Tyler Perry is preparing to leave Atlanta behind.
The filmmaker and entertainment mogul dropped a shocking bombshell about his career and possibly cutting ties with Atlanta.
Perry announced that he plans to make a big move at the start of next year.
He plans to step away from the nonstop pace that has defined much of his career and relocate to Puerto Rico in 2027.
During a Sept. 14 conversation with “Today” special correspondent Justin Sylvester, Perry shared exactly what he plans to do.
Tyler Perry’s Atlanta Empire Expands Again With a High-Tech Move That Could Change Filmmaking
Perry says he will also spend more time with his now 11-year-old son, Aman.
“Yes, I am officially — you’re the first to hear this — I am officially moving to Puerto Rico,” Perry said. “No, this is real.”
He later added, “Yep, moving to Puerto Rico at the top of the year, and I’m pulling back a whole lot.”
The move marks a significant shift for Perry, who has built much of his entertainment operation in Atlanta. His decision to scale back will also mean stepping away, at least to some degree, from the Georgia production hub that became closely associated with his career.
Tyler Perry Studios occupies 330 acres of the former Fort McPherson Army base in southwest Atlanta, a property Perry acquired in 2015 and transformed into one of the country’s largest major motion-picture production facilities. The campus includes 12 purpose-built sound stages, 200 acres of green space and dozens of historic buildings.
“WOW! I love this for Tyler,” said one fan on X. Regarding his studio, one person wrote, “He’s going to be a king My Work here is done, the machine can run itself.”
The filmmaker said turning 57 on Sept. 13 prompted him to take stock of what he wants from the next stage of his life.
“Oh, getting older,” Perry told Sylvester when asked what inspired the decision. “It’s time to slow down a little bit, enjoy more time with my son, and just take it all in.”
Fatherhood appears to be a major part of that decision. Perry shares Aman with his former partner, Gelila Bekele, and has worked to keep the boy away from the intense attention that comes with his father’s fame.
“My son’s not famous,” Perry previously told AARP the Magazine. “I want him to have as normal a life as he can. I want him to know what it’s like to have his own name and his own life and not have the pressure of trying to live up to whatever or whoever your father was.”
Perry reportedly put his cast through “refined insanity” before announcing plans to slow down.
His latest film, “Why Did I Get Married Again?” currently streams on Netflix.
Returning cast members from the original “Why Did I Get Married?” gathered to film in Italy. The cast includes Tasha Smith, Sharon Leal, Michael Jai White, Lamman Rucker, Jill Scott and Richard T. Jones and more.
Taraji P. Henson joins the franchise for the latest installment.
The film continues the story that Perry introduced in 2007 and revisited in 2010’s “Why Did I Get Married Too?”
However, there are a few plot twists. This time, the characters are older and dealing with a different stage of life. And Janet Jackson’s character was away on a book lecture tour.
The production reflected Perry’s famously fast working style.
Smith, Henson and Leal recently told BlackTree TV that the new movie was filmed in just four days. Smith compared that schedule with the roughly three weeks they had for the first film.
“Four days, which was insane,” Smith said. “Refined insanity.”
Henson said working at that speed can be nerve-wracking, but she has learned to trust Perry’s process.
“It’s a little scary because you are like, ‘OK, I’m going to trust that he got it,’” she said. “But people are really happy with the film, and that’s kind of what’s remarkable about him.”
She credited Perry’s ability to work quickly to his technical understanding of filmmaking.
“He knows what he wants. And he’s a technician at what he does,” Henson said. “He knows exactly what’s going on. He knows exactly what he has, what he doesn’t have.”
Perry has filmed other projects on similarly compressed schedules. Henson said “Acrimony” took five days, while “Straw” took four.
Now, after years of maintaining a demanding production schedule and building an entertainment empire in Atlanta, Perry appears ready to change the pace.
His Puerto Rico move does not necessarily signal an end to his film work.
Instead, Perry says he wants the next chapter to leave more room for his son, his personal life and the opportunity to enjoy what he has spent decades building.
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