ATLANTA -- Hollywood descended upon Atlanta for the grand opening of Tyler Perry Studios -- the first major television and movie studio owned and operated by an African-American film producer.

SLIDESHOW: Tyler Perry's Studio Opening Draws A-List Stars, Angry Protesters

The exclusive event included a grand tour of the multimillion-dollar facility and a star-studded red carpet.

America's favorite daytime talk-show host Oprah Winfrey, actor Will Smith, Oscar award-winning actor Sidney Poitier and preacher Paula White were among the invited guests.

“Sidney Poitier taught me it is OK to have class, pull my pants up, and stand up straight,” said Tyler Perry.

Perry described Atlanta as the promise land when he moved to the city in 1992.

Perry was once homeless. The theme for his studio facility's grand opening was "Imagine That: A Celebration of Faith to Fruition."

“I hope people will see Greenbrier and southwest Atlanta is not a bad place to be if people will invest in the area,” he said. The studio is situated in an urban area, whose residents are mostly black.

“This means a lot to the southwest side of town. Our black kids can walk down the street and look at the building and say ‘if Tyler can do it, I can do it,'” said Baseball great Hank Aaron.

Aaron knows what it feels like to make history.

On April 8, 1974, in Atlanta, Hank made history when he broke Babe Ruth's all-time home run record with his 715th home run.

The sprawling 30-acre studio facility in southwest Atlanta had been the old headquarters for Delta Air Lines. “This building has been looking for a user for 15-20 years and I think Tyler coming here is absolutely a blessing,” said former Atlanta mayor and civil rights leader Andrew Young.

But not everybody was happy with the celebration.

Protesters and a few recently fired writers formed a picket line across the street from Perry’s new studio facility.

The Writers Guild of America, West, planned the picket because Perry terminated four writers from his TV show “House of Payne.” Some said the writers were fired because of their union activities.

Perry's attorney, Matt Johnson, maintained the four were fired "because of the quality of their work."

Meantime, people who live near the newly opened studio facility said they’re hoping the grand opening will create a domino effect and motivate other entrepreneurs and business owners to consider setting up shop in the area.