Disappearance of Major Film Studio Comedies on Large Screens
In the bustling world of cinema, a notable shift has taken place over the past decade. Comedy films that are comedy-first, not merely quippy superhero movies with comedic elements or genre flicks with balancing hints of levity, have seemingly decreased significantly since the mid-2010s.
This trend, while not explicitly discussed in search results, is rooted in various factors. Changing audience preferences, the rise of streaming platforms, risk aversion from studios, marketing challenges, and the universal appeal of spectacle-driven genres have all contributed to this decline.
Josh Greenbaum, director of the cult hit Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, has observed this scarcity of classic mid-budget theatrical studio comedies. Greenbaum, who is currently working on a sequel to the classic comedy Spaceballs, believes this decline is a cyclical trend in the movie industry.
In contrast, the 1990s and 2000s saw a plethora of comedies gracing movie theaters at any given time. In 2004 alone, films such as Napoleon Dynamite, Without a Paddle, EuroTrip, Meet the Fockers, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Alone in the Dark, 13 Going on 30, 50 First Dates were released in the multiplex.
Akiva Schaffer, director of the iconic comedy The Naked Gun, shares Greenbaum's perspective on the decrease in momentum for comedies. Schaffer, who appreciates the comedies of the mid-2000s, questions whether he would receive more scripts and higher paychecks if comedies were more popular.
The genre of comedies at the multiplex has gone largely unnoticed until now due to the decline of cinema-going at large. However, this weekend, the well-reviewed spoof sequel The Naked Gun is being released, feeling like an outlier in the current landscape of cinema.
Greenbaum and Schaffer, along with other industry insiders, express their hopes for the future of mid-budget comedies. They look forward to upcoming projects by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, and continue to work towards bringing laughter to the big screen.
The style of comedies in the movie industry appears to have shifted over the past decade, with a decline in the production of classic mid-budget theatrical studio comedies. This transition can be noticed in contrast to the fashion of the 1990s and 2000s, where comedies were a primary staple of the entertainment industry, with numerous releases in multiplexes.
