To celebrate the feat, he hosted a weekend long celebration in 2019 equipped with a gala and tour of the facilities. TPS has a dozen sound stages named after iconic Black stars, including Cicely Tyson, Spike Lee, Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, and Denzel Washington.
Several major productions have already taken place at TPS, including Bad Boys 3 and Coming 2 America. All of Perry’s original content is also filmed on location, including House of Payne..