Box Office - 'Funny People' Draws Fewer People Than Expected

I don't think Universal, which on Thursday announced a new three-picture deal with Judd Apatow, figured their new collaboration would have a slightly disappointing opening weekend. Though Funny People isn't exactly a comedy on the level of The 40-Year-Old Virgin or Knocked Up, he's got a loyal audience and this film stars Adam Sandler, who has had his share of hits. Instead, the $75 million movie will struggle to make back its money in the U.S. A debut well below the general projections of around $30 million is not an encouraging start for a movie that will probably lose some future ticket sales because it's not an outright comedy. The opening weekend was $23 million, the worst of this summer's R-rated comedies, which is something of a surprise because of the three-headed monster of Apatow, Sandler, and Seth Rogen. It was enough to win the weekend, but its best day was Friday, which doesn't bode well for the future. Harry Potter finally showed some stability, taking second place with nearly $18 million. That's a little less than a million dollars north of G-Force, last week's number one. I'm still not positive it can make another $45 million to put it over $300 million in the states, but it's now in the ballpark with five of the other Potter films. The week's other two releases weren't really worth discussing. Aliens in the Attic finished in fifth place with less than $8 million, while The Collector didn't; the new horror movie wasn't even in the top ten. We've been following the astonishing run of The Hangover for a couple months, and it just keeps rolling. I mentioned when Bruno failed to knock its opening weeend out of the park that The Hangover would continue to be the popular choice for male-driven R-rated comedies. Since Bruno's debut, it's made $29 million and The Hangover has made $32 million, putting its total close to $260 million. Now, to become the second-biggest R-rated movie ever, it would need almost $30 million more. That would be really, really difficult, but nine weeks in, it's still in the top ten, ahead of Transformers, The Proposal, and Bruno, all former number ones that opened weeks after it. The Top Five:
1 - Funny People ($33 million)
2 - Harry Potter ($17.7 million)
3 - G-Force ($17 million)
4 - The Ugly Truth ($13 million)
5 - Aliens in the Attic ($7.8 million)

Comments

[Chad]

well to be honest the funny people trailor didn't really make me laugh or really even crack a smile. I think this is more a business movie than a commercial movie. It might be a cult movie for comedians or something.

[Jeff]

The positive reviews have made me want to see Funny People but they did a horrible job marketing it. The trailers made it look awful. The Die Hard joke - not funny. The Harry Potter joke - even worse. My guess is they assume they can be lazy with the marketing and just throw Apatow's name up there and it will be a hit.

[Wil002]

I feel from the trailers the movie was marketed to look "sappy" and I prefer my comedies to be more raunchy with a dash of a "sapp"

[Orinn]

I agree with above. marketing was poor, and what little there was did not make me want to see the movie.
Also the "the collector" I don't even remember seeing a trailer for this, or any advertising at all.