Comedies’ misfortunes no laughing matter for Hollywood
Why are fewer moviegoers watching funny flicks? Blame superheroes, YouTube, Netflix
Comedies are becoming a grim business for Hollywood.
Traditional comedies are struggling for oxygen at the box office, caught between superhero sequels that integrate laughs and a vast buffet of standup specials, sitcoms, amateur pranks and original films on digital services like Netflix and YouTube.
Last year’s most successful adult comedy, “Girls Trip,” took in $117 million in the U.S. and Canada. The last time the year’s highest-grossing comedy grossed so little was 1995, when tickets cost 52 per cent less on average.
It wasn’t an anomaly. The five most successful adult comedies grossed an average of $141 million in 2013, $109 million in 2015 and just $85 million last year.
So far in 2018, the biggest liveaction comedy has been “Game Night,” which took in just $69 million. Melissa McCarthy’s “Life of the Party,” has grossed $52 million, her lowest-grossing comedy ever. Amy Schumer’s “I Feel Pretty” is finishing its box office run with $49 million, less than half of her debut hit “Trainwreck.” “Action Point,” from the producer and star of “Jackass,” has grossed just $5 million, compared with $117 million for “Jackass 3-D” in 2010.
When adult dramas started to fade at the box office in the early 2010s, most people in Hollywood agreed the reason was a boom in high-quality drama series like “Breaking Bad” and “House of Cards” on cable and streaming platforms that meant people could get their fix at home. In addition, most dramas aren’t visually compelling enough to qualify as mandatory big-screen viewing.
But many thought comedy and horror were immune to smallscreen competition. As evidenced by April’s $186 million hit “A Quiet Place,” many people still prefer to be scared in a dark theatre packed with other people. Comedy, proponents argued, worked the same way: Adam Sandler, Jim Carrey and Julia Roberts were so successful, they figured, because it is more fun to laugh with 200 people than alone
on your couch.
Now that is proving to not be true. With standup specials on Netflix, pranksters on YouTube and animated GIFs on social media, people can get more than enough laughs on any digital device. In addition, people who want to laugh at the cinema can do so at the same time they watch their favourite superheroes kick butt in movies like “Deadpool 2,” “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Thor: Ragnarok” that blend action-adventure with comedy.
“The biggest movies now are sucking up so many genres, including comedy, that after you see one you no longer need to go see something different to get your comedy itch scratched,” said Megan Colligan, a consultant and veteran studio marketing executive.
Several major comedy stars are now making direct-to-streaming films for Netflix Inc., including Sandler, Chris Rock and Will Ferrell, a sign of the diminished opportunities at
traditional studios that release in theatres and a further incentive for audiences to stay at home.
Just five years ago, things were quite different. In 2013, McCarthy and Sandra Bullock’s “The Heat” and the raucous R-rated “We’re the Millers” each grossed more than $150 million domestically. Another movie with McCarthy, “Identity Thief,” was close behind with $135 million. “Grown Ups 2,” “Anchorman 2,” “Bad Grandpa,” “This is the End” and even the widely maligned “Hangover Part III” all exceeded $100 million in domestic ticket sales.
Now, the only major comedy hits are those made for children. “Peter Rabbit,” featuring computer-generated critters that outsmart real-life adults, grossed a healthy $115 million in February, and animated comedies like “Despicable Me 3” and “The Boss Baby” were top grossers last year.
“The Incredibles 2,” which
mixes family-friendly action, comedy and drama, scored a massive $182.7 million in its opening weekend.
Though certain sub-genres like romantic comedy have nearly disappeared, most studios aren’t yet abandoning adult comedy. They have, however, slashed spending on them so that they can potentially become profitable on lower grosses than were needed in the past. No comedy stars earn the $20 million per picture that Carrey and Sandler and Roberts sometimes did in the past.
“Tag” is a recent example of the new approach. Made for just $28 million, it features no major comedy stars and was sold primarily on its concept, a real-life story about grown friends in a decades-long game of tag that was based on a Wall Street Journal article.
“There was a time when comedies were being made for $70 million. Then $45 million. Now the sweet spot is in the 20s,” said Todd Garner, a producer of “Tag” who previously produced comedies starring Sandler.
“Tag” opened to $15 million, just a little less than the openings of “Life of the Party,” and “Game Night.” The highest opening for a comedy this year was “Blockers,” about parents coping with teenage daughters who want to lose their virginity, at $20.6 million.
Given their modest budgets, all those films could end up in the black, particularly if they do well on home video, television and streaming in the years to come.
In the past, however, comedies that grossed hundreds of millions were hugely profitable, even if they were costly to make. Those days appear to be behind Hollywood.
Any hopes that 2018 will have a single $100 millon-plus comedy likely lie later in the year, with the romantic comedy “Crazy Rich Asians” or Kevin Hart’s and Tiffany Haddish’s “Night School,” studio executives said.