Can Big-screen Comedy Survive The Superhero Era?

Can Big-screen Comedy Survive The Superhero Era?

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Days before the opening of the Will FerrellAmy Poehler comedy “The House,” producer Adam McKay could see the writing on the wall. The box-office forecast for the film wasn’t looking good.

In the end, “The House” opened with just $8.7 million, the latest in an increasingly long line of comedy flops. “The House” may have had its problems (Warner Bros. opted to not even screen it for critics) but what stood out about the result was how dispiritingly typical it was.

“This has just been happening a lot. If it’s not our comedies, it’s other comedies from friends of ours that just are underperforming very consistently,” said McKay, whose production company with Ferrell makes a handful of comedies a year.

Unless the upcoming “Girls Trip” - promoted as the black, female version of “The Hangover” breaks out, this summer will likely pass without a big comedy hit. “Rough Night,” ‘’Baywatch” and “Snatched” have all disappointed despite the star power of Scarlett Johansson, Dwayne Johnson and Amy Schumer, respectively. The lone sensation has been the Kumail Nanjianiled, Judd Apatow produced “The Big Sick.” But that Lions gate-Amazon release is a specialty one; it’s made $6.8 million in three weeks of limited release.