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From "Boo! A Madea Halloween" (2016)[/caption] UPDATE: A month after our last update on this, Lionsgate has confirmed and set a release date for Tyler Perry's next film. As noted in our last update immediately below (April 23), the film is indeed a sequel to 2016's "Boo! A Madea Halloween," and will be titled "Boo 2! A Madea Halloween." The studio has set an October 20, 2017 theatrical opening for the movie, just in time for Halloween, as was last year's first film which was a hit, grossing $74 million (domestic) on a $20 million budget. Perry is of course writing, directing and starring in "Boo 2!". Previous updates on the project below...

UPDATE April 23: Thanks to reader Jordan who alerted me to these. As you can see, the 3 Instagram posts that immediately follow suggest that the Madea movie Tyler Perry is currently filming (per my previous post, also below) is actually a sequel to last year's "Boo! A Madea Halloween." Former MMA fighter, Tito Ortiz shared these on his Instagram page a month ago:

Going from #Panama to #Atlanta. Got a great opportunity to work with @TylerPerry. #Boo2

A post shared by titoortiz1999 (@titoortiz1999) on Mar 19, 2017 at 12:45pm PDT

Dinner and studying. Consistency and repetition story of my life. I'm very fortunate. #Atlanta #Boo2

A post shared by titoortiz1999 (@titoortiz1999) on Mar 19, 2017 at 3:13pm PDT

See what I had to do! #Boo2 movie role.

A post shared by titoortiz1999 (@titoortiz1999) on Mar 20, 2017 at 3:09pm PDT

In addition, on Tyler Perry's IMDBPro page (which I should've checked from the very beginning), there's a "Boo 2! A Madea Halloween" listed as currently filming. Although details on plot are being kept underwraps. As for my below previous post on the film featuring a pregnant Madea, that could still very much be the case. As someone else suggested yesterday, there could be some kind of a flashback to a younger Madea when a pregnancy would make far more sense. Also, the "Madea Gets Pregnant" title that's apparently top-lining casting notices (see previous report below), is likely some sort of a ruse, unless there's something else in the works that we don't know about. Keep in mind that this is after all meant to be a Halloween movie, so a grandmother Madea's purported age, isn't an entirely ridiculous idea. Horror movies allow for the seemingly impossible to happen. But the above posts from Tito Ortiz and Perry's own IMDB page, are the most concrete of any evidence of anything we know so far. Also 2017 is the release year that the film currently falls under on IMDB, so we may be looking at another Halloween release for "Boo 2!" (the first film was released in time for the holiday). My original post on the project follows below...

Last fall, more than two years after they ended their relationship with Tyler Perry, Lionsgate jumped back into the Tyler Perry business, for at least another 2 films, in addition to the most recent “Boo! A Madea Halloween,” which was a box office hit for the studio (relative to budget). The studio, reporting a loss of $17.5 million in its fiscal second quarter (in its November 2016 earnings report), missing Wall Street expectations, and facing unhappy shareholders who had seen the company’s stock price drop 41 percent at the time last year, made the announcement that it had ordered 2 more films from Tyler Perry, whose strong brand has long been a steady performer for Lionsgate, since they started doing business with him over a decade ago. One of the 2 movies announced was another Madea-centered picture, which was no surprise, given how well the moderately budgeted “Boo!” performed – Perry’s best showing at the box office in 6 years. Also, as we've previously reported on this blog, Tyler Perry movies in which Madea is a central character tend to perform far better than Tyler Perry movies without Madea. No official announcement has been made by Lionsgate at this time, but thanks to emails and tweets a couple of you sent to me in the last couple of days, we may have details on what this next Madea movie is going to be. I couldn't find much online about the project, and I certainly don't have direct access to Tyler Perry to get an answer from him, but 2 reputable online resources are reporting that Perry's next Madea film is currently filming in Atlanta, and will tell a story in which the matriarch gets pregnant somehow. According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, the film is being filmed under the title "Madea Gets Pregnant," but the local newspaper doesn't have any other information on it, stating that "details are scarce" at the moment. Secondly, casting website Project Casting says that there are several casting calls for the film in circulation, seeking "a broad range of roles," but, again, no specifics. So "Madea Gets Pregnant" is shrouded in mystery, including how exactly she gets pregnant and by whom. Perry, who loves to communicate with his fans on social media, doesn't appear to have said anything about this project, so despite the above article and casting notice mentions I referenced, there's no official confirmation from Lionsgate or Perry himself, on "Madea Gets Pregnant." But both the Atlanta Business Chronicle and Project Casting are legitimate organizations. And Perry did share the below video on his Instagram page just a week ago, in which he talks about a Madea movie that he's currently filming. So he's definitely making a Madea movie right now, but the part about the character being pregnant isn't official yet.

A post shared by Tyler Perry (@tylerperry) on Apr 7, 2017 at 5:22pm PDT

According to Box Office Mojo, Perry's 7 Madea movies have grossed an adjusted $529 million (domestic), with an average production budget of around $15 million. So if you're wondering why Lionsgate and Perry continue to make Madea movies, there are over half-a-billion (and counting) reasons why. But if anyone reading this knows anything more than what I've shared here, let me know - obensont@gmail.com.