For years, R-rated comedies were a box office staple, with films like The Hangover, Superbad, and Bridesmaids raking in massive audiences and a lot of money. But in recent years, they’ve all but disappeared from theaters.
Filmmaker Judd Apatow, whose career helped define modern comedy, believes it’s only a matter of time before R-Rated comedies make a big return to theaters.
Speaking with Variety , Apatow said all it takes is “one person with a great idea” to kickstart the genre’s resurgence. “Once there’s another comedy hit, suddenly everyone wants to do it again.”
“These things kind of swing back and forth. If someone made something as funny as The Hangover right now, it would make a billion dollars, and everyone would be trying to do that. It ebbs and it flows, and hopefully it’ll flow soon.”
Some people argue that today’s cultural climate makes it harder to land big comedy hits, but Apatow disagrees, saying that he doesn’t think “political correctness” is what’s holding comedy back. Instead, he believes it’s Hollywood’s obsession with spectacle.
Apatow said: “I don’t think there’s a content obstacle. They tend to want to make things that will play well in Asia. Will people also like this in Bulgaria? Comedy is very local to America.
“The obstacle to getting things done is … everything that gets made [needs] to be the largest thing in the world. Comedy isn’t always meant to be like that. Comedy isn’t like an action movie.”
Still, even if R-rated comedies aren’t dominating the box office right now, streaming has given them unexpected second lives. Apatow explained:
“Everything bubbles up on all these different streamers and networks. Things that you thought disappeared, like Walk Hard, suddenly is insanely popular. Freaks and Geeks seems to be perennially very popular… The Cable Guy. That’s the fun of making these things — they never really disappear.”
Of course, audiences still want to see great comedies, I think Hollywood is just afraid to take the risks on them, which is silly because they are less expensive to produce than the big tent poll films.
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