Tyler Perry, Inc.

February 18, 2009 After unprecedented U.S. success with his stage plays, films and two hit TV shows, Tyler Perry is now eyeing a global stage, and says he even joined friend Will Smith in Europe during the holidays to look at how to take his brand to the international marketplace. The multihyphenate says he and his reps, led by Charles King at WMA and attorney Matt Johnson at Ziffren Brittenham, have been talking to Sony and Fox about possibly doing a new distribution deal that would give his films a higher profile in overseas territories -- even though the conventional wisdom holds that black-themed movies don't perform well there. If you find someone who is willing to invest in all areas -- marketing, dubbing -- so that it's familiar to the actual country, it can work.

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