Will This Summer Finally Mark the Return of the Comedy Blockbuster?
Growing up, there was no shortage of raunchy, goofy comedies I could watch while my mother was too occupied with other things to monitor my content consumption. Euro Trip, Step Brothers and Knocked Up — as soon as their box office run ended, I was watching them on Starz or renting them at Redbox. By the time I was finally old enough to go see all the movies I’d been watching as contraband at home in theaters, there were slimmer pickings. Original comedy releases dropped off and were more often relegated to streaming services.
It’s not that they didn’t exist, it’s just there were fewer options and fewer chances to see them in theaters. There were different Hollywood priorities, namely superheroes and recycled IP. But in the last few years, American audiences have finally started to tire of the superhero shuffle, giving room for some genres to get theatrical releases again — but not that much room. And not too few superheroes either; James Gunn’s Superman is doing very well.
This summer, we’re getting two different testing models of the comedy blockbuster release. The Naked Gun, starring Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson, will get a wide release in theaters on August 1st, while Adam Sandler’s Happy Gilmore 2 will get a streaming-only release on Netflix on July 25th. And listen, I’m aware that neither is original IP — The Naked Gun is a remake of the 1988 film, and Happy Gilmore 2 is a sequel arriving 30 years later. But it’s a sign maybe that the drought of comedy releases is coming to an end.
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Sure two movies aren’t a total trend shift, and Netflix still refuses to let its films out of streaming jail, but if audiences can make a strong showing both at home and in theaters this summer we might just get a better offering in the future.
Right now, there’s very little financial incentive for studios to take risks on nationwide theatrical releases. Friendship, starring Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd, spent three weeks in over a thousand theaters nationwide, grossing $16,228,274 in its domestic theatrical run, with a budget of $15 million. With international releases pending, it’s going to do more than break even. Yet when you compare it to the $415,013,252 domestic gross for the live-action Lilo & Stitch, released around the same time, it's hard to compete. Was the remake good? No. Did the live-action Stitch resemble my sleep paralysis demon? Oh yeah, buddy. But it made a shit-ton of money, so Disney is going to keep pushing out Frankenstein recreations of animated classics.
The only hope we have of getting to see good ol’ goofy comedies in theaters regularly is if we signal to studio executives that we’re gonna be putting our asses in seats to watch them. It’s too late to start the Change.org petition for Happy Gilmore 2 to get the AMC treatment. So does that mean going to see a Liam Neeson movie in 2025? Yeah, it’s basically our civic duty.
