Tyler Perry became the first African-American ever to launch his own major TV and film studio on Saturday night.
Attendees at the opening of "Tyler Perry Studios" including Will Smith, Sidney Poitier, Oprah Winfrey, Forest Whitaker, Hank Aaron and Whitney Houston.
R&B star Mary J Blige preformed at the opening ceremony which took place in the new studio built on 30 acres in southwest Atlanta, Georgia.
"I was thinking about leaving at one point, but this is home for me," Perry told reporters. He also said the old near-downtown studio was "spiritually in the wrong place."
Will Smith was overwhelmed with emotions.
"This is an American first, and the first in the universe," said the I Am Legend star. "There is something happening in America and in the world that's powerful. He is not letting anyone get in his way.
"Those are the wonderfully naïve, arrogant, humble, powerfully American concepts that make things powerful in this country. It's big."
Below is an interview with Will Smith at the opening of Tyler Perry's Studios
