With "Good Boys", Universal continues to beat the box office for comedy

"Good Boys" was a surprise to the box office analysts this weekend. Thanks to rave reviews and word of mouth from the public, Universal's brilliant comedy about a group of sixth-graders entering the world of girls and hormones has generated a $ 21 million opening this weekend, almost double the opening of $ 11 million established by independent screenings before its release.

"It seems that Universal has deciphered the code of comedy and is therefore somewhat immune to the curse of cinema by publishing a regular selection of original and attractive comedies that have resisted the trend of public indifference. ", said comScore's Paul Dergarabedian at TheWrap.

It's a win for comedy films at a time when such success is becoming increasingly rare for the genre. However, while other studios have contributed to these occasional hits over the past three years – Warner Bros. "One thinks of Lionsgate's" Game Night "series and" Madea "series – the studio that has been by far the most consistent producer of hit comedies.

Read also: & # 39; Good Boys & # 39; Wins $ 21 Million Premiere and Becomes Second Original Film at Top Box Office This Year

"It might be best not to call it a return," continued Dergarabedian. "But the" good boys "can at least give the industry hope that, if packaged properly, a fresh and original comedy parked at a well-established release date, with good critics and solid marketing can be crowned. success and that the comedy on big screen can again find the favor of the public. "

Universal's first major comedy in the 2010s dates back to 2011 with "Bridesmaids," a $ 168 million film that went to North America and launched Melissa McCarthy's career. A year later, the studio forwarded this with "Ted", a Seth MacFarlane R-rated with a live teddy bear that has netted 218 million US dollars and 549 million dollars worldwide on a budget of 50 million dollars.

It turns out that "Ted" would be the last adult comedy to rank among the top 10 national charts for a year. 2013-2015 would see further success for the genre, such as Fox's "The Heat" ($ 154 million), Sony's "21 Jump Street" ($ 191 million) and Universal's "Pitch Perfect 2" ($ 184 million). of dollars). But since 2016, no comedy has brought in more than $ 150 million in North America. Moviegoers always go to the halls for laughs, but they get those laughs from family movies or, if they are rated R, hybrid genre movies like "Deadpool".

Read also: "Spider-Man: Away from Home" to Top $ 1.1 Billion Worldwide, Wins Sony's First Boxing Success

Meanwhile, many comedies in recent years have failed even with recognizable names. The victims include:

– "The House," a $ 40 million comedy from the World Bank that only reported $ 34 million and became the worst opening weekend of all time for Will Ferrell, who dominated the 2000s with comedies such as "Anchorman" and "Talladega Nights".

– "Rough Night", a comedy starring Scarlett Johansson that has produced only $ 47 million worldwide, against a budget of $ 20 million in 2017.

– "The Happytime Murders", which grossed $ 27.5 million against a $ 40 million budget and was the lowest opening ever recorded by Melissa McCarthy until the release of "The Kitchen "last week.

– "Booksmart", a comedy that has avoided falling this summer with $ 22 million generated against a budget of $ 6 million, but largely underperforming its critical praise and word of mouth of the public of the week Memorial Day.

Read also: & # 39; Toy Story 4 & # 39; exceeds $ 1 billion and Disney's fifth film wins world box office record in 2019

Part of the downward trend is that of the big boss of the theater owners: streaming and home entertainment. It's not as if the comedies have lost their popularity. Broadcasts such as NBC's "The Good Place" and HBO's "Barry" have won over many fans, as well as streaming programs such as BoJack Horseman and One Day at a Time.

But television comedies, combined with the overwhelming number of choices that people now have at home and in theaters thanks to the release of 52 weeks of movies, have been particularly painful for comedy films. The successes in this genre more than in other genres have benefited from the legitimacy of the public after the release of the film. The "bridesmaids", for example, opened for only $ 26 million in May 2011 but only fell to $ 20 million on its second weekend, and its first 10 days only 35% of his total national race.

"There is no doubt that with the big movies coming out every week-end, it's harder to keep people's attention," said Jim Orr, head of distribution at Universal. "It's harder for a comedy to outperform today because of the significant investments that are currently being invested in an opening weekend. But we have kept up with the basic principles: make a quality movie with good partners, find the best opening weekend for the movie and put an excellent marketing behind this one. "

Read also: "The art of running in the rain" is about to become another failure for the rugged Fox box office year

This was the case for "Girls Trip" and "Night School", two Universal films that became the most popular original comedies in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Both were produced by Will Packer Productions, a studio with which Universal signed a first-strike deal. Both films received a release for the third quarter, with "Girls Trip" scheduled for late July as an alternative to hit movies like "Spider-Man: Homecoming," while "Night School" took advantage of Girls' growing fame. Trip "by Tiffany Haddish. was scheduled for release in September.

Backed by solid marketing aimed primarily at African-American audiences, "Girls Trip" grossed $ 115 million and "Night School" $ 77.3 million. Orr noted that the push for diversity since #OscarsSoWhite has been accompanied by increased interest in ethnic comedies, which has helped these two films and Warner Bros.'s adaptation. of "Crazy Rich Asians" last year.

But "Good Boys" is not based on that, so Universal has taken a somewhat different approach. Like the other two films, its release is scheduled for the third quarter, two weeks after the release of the last big blockbuster of the summer, "Hobbs & Shaw". After that, the studio commercialized the film mainly on the gag as his three main lead sons – led by "Room" star Jacob Tremblay – were too young to see their own movie. A high score of 80% of Rotten Tomatoes on behalf of critics has completed the preparation of an opening weekend that has exceeded expectations.

Read also: Disney has already beaten its own annual box office record with $ 7.67 billion

"I'm really proud of the fact that the demographics of" Good Boys "are so diverse," Orr said, citing Postrak's polls that indicated a 47% opening audience of Caucasians, 25% Latinx and 14% African American.

"For me, it's a sign of the strength of our marketing team," added Orr. "Every year we have a very varied palette from Will Packer's comedies to the horror Blumhouse, but our marketing team finds a way to ensure that these films, particularly the original films, are presented to moviegoers in a in a way that really arouses their interest. "

"Good Boys" is not going to become another "Ted" or "Bridesmaids" for Universal. But, for the moment, comedy is still part of the studio's success at the box office, year after year, while other studios have had more sporadic successes.

And with a comedy by Judd Apatow on their slate of the summer of 2020, Universal seems to be engaging in the genre for the foreseeable future.