{"id":71902,"date":"2025-09-18T18:24:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T18:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/71902\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T18:24:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T18:24:11","slug":"can-studio-comedies-make-a-comeback-in-movie-theaters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/71902\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Studio Comedies Make a Comeback in Movie Theaters?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If your definition of a comedy is \u201cBarbie,\u201d \u201cDeadpool vs. Wolverine,\u201d or \u201cA Minecraft Movie,\u201d the studio comedy is doing brilliantly. But if you\u2019re thinking Gen Z doesn\u2019t have its own \u201cBridesmaids,\u201d \u201cThe Hangover,\u201d or \u201cAnchorman,\u201d you\u2019re not alone in wondering what happened to this genre? <\/p>\n

Is this a joke? Perhaps not a funny one. <\/p>\n

At the start of July, IndieWire\u2019s chief film<\/a> critic David Ehrlich declared \u201cThe Naked Gun<\/a>\u201d the most important movie of the summer<\/a>. That\u2019s because it\u2019s a no-doubt-about-it studio comedy and spoof film. It\u2019s not comedy packaged with superheroes or toy and video game sales, and though it\u2019s a continuation of a popular series, it doesn\u2019t feel like a sequel cash grab. Movies like it are becoming rarer, especially at the box office<\/a>. And when you have a lack of diverse options in theaters<\/a>, fewer people start showing up. Theaters need movies that are monumentally dumb on purpose like \u201cThe Naked Gun\u201d as much as they need the mega blockbusters that are monumentally dumb on accident. <\/p>\n

\"'Jay<\/a> \"'Arco'\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

So did Liam Neeson and director Akiva Schaffer save America? \u201cThe Naked Gun\u201d has just surpassed $100 million worldwide, but only about half of that came from domestic dollars. That\u2019s a respectable number that should likely turn a profit for the studio, but it\u2019s not a mega culture-defining hit that would singlehandedly bring studio comedies<\/a> off streamers and into theaters (I predict now that \u201cThe Naked Gun\u201d will do gangbusters once it hits PVOD or Paramount+). It may also be the most successful \u201ctraditional studio comedy\u201d in years.<\/p>\n

In the five years before the COVID-19 pandemic, at least six different sure-fire studio comedies surpassed $100 million at the domestic box office. That\u2019s when you filter out the animated movies, sequels, the family comedies, and some of the sequels like \u201cPitch Perfect\u201d that might be better defined as musicals. <\/p>\n

But that half-decade produced hits like \u201cTrainwreck,\u201d \u201cGirls Trip,\u201d \u201cBad Moms,\u201d \u201cDaddy\u2019s Home\u201d and its sequel, and \u201cSpy.\u201d None of those can be confused with anything other than a studio comedy in the truest sense. If we\u2019re being generous to the comedy definition, \u201cCentral Intelligence,\u201d \u201cSausage Party,\u201d and \u201cCrazy Rich Asians\u201d all help the case that people once came to the theater to laugh.<\/p>\n

\"THE\u2018The Lost City\u2019\u00a9Paramount\/Courtesy Everett Col<\/p>\n

Post-COVID, the most successful original comedy of the last five years is the adventure\/romance\/comedy \u201cThe Lost City\u201d with Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum. It\u2019s the only bona fide comedy to surpass $100 million domestic. The next biggest hits, including \u201cAnyone but You<\/a>,\u201d \u201cThe Naked Gun,\u201d \u201cTicket to Paradise,\u201d \u201cCocaine Bear,\u201d \u201cNo Hard Feelings,\u201d and \u201cOne of Them Days,\u201d were all in the $50-90 million range domestic (according to data via Comscore).<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a real drop-off in performance of comedies that were well-reviewed and well-received by audiences,\u201d one studio distribution chief told IndieWire. \u201cSo you\u2019ve got to start with, OK, what happened? How did this genre go away?\u201d<\/p>\n

The distro chief said that, while comedies started declining before COVID, the pandemic really accelerated things. The first culprit is the amount of \u201cfree comedy\u201d available on streaming. Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Max are loaded with stand-up comedy specials that don\u2019t require the same barrier to entry as the act of driving to a theater and buying a ticket.<\/p>\n

When we raised the point to other distribution chiefs that studio comedy films have all moved to streaming, they challenged with \u201cwhich ones?\u201d \u201cHappy Gilmore 2\u201d is a great example of a comedy that has broken through on streaming<\/a> and could have been a box office hit had it gotten the chance, though it may be the only good example.<\/p>\n

But streamers are also littered with B-comedies that, in another era, might have done modest but forgettable business in theaters. We\u2019re looking at you, \u201cThe Pickup,\u201d \u201cHeads of State,\u201d \u201cBack in Action,\u201d \u201cKinda Pregnant,\u201d and \u201cSummer of 69,\u201d all of which were released this year. Those movies are reserved for streaming these days, likely for good reason.<\/p>\n

Another distribution chief argued that the so-called \u201cfour-quadrant studio comedy\u201d just doesn\u2019t work anymore. Today\u2019s audiences don\u2019t want just Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn paired up, they want genre films with more nuance or niche comedies like \u201cFriendship\u201d that can find a very targeted and passionate audience<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"Happy\u2018Happy Gilmore 2\u2019Scott Yamano\/Netflix<\/p>\n

But certain studios seem to be staying away entirely. Sony and Paramount have a few of those aforementioned hits, but Warner Bros., Disney, and Universal have been moving away from the genre and toward more IP. Studios are also staying away from a title like \u201cHappy Gilmore 2\u201d because of its budget. The first distribution chief speculates the Adam Sandler sequel likely cost Netflix a fortune of between $120-150 million to accommodate all the cameos, back-end deals, and special effect-driven gags. <\/p>\n

With the box office as depressed as it is, would that movie still be seen as a hit in theaters?<\/p>\n

\u201cIf your budgets are reasonable, you can afford to hit singles and doubles. That\u2019s a good business. But what you can\u2019t do with a challenge genre like comedies is swing for the fences,\u201d the first distributor said. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t want to have that risk. If you make that movie for $75 million, maybe I\u2019d take that risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

One idea floated by that distributor is to simply lengthen theatrical windows. It\u2019s the same challenge for other tentpole movies, but for comedies, the gap between theaters to streaming can be exceptionally short, and audiences are just fine waiting for them. Another potential solution: don\u2019t charge for \u201cThe Naked Gun\u201d as much as it costs to see \u201cJurassic World.\u201d That, however, would require a big shift in how exhibitors do business<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But if there\u2019s something that gave the distributors we spoke to hope, it\u2019s that the best comedies have phenomenal word of mouth. Look at movies like \u201cThe Hangover\u201d or \u201cBridesmaids,\u201d movies that did not open huge in their first weekend, but then saw domestic total multiples of at least six times what they first opened to. These movies were slow burn hits that people had to talk about and see, and those movies stayed successful in theaters for weeks on end.<\/p>\n

\"SydneySydney Sweeney and Glen Powell in \u2018Anyone but You\u2019Courtesy of Sony<\/p>\n

For as hilarious as \u201cThe Naked Gun\u201d is, it did only a respectable multiple of just over 3, as did movies like \u201cNo Hard Feelings\u201d and \u201cFreakier Friday.\u201d But the poster-child of a late-blooming success story in the post-COVID era is \u201cAnyone but You,\u201d which has a staggering 14.72 multiple after opening to just $6 million and looking like a flop. Stars Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell famously manufactured a phony real-life romance<\/a> \u2014 all while Sweeney was still engaged \u2014 that got internet sleuths buzzing and bolstered audience interest to see what chemistry might be on screen.<\/p>\n

Another studio distribution chief said that, while comedy hasn\u2019t quite recovered from the pandemic or strikes, it\u2019s heating up. What\u2019s more, this is a \u201ccopycat business,\u201d and the moment the next studio comedy hits it big, everyone else in town will have three similar ones in the pipeline.<\/p>\n

\u201cA movie can still open to $6 [million] and do $90 [million],\u201d the executive said. \u201cThat to me, there\u2019s a lot of hope, because if the movie is funny, you can have a 15 multiple. If it delivers, the numbers are there, there absolutely can be another \u2018Hangover.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If your definition of a comedy is \u201cBarbie,\u201d \u201cDeadpool vs. Wolverine,\u201d or \u201cA Minecraft Movie,\u201d the studio comedy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263],"tags":[49491,9867,49492,18,117,597,19,17,327,25264],"class_list":{"0":"post-71902","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-anyone-but-you","9":"tag-box-office","10":"tag-comedies","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-film","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-movies","17":"tag-the-naked-gun"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}