Hmmm...
Perhaps because politically correct sermonizing, hamfisted social justice warriorism, sanitized, bleached, non offending "jokes" and foul mouthed fat woemen bitching about their vaginas, is not funny.
Summer once gave us 'Hangover' and 'Ted.' Now it gives us 'Tag.' Here's the problem with comedy
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...622-story.html
By JOSH ROTTENBERG
JUN 22, 2018 | 3:00 AM
Summer once gave us 'Hangover' and 'Ted.' Now it gives us 'Tag.' Here's the problem with comedy
In years past, the summertime box office could always be counted on to deliver at least one mainstream comedy smash that would break out of the pack of superhero films, action spectacles and rampaging giant-monster epics.
Think: “The Hangover,” which pulled in $277 million domestically in 2009. Or “Ted,” which grossed $219 million in 2012. Or, more recently, last year’s “Girls Trip,” which took in $115 million.
Alas, this past weekend’s “Tag” — one of the comedy genre’s brighter hopes for this particular summer — was not it.
Despite boasting an ensemble of name actors (including Ed Helms, Jon Hamm, Hannibal Buress, Jake Johnson, Isla Fisher and Jeremy Renner) and a hooky premise that seemed tailor-made for fans of past comedy hits like “Wedding Crashers” (grown men playing a decades-long game of tag), the film took in $14.9 million in its debut, less than a tenth of the haul of the weekend’s other major arrival, Pixar’s “Incredibles 2.”
It also came in lower than the recent openings of Amy Schumer’s “I Feel Pretty” and Melissa McCarthy’s “Life of the Party” — both of which have petered out around or below the $50-million mark domestically.
At a time when comedy is enjoying a boom on the small screen and stand-up comedians are being touted as “the new rock stars,” the genre can’t seem to shake a big-screen slump.
Barring a surprise breakout, this could be the first summer in more than 20 years in which no traditional comedy grosses more than $100 million at the domestic box office.
Speaking to The Times late last year shortly before release of his bizarro satire “Downsizing,” director Alexander Payne spoke sadly of what he saw as the twilight of the era of the broadly appealing mainstream summer comedy.
“Every summer we used to look forward to the big blockbuster comedy,” Payne said. “We used to look forward to ‘Trading Places’ and ‘Ghostbusters.’ ‘What’s the big comedy that’s going to make a ton of money and be delightful?’ I lament the passing of those days.”
Aside from “Girls Trip,” the summer of 2017 proved a veritable bloodbath for major, star-studded studio comedies like “Baywatch,” “The House,” “Snatched” and “Rough Night.” The sheer volume of flops left many who work in comedy wondering when, or if, the genre can get its mojo back.
“I talk about this all the time with my comedy friends — it is rough out there,” said director Rawson Marshall Thurber, whose “Central Intelligence” was a summer comedy success just two years ago, grossing $127 million. Seeing what he calls “a comedy famine at the box office,” Thurber, who also helmed the hits “Dodgeball” and “We’re the Millers,” has lately shifted from the genre that launched his career; his next film, which hits theaters July 13, is the “Die Hard”-esque action film “Skyscraper,” starring Dwayne Johnson.
With each passing year, the multiplexes have become increasingly dominated by big-budget spectacles, many of which have eaten into the turf of the traditional comedy. “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” gave Johnson his biggest domestic hit by pairing him with comedy veterans Kevin Hart and Jack Black and a healthy dose of tent-pole razzle-dazzle. Marvel Studios juggernauts like “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Thor: Ragnarok” deliver as many jokes as action set pieces, while, for all their comic-book trappings, “Deadpool” and its sequel were essentially R-rated action-comedies dressed in spandex.
“Deadpool” screenwriters Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese scored their breakout with 2009 comedy sleeper “Zombieland” but have since found even more success giving the superhero genre a sarcastic makeover with their fellow writer and franchise star Ryan Reynolds.
“I think it’s less that audiences don’t want to see comedy in a theater and more that they do want to see spectacle in the theater,” Reese said. “TV is so good at providing drama and comedy that the movie theater is becoming one of the only places you can see things on a grand stage. It may be that with ‘Deadpool’ we’re just taking advantage of that. We’re providing spectacle and the superhero genre, but then we’re sliding a comedy in, so I think we get the benefit of both genres as opposed to just one.”
“Do people go to the theater to see just a pure comedy anymore?” Wernick wondered aloud. “Boy, I don’t know. It’s truly a shame because I think comedies are such a communal experience. Going to the theater and hearing other people laugh is such a wonderful feeling of community. So we hope by all means that it’s not the end of the traditional comedy because we grew up on that stuff and love it to death.”
LA Times wonders why nobody is going to see comedy movies anymore
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Originally Posted by dannno
I think internet streaming has a lot to do with the drop in ticket sales.
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