From left: R-rated comedies Joy Ride, Strays and No Hard Feelings hope to hit the box office this summer.
Ed Araquel/Lionsgate; Images by Macall Polay/Sony; Chuck Zlotnick/Universal Pictures
In the first trailer for Sony’s sex comedy No Hard Feelings, which hits theaters June 23, star Jennifer Lawrence comforts an ex by declaring she hasn’t forgotten him: “Last night I thought : ‘I miss that bastard.’ “Movie-goers may share a similar nostalgia, recalling a not-so-distant era when studio films that focused on lewd jokes were regularly shown in theaters—before they disappeared.
This summer portends a possible tide shift. As audiences return to theaters in the wake of the pandemic, studios appear to be using the next few months as a testing ground for the R-rated comedy’s return to theaters. “No Hard Feelings” is about a clumsy teenager whose parents hire Lawrence’s character to date him. He will later be joined by Lionsgate’s “Joy Ride” (July 7), Universal’s “Strays” (August 18), and MGM’s “Bottoms” (August 25). Such projects are similar to horror films in that they offer viewers the experience of sharing shocking moments with a group of like-minded strangers. But unlike the horror genre, it’s been a while since raunchy comedy fans had a headline-grabbing cinematic title to rally around.
“It’s not an easy genre at all,” Jim Orr, president of Universal’s domestic theatrical distribution, tells of raunchy comedy. “We still think it’s an important genre. We still think it makes sense theatrically – but is difficult to execute.”
After touching the zeitgeist in the late ’90s with There’s Something About Mary and American Pie, the gritty comedies thrived in the decade that followed (think 40-Year-Old Virgin, Wedding Crashers, Superbad “). But while later hits like “The Hangover” (2009), “Bridesmaids” (2011), “Ted” (2012) and “22 Jump Street” (2014) all ranked among the top 15 domestic grossing titles of their respective years , viewers crave big laughs and bad words, and horny leads have largely had to rely on streaming deals from the couch for the past several years.
Just as Disney’s decision to release Pixar titles direct to Disney+ may have impacted viewership habits en route to Elemental’s disappointing box-office debut, No Hard Feelings is targeting an opening price of nearly $12 million, which means that it takes legs to be a hit. A typical selling point for comedies is the low budget, but this one was expensive, as Lawrence was reportedly hoping for a $25 million payday when Sony outbid streamers in 2021.
R-rated comedies to stream instead of theaters since 2022 include Netflix’s Rebel Wilson film Senior Year, Kevin Hart with Me Time and You People with Eddie Murphy, although the latter tops those titles with 3.86 billion Viewer minutes and four weeks were among the streamer’s top 10, according to Nielsen.
“Many genres have disappeared from being produced so aggressively in the streaming space,” said Sanford Panitch, president of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group. “Studios aren’t going to make Christmas comedies when there are six Christmas comedies on one streaming platform. So it’s partly about finding spaces that feel theatrical and not about feeling like there’s something that someone can get for free at home.”
For filmmakers, it remains just as difficult to know what gives a comedy project a boost as the genre tries to break the doldrums. “The message I’m getting from studio execs is that they want big event comedy and racy R-rated comedy that people will talk about,” said Tracy Oliver, the screenwriter behind Lionsgate’s horror comedy The Blackening, which will be released over the course of the year Opened in theaters in 2017 and grossed $7 million Juneteenth Holiday – who also wrote 2017’s popular Girls Trip and is working on its sequel. “Movies like ‘Girls Trip 2’ and ‘The Blackening’ pass the theatrical litmus test because they are considered event comedies intended to be enjoyed in large groups.”
While streaming is a relief for consumers, creatives across the board want a theatrical release. Such was the case with screenwriter Dan Perrault – whose live-action Strays follows a dog voiced by Will Ferrell who seeks revenge on his careless owner – and Cherry Chevapravatdumrong, Teresa Hsiao and Adele Lim, the writers of Joy Ride ‘, about a woman traveling through China to find her birth mother. (“Huge, high priority – absolute goal,” Chevapravatdumrong says of the theatrical release.)
“There seems to be an idea, ‘Let’s get these $15 million comedies streaming instead of in theaters,'” says LP, director of the 2020 Netflix comedy Desperados. She commends the film’s support through the platform set up prior to her stint at Universal, but concedes that bringing a film to theaters “would be a dream”. However, Helmerin points out that going to the cinema during the opening weekend could add some pressure, and jokes about her film’s memorable set design: “When you go to the cinema, does the dolphin penis stay? Maybe not.”
It’s not just the studios monitoring audience interest in this summer’s options. “Joy Ride is going to be a very good test, and if it’s successful, people are going to be like, ‘Oh my god, the great comedy is back,'” says Girls Trip director Malcolm D. Lee. “Everyone is risk averse, especially in the theater field, so it will be very interesting to see what happens.”
Another factor is that the Peak TV era has enticed studios to make series out of ideas that previously might have deserved feature film treatment. Take Ted, for example, which grossed a whopping $218 million domestically in 2012 ($289 million today, adjusted for inflation) before a 2015 sequel underperformed; A prequel series is coming to Peacock soon. Filmmaker Nick Stoller (Neighbors) ranks his new Apple TV+ show Platonic, starring Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne, in a similar category, saying of the show’s team, “We’d talk about doing a version of this before 10 would have been a movie years ago.” , but it’s easier to just do this on the small screen.”
Filmmakers emphasize that theater is important to the lifespan of a feature film, especially a comedy. “If I ran the studios, I would put all my comedy money into R-rated comedies,” says Paul Feig (“Bridesmaids,” “The Heat”). While Feig’s more recent projects, including last year’s Netflix’s The School for Good and Evil, have strayed from that space, he’s soon returning with R-rated Grand Death Lotto and has his sights set on a 2024 release . It’s from Amazon Studios, but Feig sees the possibility of a theatrical release as one of the perks of working with the company that recently brought Air to theaters: “I’m very, very committed to getting it a theatrical release because it’s so is.” a group experience.”
Jeremy Garelick, who co-wrote the screenplay for The Hangover and has directed films including Netflix’s recent Adam Sandler film Murder Mystery 2, is so confident in the R-rated teen comedy that he wrote the founded production company American High, which acquired a high school in Syracuse, New York in 2013 to make low-cost films. Garelick, who was working at CAA when the original American Pie script was passed around, reckons that pop culture follows a roughly 20-year cycle in which adolescents become new gatekeepers. Of teenage sex films, he says, “It’s going to come back — it’s just a matter of time.”
In Hollywood’s increasingly IP-driven era, the studio’s risk-taking required to support original comedy ideas has declined, although the superhero craze is showing signs of audience fatigue. One franchise preparing for its long-awaited return is Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool films, which have managed to inject f-bombs and penis jokes into sizzling action.
“When I saw Deadpool, I was like, ‘Damn, I should have made that movie,'” says Kevin Smith, the Clerks director and comic book fanatic who has recently shunned the studio system and follows a model in which he his films takes on a nationwide theater tour. He commends Fox for initially taking a risk with the borderline Deadpool: “The studio wasn’t interested at first, and then they did and were rewarded for going all out.”
However, Jordan VanDina, director of It’s a Wonderful Binge on Hulu and writer of Dodgeball 2, notes, “I think that’s all it takes to bring a top-notch, R-rated comedy to theaters to make a whole.” launching a new series of irreverent theatrical comedies.” .”
As for the studios, No Hard Feelings and Strays are eyeing them, though the failure of a connection doesn’t necessarily mean like-minded projects are shelved. “The genre is certainly not dependent on the next two films,” says Orr. “But you always see patterns at the box office and imitation when you figure out what works.”
A version of this story first appeared in the June 21 issue of magazine. Click here to login.