Can big-screen comedy films break out of summer slump?
In years past, the summertime box office could always be counted on to deliver at least one mainstream comedy smash that would break out of the pack of superhero films, action spectacles and rampaging giant-monster epics.
Think: “The Hangover,” which pulled in $277 million domestically in 2009. Or “Ted,” which grossed $219 million in 2012. Or, more recently, last year’s “Girls Trip,” which took in $115 million.
Alas, last month’s “Tag” — one of the comedy genre’s brighter hopes for this particular summer — was not it.
Despite boasting an ensemble of name actors (including Ed Helms, Jon Hamm, Hannibal Buress, Jake Johnson, Isla Fisher and Jeremy Renner) and a hooky premise that seemed tailor-made for fans of past comedy hits like “Wedding Crashers” (grown men playing a decadeslong game of tag), the film took in $14.9 million in its debut, less than a tenth of the haul of the weekend’s other major arrival, Pixar’s “Incredibles 2.”
At a time when comedy is enjoying a boom on the small screen and stand-up comedians are being touted as “the new rock stars,” the genre can’t seem to shake a big-screen slump.
Barring a surprise breakout, this could be the first summer in more than 20 years in which no traditional comedy grosses more than $100 million at the domestic box office.
“Every summer we used to look forward to the big blockbuster comedy,” said Alexander Payne, who directed the bizarro satire “Downsizing.” “We used to look forward to ‘Trading Places’ and ‘Ghostbusters.’ ‘What’s the big comedy that’s going to make a ton of money and be delightful?’ I lament the passing of those days.”
Aside from “Girls Trip,” summer 2017 proved a veritable bloodbath for major, star-studded studio comedies like “Baywatch,” “The House,” “Snatched” and “Rough Night.” The sheer volume of flops left many who work in comedy wondering when, or if, the genre can get its mojo back.
“I talk about this all the time with my comedy friends — it is rough out there,” said director Rawson Marshall Thurber, whose “Central Intelligence” was a summer comedy success just two years ago, grossing $127 million.
Seeing what he calls “a comedy famine at the box office,” Thurber, who also helmed the hits “Dodgeball” and “We’re the Millers,” has lately shifted from the genre that launched his career; his next film, which hits theaters July 13, is the “Die Hard”-esque action film “Skyscraper,” starring Dwayne Johnson.
With each passing year, the multiplexes have become increasingly dominated by big-budget spectacles, many of which have eaten into the turf of the traditional comedy. “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” gave Johnson his biggest domestic hit by pairing him with comedy veterans Kevin Hart and Jack Black and a healthy dose of tent-pole razzle-dazzle. Marvel Studios juggernauts like “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Thor: Ragnarok” deliver as many jokes as action set pieces.
IF IT’S GOOD
IT’LL SUCCEED
Not everyone in the film-comedy business shares the sense that the genre’s best days are behind it. One of that realm’s most powerful figures, Judd Apatow, takes a more sanguine view. For Apatow, whose comedy hits include “The 40-YearOld Virgin,” “Knocked Up” and “Trainwreck,” it all comes down to execution and quality control.
“When comedy is good, it always does well,” Apatow said. “There’s no great comedy that hasn’t made money — I think it’s as simple as that. Maybe the environment has changed where crappy comedies can’t trick you into coming anymore because you’ll find out too fast on Twitter. But when someone makes an amazing movie, people tend to go.”
As examples, he pointed to Greta Gerwig’s comingof-age film “Lady Bird,” which earned a Best Picture Oscar nod and grossed nearly $77 million worldwide, and last summer’s low-budget romantic comedy “The Big Sick,” which earned widespread raves and grossed $56 million globally.
“Even though ‘The Big Sick’ was a small movie, it did amazing business,” said Apatow, who produced the film. “It only makes me nervous if someone makes something I think is wonderful and crowd-pleasing and it does no business. But when I look at the list of bombs in comedy, I never think, ‘Wait a second — that’s a masterwork!’ I feel like if someone made ‘Airplane!’ today, it would still make $200 million.” (Released in summer 1980, that classic disaster-film spoof grossed $83 million — or, adjusting for inflation, well over $250 million in today’s dollars.)
Although this summer has yet to deliver a bona fide comedy hit on anything remotely close to that scale, there are a few films coming up that could snap the slump, including the sports comedy “Uncle Drew” starring Lil Rel Howery (“Get Out”) and Boston Celtic Kyrie Irving, the Kate McKinnon-Mila Kunis action comedy “The Spy Who Dumped Me,” the raunchy puppet comedy “The Happytime Murders” with Melissa McCarthy and the romantic comedy “Crazy Rich Asians,” spotlighting an all-Asian cast.
Whatever happens in the next few months, many hold out hope that the pendulum will swing back and that the big screen will once again reclaim its historic place at the heart of the comedy landscape.
“Right now I think we’re in this dip in the comedy market where a new voice has to come along in the same way that Judd Apatow came along and the Farrelly brothers before him and Adam Sandler before that,” said Thurber. “Right now the horizon looks really dry because they haven’t shown up yet,” Thurber continued. “But that voice will come back in and you’ll go, ‘Oh, comedy is this now.’ You can set your watch by it.”