THB #477: Comedy In Movie Theaters

There has been a lot of buzz about Anyone But You grossing 10x opening weekend and how this is an important landmark for comedy - specifically romantic comedy - in movie theaters.

The film should top out domestically around $80 million, which is, indeed, impressive in the context of recent years. So let’s tip the hat to Will Gluck, who directed Emma Stone in the first film that showed that she was going to be an important actor (Easy A), grossed an unexpected $150m worldwide with Friends With Benefits, kicked himself in the balls with his reboot of Annie, but then came back quick with Peter Rabbit ($351m worldwide), and now, another unexpected hit.

Now that respect has been paid, I want to dig into the numbers.

Many of us have had the discussion in the last number of years, trying to figure out why distributors have essentially taken the comedy out of the mix in theaters. It’s been frustrating to watch. Like straight dramas before it, part of the thinning of theatrical has been comedies. And comedies, traditionally, have stood as one of the cheapest genres, delivering what has seemed to be a consistent return on investment.

I went back 12 years, taking into account that 2020 and 2021 were pretty much dead years. The idea was to go back 10 fully activated years.