Tyler Perry has started production for the big screen adaptation to Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf with his star-studded cast.

The original play is a series of poems that deal with pregnancy, rape and love which was first released back in 1972. The cast includes Phylicia Rashad, Whoopi Goldberg, Khalil Kain, Kerry Washington, Perry’s muse, Janet Jackson, among others.

We all know how Perry’s movies go, but when the story isn’t his own, that is a different story. We saw him branch out a bit with he co-produced Precious with Oprah, but really, the quality of the work was thanks to director Lee Daniels. Hopefully, he won’t butcher For Colored Girls which is slated for release in 2011.

Here’s Armoire Chic’s top 4 for black movie adaptations:

1. The Color Purple

This Steven Spielberg film was in instant classic when it was released in 1985. The all-star cast was perfection (Danny Glover, Oprah, Whoopi, Margaret Avery). Too many quotable lines to share. Everytime this movie comes on, I have to watch, and do the hand game Celie did with Nettie with my own sis (don’t judge me).

2. Waiting to Exhale

Some people might have gotten a little upset that Whitney got top billing over Angie, but does it even matter? Savannah (played by Angela Bassett) had the best scene in the movie. Who wouldn’t want to set her husband’s car on fire when he tells her he’s leaving her for another woman (*whispers* a white woman).

3. Raisin in the Sun

The play by Lorraine Hansberry based off a line from the Langston Hughes poem, “A Dream Deferred,” showed black stuggle in 1960s Chicago. It was so heartbreaking to watch a man trying to support his family on his own to make something of themselves, all the while they were swindled. Sidney Poitier played Walter Lee Younger. The 2008 made for TV version with Phylicia Rashad, Diddy, Sanaa Lathan, and Audra McDonald was great too.

4. Precious

Based on the novel Push by Sapphire, this is a new classic. Most of us have seen it and know why. I’m not really into the story, but the acting in the film was beyond great.