How To Watch Tyler Perry's Madea Movies In Order

This article discusses domestic abuse and addiction

Tyler Perry has managed to sculpt an empire around Madea (full name Mabel Earlene Simmons), the no-nonsense matriarch he first portrayed in the 1999 play "I Can Do Bad All By Myself." Madea has a seemingly endless flood of children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews to take care of, and she often does so while dispensing salt-of-the-Earth wisdom. The Simmons clan has dealt with a lot during the many Madea movies, which combine drama with over-the-top comedy.

Madea has featured in 13 live-action films as of this writing:

• Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005)

• Madea's Family Reunion (2006)

• Meet the Browns (2008)

• Madea Goes to Jail (2009)

• I Can Do Bad All By Myself (2009)

• Madea's Big Happy Family (2011)

• Madea's Witness Protection (2012)

• A Madea Christmas (2013)

• Boo! A Madea Halloween (2016)

• Boo 2! A Madea Halloween (2017)

• A Madea Family Funeral (2019)

• A Madea Homecoming (2022)

• Madea's Destination Wedding (2025)

That's a lot of Madea! Thankfully, this isn't a complicated franchise when it comes to viewing order: The best way to go about it is to simply watch the films in the order that they were released.

The overarching story of the Madea movies unfolds in chronological order, meaning the events of every film impact the plot of the next one. Characters die, get married, have children, go to school, and graduate. They move in and out of Madea's home. Her family members go through the various stages of their lives over the course of the films, so if you watch them out of release order, there's a good chance you'll find yourself a tad confused.

Madea's criminal record in particular influences the way the story moves from chapter to chapter, which makes watching them the right way crucial. In other words, the whole franchise simply doesn't make sense unless you see it from the first outing. Even "Meet the Browns," which has very little Madea in it, is necessary viewing if you want to understand "Madea Goes to Jail."

There is, however, one exception to this rule: You can watch "Boo! A Madea Halloween" and "Boo 2! A Madea Halloween" together as a unit without consuming any of the other films in the series, since they're self-contained horror-comedy stories which have little impact on anything else in Madea-world outside of their shared continuity. Otherwise, go straight down the line and you'll learn all you need to know about the Brown-Simmons clan.

The first Madea film is "Diary of a Mad Black Woman," which sees the matriarch support her granddaughter, Helen (Kimberly Elise), as she goes through a divorce after nearly two decades of marriage. Abusive lawyer Charles (Steve Harris) is leaving Helen to marry his mistress, Branda (Lisa Marcos), who he has two sons with. Charles throws Helen out of their home to move Brenda and the boys in. Against the wishes of Madea's brother, Joe (also Tyler Perry), Madea lets Helen move into their shared home so Helen can figure out what to do with her life. Elsewhere, Joe's son Brian (also a lawyer, and also played by Perry) deals with his own marital tumult with wife Debrah (Tamara Taylor), who is going through some addiction issues.

Madea and Helen embark on a campaign of revenge, breaking into Helen's former home and trashing Brenda and Charles' possessions. They're caught in the act and Charles and Brenda press charges. Madea ends up on house arrest, something that will become important over the course of the next several films in the series. Meanwhile, Helen cools her heels at Madea and Joe's house. While in town, she puts down roots and begins to fall for virtuous U-Haul truck driver Orlando (Shemar Moore). Just when things seem to be turning around for her, Charles' crooked past comes back to haunt him, resulting in him being seriously injured in a shooting. Will Helen forgive and forget, or solidify her relationship with Orlando for a fresh start? And can Brian find room in his heart to forgive Debrah?

When the Simmons family gets together for a family reunion, Madea goes all out, even though she's still stuck at home on house arrest. In "Madea's Family Reunion," she manages to violate the terms of her parole and finds herself taking care of a foster kid named Nikki (Keke Palmer) to help pay off her debt to society. Like many a Tyler Perry-verse urchin before and after her, Nikki lacks proper respect for Madea — or any other adult, for that matter. Naturally, a combination of tough love and church education turns her around.

Elsewhere, Madea's grand niece Lisa (Rochelle Aytes) is trying to cope with the abusiveness of Carlos (Blair Underwood), her banker fiancé. Lisa's mother, Victoria (Lynn Whitfield), is pressuring her into staying in the relationship due to Carlos' wealth and is living vicariously though her deeds, while Lisa's sister Vanessa (Lisa Arrindell) urges her to leave. As a family reunion and her wedding loom, Lisa must decide between tying herself to Carlos or forging a new path for herself. 

"Meet the Browns" contains very little Madea (she's briefly involved in a high speed chase), but it does expand her family tree, focusing on the Brown branch of the Simmons line. Audiences are reintroduced to Cora Brown (Tamela Mann) from "Diary of a Mad Black Woman," who's revealed to be Madea's daughter in the following film, "Madea Goes to Jail." She and her father Leroy (David Mann) will go on to become central characters in the TBS sitcom "Meet the Browns," which lasted for five seasons.

Brenda Brown-Davis (Angela Bassett) is a single woman living with her three children in Chicago. She receives an invitation to her father's funeral in Georgia, raising some difficult emotions for her as she'd never met him. But her life in Illinois is falling apart and thus she gathers the kids and heads to Senoia, hoping for a fresh start.

After attending the funeral, Brenda grows close to Harry (Rick Fox), a basketball scout who hopes to recruit her son. Brenda also begins to form an attachment to her Brown relatives and starts finding her feet in the south. But can she keep the kids on the straight and narrow? And is her relationship with Harry the real thing, or is he just putting on an act to get her boy on the court?

As the high speed chase witnessed by the Brown family in "Meet the Browns" indicates, Madea has managed to get herself into more legal trouble. "Madea Goes to Jail" explores the aftermath of that event, with the titular character being sentenced to anger management courses. They don't help — she ends up going up the river for five to ten years thanks to a parking lot fight. While incarcerated, she starts attending classes run by former inmate Ellen (Viola Davis). Here's where the stories of Madea and fellow inmate Candy Washington-Collins (Keshia Knight Pulliam) collide.

Candy is a sex worker who finds herself serving a seventeen year sentence, the result of falsified charges made up by assistant district attorney Linda Davis (Ion Overman). Linda is marrying Joshua Hardaway (Derek Luke), another ADA and long-time friend of Candy's who is bound to her by a dark secret. Joshua is devoted to Candy and keeps trying to help her out, and Linda is jealous of their connection. Candy must save herself and find a way to admit her true feelings to Joshua all while coping with Linda's vendetta.

Madea finds herself in charge of another passel of young folks in "I Can Do Bad All By Myself." She and Joe catch orphans Jennifer (Hope Olaidé Wilson), Manny (Kwesi Boakye), and Byron (Freddy Siglar) breaking into her house. They explain that they're desperate due to the fact that their grandmother has abandoned them, but it turns out she passed away during a bus ride. That leads to custody of all three kids falling to April (Taraji P. Henson), their alcoholic night club singer aunt. Like many a Tyler Perry heroine, she has a boyfriend who is already married.

At first, April resists the notion of becoming the head of a household, but ends up taking them in. As she adapts to motherhood, she is drawn away from the abusive Randy (Brian White) toward the kind immigrant Sandino (Adam Rodriguez), who's living in her basement at the request of her pastor. April begins to realize that her own blighted childhood has stopped her from connecting with those around her. Will she make the right choices, give up drinking, and figure out which guy is right for her? 

Madea is about the last person you'd expect to play peacemaker between warring family members — after all, her idea of establishing order usually involves waving around a gun. But in "Madea's Big Happy Family," a dying relative means another occasion for a family reunion, and another chance for Madea to lay down the law.

Madea's niece Shirley (Loretta Devine) learns that her cancer has become terminal and invites her whole family home to hear the news. She hopes that her kids will be able to lean on each other and cope with the situation as one. Unfortunately, all of them have major drama going on in their lives and fail to comfort one another, much less act in a supportive way.

Byron (Bow Wow) is a former drug dealer with a greedy girlfriend. Tammy (Natalie Desselle-Reid) is at war with her husband and her kids aren't getting the attention they need, turning them into brats. Kimberly (Shannon Kane) is something of a mini-Madea, and her out of control temper is poisoning all the relationships in her life. It's up to Madea and her cousin Aunt Bam (Cassi Davis) to get the family's act together for Shirley's sake, but things don't get easier when the paternity of Cora comes into question.

"Madea's Witness Protection" turns the titular busybody into the hostess for a family who must stay incognito for their own good. Since Madea's pretty bad at getting along with strangers on her best day, she soon finds herself at odds with the Needlemans. As patience begins to wear thin, a surprising secret that intermarries both families comes to surface.

George Needleman (Eugene Levy) walks in on his boss shredding sensitive documents one day. Walter (Tom Arnold) explains that their whole company is just a swindle concocted by the Malone crime family. He flees the scene, leaving George holding the bag. Fortunately, the FBI have been investigating the Malones for some time. They know George is innocent and they want him to testify against the Malones, so they slot him into witness protection to shield him from retribution.

Madea and Joe clash with George and his family to begin with, but some friendly threads develop between the two broods, with the Needlemans attending the Simmons' church and the Needlemans' hobbies and quirks rubbing off on the Simmons clan. A sermon by the Simmons' pastor ultimately inspires George to launch a daring scheme to track down some of the missing money, an undercover mission that loops Madea into the action.

Every good franchise needs a holiday movie, and "A Madea Christmas" delivers on that front. However, Madea is in a less than festive mood when the film kicks off, as her attempt at holding down a seasonal job goes poorly. She soon becomes invested in yet another family drama, resulting in a Christmas laden with mayhem. Eileen (Anna Maria Horsford), Madea's niece, doesn't know that her daughter, Lacey (Tika Sumpter), is married to white farmer Conner (Eric Lively) — an extremely inconvenient fact for Lacey, as Eileen is about to arrive for a visit.

Desperate to help their little hamlet of Bucktussle, Alabama get funding for the annual Christmas Jubilee, Lacey approaches her ex, Oliver (JR Lemon). Eileen promptly tries to get Lacey back together with her ex, just as Conner's parents arrive and are sworn to secrecy about the marriage. On top of all of this, Lacey finds herself tangling with the biggest sponsor the Jubilee has, disapproving of their choice to make it a pan-holiday versus Christmas celebration and later learning that they caused damage to the town's water system. When Lacey is fired for fighting back, it'll take a Christmas miracle to make everything right again.

Spookiness and sassiness unite in "Boo! A Madea Halloween," in which the daughter of Madea's nephew Brian (Diamond White's Tiffany) causes trouble. But, as always in a Madea movie, faith wins out and the youth are taught how to behave in the end.

Brian is aghast that his 17-year-old has entered a rebellious phase. Tiffany hopes to attend a party at a nearby frat house for Halloween, even though she's still in high school. Busy working on the night of the fete, Brian asks Madea, Joe, Aunt Bam and their friend Hattie Mae Love (Patrice Lovely) to watch over Tiffany and keep her from going to the bash.

Of course, Tiffany isn't happy about this. The teen chills her elders with a ghost story, and they retaliate by calling the cops on the fraternity's celebration. The frat brothers get revenge on Madea and the others by posing as spirits from Tiffany's tale. While the old folks initially run for their lives, they soon figure out what Tiffany's up to, leading to some high-octane revenge.

"Boo 2!" continues the adventures of Tiffany, who turns 18 in this flick. Unfortunately for her, she must cope with another horrifying Halloween adventure in this go-round. She also has to deal with the reappearance of her mother Debrah (now played by Taja V. Simpson), who has not been seen in a Madea film since "Diary of a Mad Black Woman." There may never be a "Boo 3! A Madea Halloween," but the second film definitely leaves this portion of the Madea franchise in a fun place.

Tiffany gets a brand-new car for her birthday — which she instantly drives to the frat house where she got into so much trouble in the last movie. In order to go to yet another Halloween party thrown by its members (this time at a notorious local lake), she goes over her father's head and asks her mother's permission. Debrah says yes, to the consternation of Madea and the rest of the family. They're all shocked when Brian backs up Debrah's decision.

Refusing to accept their decision, Madea brings a circle of helpers with her to Lake Derrick and they round Tiffany up. The entire gang find themselves running for their lives when the serial-killing menace for whom the body of water is named suddenly appears in their midst. Promiscuous college students, chainsaws, and other horror movie staples soon pop up in the narrative as Madea tries to figure out how to get her family home without literally losing her head.

Death once again touches the Simmons family in "A Madea Family Funeral." After taking a break to explore more lighthearted and less topical fare in the "Boo!" films, Tyler Perry returns to one of his favorite narrative subjects — adultery — with this one. But, unlike his previous explorations of the topic, this time Perry's take on the issue is handled with levity.

The whole Simmons family is headed to Maxine, Georgia for Vianne (Jen Harper) and Anthony's (Derek Morgan) 40th wedding anniversary. Unfortunately, Madea, Joe, Hattie, Aunt Bam, and Brian catch Anthony conducting an affair with Vianne's best friend, Renee (Quin Walters), when they stop off at a motel to rest for the night. Anthony promptly dies of a heart attack and Madea and her friends promise each other they'll never reveal the truth about what happened to anyone else.

The anniversary party turns into a funeral, with Madea pressed into service as planner. Everything quickly goes off the rails as the family deals with an odd undertaker, Vianne's suspicious behavior, and a blackmail scheme that's ensnared Vianne and Anthony's son A.J. (Courtney Burrell), who knows the truth about his dad's death.

"A Madea Homecoming" is a clear departure for the series in that it's the first Madea film to be released on Netflix instead of hitting cinemas. Perry has a deal with the company which has also led to the release of made-for-Netflix movies like the legal thriller "Mea Culpa." It was a move that paid off for Perry: "A Madea Homecoming" has been streamed a staggering amount of times. The viewing figures are a testament to the popularity of the Madea franchise in general, and the numbers were likely helped by some unlikely friends from across the pond, as the movie serves as a crossover with the BBC comedy "Mrs. Brown's Boys." 

Tim Marshall (Brandon Black), Madea's great-grandson, is getting ready to graduate from college. The whole Brown-Simmons clan has gathered to celebrate. Also in attendance is another clan of Browns: Agnes Brown (Brendan O'Carroll), her daughter Cathy (Jennifer Gibney), and her great-nephew Davi O'Malley (Isha Blaaker). Davi and Tim are close friends after attending school together, to the point where everyone suspects they are gay. While Davi is straight, Tim isn't — but he doesn't have the courage to come out to his family yet. As Madea and Agnes get into the mother of all rivalries, Tim tries to work up the courage to be true to himself.

The most recent Madea film as of this writing is "Madea's Destination Wedding," which once again brings together the Simmons tribe for a big celebration. A Netflix production like its predecessor, it focuses on Tiffany. She's set to get married to a man named Zavier, or Z (Xavier Smalls), a rapper she met during a yacht party, and the speed of their engagement shocks both Brian and Debrah. Brian instantly loathes Z and hopes to bust up Tiffany's relationship. Debrah involves herself in the conflict by approving of the couple's union, leading to a tropical mess that only Madea can fix. 

Zavier and Tiffany conspire to marry in the Bahamas, and the whole family attends. Brian stews over Z's immaturity and even tries to involve his FBI contacts in a hunt for more information on the young man, though he doesn't dig up anything shocking. Brian finds himself paying for the whole trip after pridefully refusing to let Debrah and her rich husband fund the ceremony. Things come to a head after Z's bachelor party, with Brian making an assumption about Z's personal history after witnessing him talking to another woman. Will Brian accept Z into the Simmons flock?

Tyler Perry has created eleven stage plays featuring his Madea character, the majority of which have been adapted into films. However, not all of those productions have made it to the big screen. As of this writing, 2003's "Madea's Class Reunion," 2012's "Madea Gets a Job," 2013's "Madea's Neighbors from Hell," 2017's "Madea on the Run," and 2019's "Madea's Farewell Play" (or "Madea's Farewell Tour") only exist as filmed plays. Many of these can be streamed online, and you don't need to worry about the release order — since the plays don't share a continuity with the movie world at the moment, you can watch them whenever you feel like it.

There's also an animated Madea movie: 2015's "Madea's Tough Love," in which Madea is zapped into a cartoon and finds herself fighting to keep the Moms Mabley Youth Center open. The film (which is a brisk watch at just 64 minutes) starts in live-action, with Madea watching a cartoon on television as she eats her breakfast. She's displeased with the behavior of the animated kids and expresses a desire to discipline them as only she can. When she looks at her TV remote, she sees a button that says "do not push" — so, of course, she pushes it, and is promptly transported into the world of the cartoon. Like the plays, it doesn't share any material with the other Madea flicks, so you can watch it at any point.

There are three television series which have spun off from the Madea motion pictures. The long-lived "Tyler Perry's House of Payne" is the easiest to skip your way through, as Madea shows up only three times in the show, with two of those appearances coming in dream sequences. Also, one of the episodes serves as a backdoor pilot for "Meet the Browns." But, while it's related to the rest of the Madea universe through those episodes, it otherwise stands on its own and doesn't need to be watched at any particular time.

The aforementioned "Meet the Browns" has the highest number of ties to the other Madea properties due to the fact that multiple characters who appear in other Madea productions show up in it as main or supporting characters. Madea herself pops in as a guest star as well. The show "Love thy Neighbor" is also deeply connected to the Madea franchise, as its main character is Hattie Mae Love from the "Boo!" films and it features her family in all five seasons. However, seeing as the "Boo!" films are pretty much standalone affairs, you don't have to worry about when you watch "Love thy Neighbor."

While some have argued that these sitcoms were terrible and went on forever, they definitely still have their defenders. No matter how you welcome Madea into your world, there's certainly plenty of ways to enjoy her free-spirited antics. And she'll be back in action soon — the character is set to return in 2026 with the new Netflix movie "Joe's College Road Trip." The movie will focus mainly on her brother, who takes his grandson B.J. (Jermaine Harris) "on a cross-country college road trip where tensions get high but life-changing lessons are learned," per Netflix.

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