Katt Williams is expanding his footprint in Hollywood outside of just being a comedian and an actor—and potentially about to dethrone Tyler Perry—thanks to his latest move. I’ll explain.
In a new interview with GQ, Williams shared that he’d recently become even more of an entrepreneur citing his new purchase: a former military base in Alabama that he intends to turn into a movie studio. If this sounds familiar, then you may recall that the aforementioned Perry did the same back in 2015 when he purchased Fort McPherson in Atlanta to open what’s now known as Tyler Perry Studios.
Now Williams is on the same path with his publicist recently confirming that he had indeed just solidified the purchase. While she declined to disclose how where and how much was paid for the land, all signs point to Fort McClellan’s Cold War-era barracks as noted by a local Alabama report, which boasted a $1.5 million price tag. Additionally—Connie Alexander—a broker representing the land confirmed that while an LLC was the official purchaser, “Katt Williams did visit the property frequently during the purchase phase.”
“It’s a visionary endeavor, and we’re excited to see how this historic site evolves under his leadership,” she said.
Speaking about the purchase, Williams told GQ: “It’s just not fair to put all that pressure on Tyler Perry. He can only do so much.”
He’s right, of course. But it’ll be interesting to see just how much pressure Williams will be facing once the doors of his 90 acre, 10 million square feet of indoor space studios are open. With this new purchase, he now joins the ranks of Perry, 50 Cent and Donald Glover (a.k.a. Childish Gambino) who all have their own production companies in Atlanta, Shreveport, LA., and Ojai, Calif., respectively.
This marks another huge step for Williams whose had a stellar year after his iconic and viral interview with Shannon Sharpe back in January.