There was a time, not too long ago, when theatrically released studio comedies dominated the box office and influenced the comedic tastes of countless fans. Back in the mid-to-late 2000s and up until the early 2010s, studio comedies were the 'hot' thing; films like The Hangover created franchises, while stars such as Seth Rogen, Steve Carell, and Will Ferrell were marquee names. In the last several years, theatrically released studio comedies have almost become nonexistent, streaming has dominated the conversation, and almost all of the big comedy stars have gotten comfy with streaming services.

Going back to 2011 and 2012 and you'll find that there were plenty of hit comedies, most of them being R-rated, that became influential. Films such as Bridesmaids, 21 Jump Street, Ted, and Horrible Bosses were huge hits that felt like more than just your typical comedy. These were films that had lasting power, with plenty of gags that were perfect for water cooler talks and chats before class began. Not only that, but these films were big hits at the box office; Bridesmaids went on to make $169.1 million at the domestic box office, 21 Jump Street made $138.4 million, Ted took in $218.8 million, and Horrible Bosses made $117.5 million and all but one of these films landed sequels. The budgets on these films weren't high, with the most expensive film out of the four listed being Ted at $65 million. These films did not cost much to make and churned a profit for the studio.

The cast of Bridesmaids
Image via Universal Pictures

Looking at the later 2010s and one will find that highly rated studio comedies were far and few between. Game Night was a huge hit with critics and audiences alike, but it only went on to make $69.1 million at the domestic box office, which is about half as much as what Jason Bateman's Identity Thief received with a similar release date and less than stellar reviews. Blockers was another comedy that debuted not even a month and a half after the release of the Bateman vehicle that also received high critical marks but didn't make much money at the domestic box office. While Game Night's popularity rose during it's home release, it'd be easy to think that if the film were released even four years earlier, the film probably would have done well enough to land a sequel. In fact, the only R-rated studio comedies to earn over $100 million at the domestic box office between 2016 and 2019 were Bad Moms and Girls Trip. As the typical broad studio comedy has become almost nonexistent, the obvious answer would be because in reality these comedies don't make the same profit like they used to.

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The age of the movie star is slowly dying out and many of the biggest stars of comedy such as Adam Sandler have been making comedy films almost exclusively for streamers, to varying levels of success. Kevin Hart and Melissa McCarthy were in reality the only two comedy stars left who could sell tickets with their names alone. After a while the public was growing tired of McCarthy's comedic vehicles, with diminishing returns on her comedies Life Of The Party and The Happytime Murders. This led McCarthy to move to streaming with her last two comedies Superintelligence and Thunder Force landing on HBO Max and Netflix respectively. Hart, for the last few years, has been one of the only comedy superstars in Hollywood left, but even he decided to leave theatrical behind and sign a multi-film deal with Netflix starting with Me Time, in which he'll star alongside Mark Wahlberg.

The streaming path is one that comes with an asterisk, as last year, the studios had no choice but to ship their films off to VOD or sell them off to streamers. That being said, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm was the first big comedy in years that became a nationwide phenomenon when it arrived on Amazon Prime Video last October and later it even earned several Academy Award nominations, which is quite the rare feat for a studio comedy, let alone a sequel. The sequel did have the massive benefit of being part of a well-known IP, a big marketing campaign, and being released in time for the 2020 US Presidential Election. Coming 2 America, another high profile comedy sequel found itself sold by Paramount to Amazon, and while it certainly didn't receive the same high acclaim as Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, it still managed to attract a large number of viewers.

The studio comedy is seeing a shift. The theatrically released studio comedies are becoming less and less common, and now the streaming services are getting in on the fun. It's hard to say how a film such as Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga or Murder Mystery would have done if released theatrically, but they dominated in their streaming release. Comedy has always been a difficult genre to pull off and in the years leading up to the pandemic, even the high-concept theatrical R-rated comedies suffered not only financially but also critically; films like The Happytime Murders, The Spy Who Dumped Me, and Stuber couldn't quite make ends meet in either department. Meanwhile, similar movies like Spenser Confidential proved to be giant hits for Netflix.

It would not be fair to say that the comedy genre is dead in the water, and one would be hard pressed to find anyone who would go so far as to say that. Comedy still finds its way to be ingrained in many of the top films at the box office from superhero flicks to genre fare. Though can one really consider films like Free Guy and Jumanji: The Next Level to be straight-forward comedies when in reality they're more like event films? The broad comedy genre is still alive, but it's debuting on streaming versus theaters. Vacation Friends, a comedy that was made by 20th Century Studios exclusively for Hulu, reportedly broke records in its opening weekend.

While these comedies being released to streamers may not be fully considered as true studio comedies, they are still very similar to the movies that arrived in theaters 9 to 10 years ago. While it's become more common for big companies such as Netflix, Amazon, and Apple to release blockbuster films with budgets over $100 million on their streaming services, there's also no signs of their star-driven comedy films leaving anytime soon. It seems like every couple of years Sandler re-ups his Netflix film deals and time will tell if Hart goes a simliar path.

Theatrical releases seem to be centering more around event films now; films that warrant being seen on the big screen. While it is definitely fun to see the latest raunchy comedy with a big interactive crowd, that's unfortunately not what the audience is flocking to go see. There is always the possiblity of a bonafide studio comedy making waves at the box office in the future, but the more streaming continues to dominate, the more that possiblity shrinks.

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