Carl Icahn Now Wants ALL Of Lionsgate 
Action Comedy TV: Showrunner Matt Nix 
SAG National Board Approves Joint Bargaining … 
SATURDAY PM/SUNDAY AM: Early overall numbers show it was this summer's first soft weekend at the domestic box office. Moviegoers puzzled whether Universal's Funny People was a comedy or dramedy (more the latter) as Adam Sandler continued his cold streak playing serious and Judd Apatow stretched beyond his usual raunchy laffers. The studio all along tried to lower expectations by predicting an opening weekend of $25 million. But the pic couldn't get there and settled for a disappointing $23.4M. It's one of the lowest results for Sandler, who has a great record opening comedies in the $30sM and $40sM. Playing in 3,008 North American theaters, Funny People comfortably debuted #1 but with low results: $8.6 million Friday and then dropping 17% to $7.4 million Saturday. Universal execs begged wanted director Apatow to shorten the 2-hour, 25-minute movie -- especially the last half-hour starring his wife Leslie Mann. (See Behind-The-Scenes Of Apatow & Universal) But Judd has made so much money for so many studios, and especially Universal, as a writer, director and producer that he'd earned the right to take more creative license than just make another big commercial hit which the suits would have liked better. (Indeed, top critics gave the film only 47% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.) No matter: Apatow will direct his next 3 films at Universal. But Funny People, like the studio's Bruno, didn't live up to its tracking, which showed big and broad 4-quadrant appeal, and the most interest coming from young men and even older females. Based on that, rival studios thought the pic could get into the $30sM and even hit $40M. Nope. Given the studio's troubles at the box office this summer, Funny People must make at least $100M domestic and will be hard pressed to get there. 
Its cost is estimated at $70M-$100M. (Relativity co-financed this film behind Universal's distribution fee. Sony has a piece of it because Sandler, who has a deal there, insisted on it.) It won't get near Apatow's other two directorial efforts, The 40-Year Old Virgin which made over $177M worldwide and Knocked Up over $219M globally.
Jerry Bruckheimer's first 3-D foray, Disney's G-Force about secret agent guinea pigs -- hey, the studio just sells them, not smells them -- made $5.7M Friday and $6.4M Saturday for #2, or -40% from its 1st play finish last weekend. The pic scored a $17.2M weekend for a new cume of $66.6M. Helped by $3.2M generated by 166 IMAX screens, Warner Bros' Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince was #3 earning $5.2M Friday and $6.6M Saturday for a $17.2M weekend and cume of $254.9M. Sony's Ugly Truth was #4, taking in $4.4M Friday and $4.7 Saturday for a $12.8M weekend (-51% from last weekend's) and $54.2M cume. And New Regency/Fox's blatant E.T. rip-off Aliens In The Attic eked out only $2.8M Friday and $2.8M Saturday from 3,106 venues for an expectedly weak $7.8M opening weekend. Overall, the weekend was around $120M, down 20% from last year when The Dark Knight dominated.
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Not surprising. The trailer was uninspiring to say the least.
I didn’t predict Funny People but I knew people were overpredicting it. 40 million my butt but even I didn’t think that it would come in this low.
The trailers were pretty lame, the Die Hard joke did make me laugh though. I think this failure is going to hurt Seth Rogen (who had bomb this year with Observe and Report)and Apatow more than Sandler.
Not surprising… “Funny People” was marketed as another stoner comedy when in reality it’s a personal, ambitious character study of a comedian that doesn’t quite succeed.
What is surprising is that it cost $70 million to make. Unless that includes marketing costs, Judd must have payed his buddies a fortune.
let’s hope the nightmare is over… apatow’s “humor” is played… and sandler is about as interesting as a box of hair…
SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! So Sandler lives in the movie, but the movie has died. Saw this tonight. Long, self-indulgent and the audience disconnect during the third hour of this rambling mess was palpable. A noble effort, but not what this studio needed right now.
Just returned from seeing this and I’m STILL feelin’ it. Great film. Funny. Sad. Memorable. I’m only mildly surprised by the numbers. I mean, you can’t exactly expect this to open to normal Apatow numbers as this is not your normal Apatow film. My friends dug it, the rest of the crowd seemed to enjoy it as well. I suspect word of mouth will take this thing to the century mark.
Why am I not surprised? It was playing on at least 3 screens in one of the area’s better theaters, and virtually no one showed up for it. I counted less than 10 people at the screening I was at.
Probably because that last half hour sank the movie like an anchor. Make with the funny Judd, I could give a crap about your families home videos.
Funny People was cost $75 million to make. Adam Sandler and Eric Bana have box office draw in overseas. So Funny People would still be a moneymaker afterall.
“hey, the studio sells them, not smells them” (re: G-Force critters)
Nikki…this is so beneath you. Seriously.
Also, the main criticism about Funny People is dead-on: the third act completely torpedoes it. As soon as Apatow’s wife and children take center stage for almost forty minutes, all of the narrative goodwill that had been established up until that point with a fine balancing of comedy and drama is squandered. It’s a shame because there’s lots of funny and touching moments that occur before it totally collapses. It’ll likely go on to be a middling success at best by dint of equally alienating fans of raunch with the third act and fans of tenderness with much of the prior two acts. Hopefully within JA’s next three pictures he’ll be able to firmly decide if he wants to provide entertainment for frat boys or grandmas, because either route will yield more user-friendly results than here where the primary audience is ultimately revealed to be himself and his immediate family. At the end of the day the film boils down to being a 70-million-dollar home movie. I doubt he’ll ever be granted such carte blanche again. I’m sure the concluding segments were a blast to film for the cast and crew but the audience is kept at arm’s length from partaking in the revelry.
“Jerry Bruckheimer’s first 3-D foray, Disney’s G-Force about secret agent guinea pigs — hey, the studio just sells them, not smells them…”
Thank you for this wonderful Saturday morning laughter.
Eric Bana is a box office draw overseas?
I don’t think Eric Bana is a box office draw anywhere. Maybe in Australia is one?
From day one people knew this film was going to be more expensive than it looked. There is no way this film cost a penny less than $100m.
Everyone got their quotes and the film had a luxurious shoot in LA. Personally I’m looking forward to it, but let’s be real here people. At least Universal co-financed it with Sony.
Everyone’s tracking numbers seem out of whack recently. I’ve heard numbers ranging from $25-30m all the way to $50m for GI Joe’s opening next weekend.
They can’t both be right!
This is saddening. I saw a test screening of the film and I thought it was incredible. This is coming from someone who hates Apatow’s work. I was really hoping it would do better but, o-well.
Honestly, it should have only cost $30mm to make, i don’t see how in the name of hell it cost 70
This was one of the most self indulgent, overly long and painfully drawn out movies I have seen in a long time. It felt so contrived, uninspiring and some parts just did not make sense or fit in to the movie. Apatow’s collegaite jokes get old fast and it almost felt like the movie’s sole purpose was to show case his not so talented wife. Sorry Judd, the jig is up!
Saw FUNNY PEOPLE last night and liked it. An entertaining look at the whole success/failure in LA/showbiz world, while taking on a bigger, more important issue. I’ve known people like Sandler and Rogen’s characters, as well as Schwartzman and Hill’s. Accurate. Try it. Although ther neanderthal teen fanboys next to me “didn’t get it”. Won’t do $100 million.
Also liked 500 DAYS OF SUMMER. Stylish, funny, and in the end, true. Nice to see Levitt as a romantic leading man and Zooey D. is as quirky/cute as ever. A very good debut for the director. Another winner for Fox Searchlight and makes up for MY LIFE IN RUINS.
Both get Thumbs Up.
As I’ve said before, watching a Judd Apatow film is like watching a dog lick his own nuts. I can’t believe people are actually comparing him to John Hughes. Hughes knew how to be funny without being vulgar. His films are classics, while Apatow’s will collect dust in the 99 cent bin at Target. And now we can look forward to three more films from him at Universal. Wait, I’ve already got the titles for you, Judd…Bong Boy, I Love Seth Rogen, and #%@#$%*&!! Lap It Up, Useful Idiots!
Someone has to grow a pair and tell Apatow to keep the next one around 100 minutes if not less. Nobody wants to see a comedy (or dramedy or whatever) over two hours long. Longer even than Broadcast News, which was the nadir of the overlong dramedy.
@Robert Kallio: Not that I’m shocked by your reveal, but wouldn’t your point been just as well served without spoiling the movie for those (like me) who are going to see the movie today–like, on the second of its f*cking release? Please edit yourself next time.
The movie is deep and emotional. This morning I woke up and am still thinking about it and feeling it. It might have been a little long for those expecting a straight-up comedy. Something that makes you think like that might not have as broad an appeal, but it doesn’t mean it’s not a great movie. In fact,this is a really,really great movie that will stand the test of time.
I thought the movie was brave, funny and sad and my husband and I really enjoyed it. Seth Rogen is hilarious. However, fans of Adam Sandler don’t want to see him in more serious roles–remember that Paul T. Anderson film? He’s not exactly an “actor.”
“Funny People was cost $75 million to make. Adam Sandler and Eric Bana have box office draw in overseas. So Funny People would still be a moneymaker afterall.
Comment by maria”
Yes, but Sony has it overseas whihch doesn’t help Universal there.
Love how many haters there are on this blog… see the goddamn movie and then write back, Lil’ Suzy. It’s okay — you D-Men/Women don’t have to HATE EVERYTHING. Your jobs were never secure — so what if a smart film does well… you were NEVER gonna develop one anyways.
Now get to work on World War Robot — as far as I can tell, that thing isn’t even a comic, it’s a 23 page sketch book. Am busy drawing “ideas” on a roll of toilet paper myself … “Dizzy — get me Jerry Bruckheimer!”
Two problems:
1) It’s called Funny People yet there’s not one laugh in the trailer. Ooops.
2) What the hell is it about? Funny People? Sure. But what’s the story? 40 Year Old Virgin, got it. Knocked Up, got it. But Funny People? Is this going to be a “Tears of the clown” story? No thanks.
Your dose of reality from the heartland.
MANY audience walkouts during the last hour of Funny People last night.
Not a surprise. There are NO Funny People at Sandler’s Production company, “Happy Madison”… only wannabe/posers who are living off Sandler’s generosity. Anyone seen “Rules Of Engagement”? That sums it up nicely.
I guess the so called ‘magic touch’ is no more for Apatow! Thanks audiences for finally telling him how stupid his movies were and will be. Universal now is going to knock their heads on the wall for thinking the midas touch of a director is like forever…
FYI! Both Eric and Adam are not Box office draw overseas. Its the movies that carries them and not the other way round
You want Box office draws overseas..think Cruise, Hanks, Smith, Kidman and the likes.
Nikki, Find out how much G-Force cost Disney. It’s a lot more than they are hinting at.
[SPOILER ALERT]
I was really pissed the trailer gave away the fact that George lives, ruining about 75% of the movie.
The trailer for Funny People*
Even though Apatow has a good track record, movies where Sandler gets serious (i.e. Spanglish, Punch Drunk Love)don’t tend to do very well at the box office. And the previews for this don’t make it look like the next Knocked Up. The reviews have been polite, but nobody is that excited about it. And some major critics flat-out hated it.
“What is surprising is that it cost $70 million to make. Unless that includes marketing costs, Judd must have payed his buddies a fortune.”
It’s not all that surprising. Movies starring Adam Sandler tend to cost that much, well except for maybe Reign On Me and Punch-Drunk Love.
Wow, Universal’s summer went way wrong. There were a lot of good bets on the slate and none of them clicked, including this one. And has there been a drop of buzz about their offerings NEXT summer? Correct me if I’m wrong but this is the same studio that passed on making GI Joe and Transformers.
Saw it last night.
Had a similar feeling watching Elizabethtown.
Not that Judd Apatow is even a 1/4 of the film-maker that Cameron Crowe is, but the self-indulgence was nearly unbearable.
There was some good stuff, but with so much to be annoyed by, it’s hard to appreciate the moments that were enjoyable.
Is there not a single exec at Universal who had the cajones to tell the guy to edit?
One can only hope this will end Hollywood’s tired romance with Seth Rogen. Surprisingly, Sandler is not the problem with this film.
Everything else is. Leslie Mann is not a leading lady, doesn’t matter how hard this is pushed by her loving hubby, the public isn’t buying it.
There were GROANS last night in the audience.
Eric Bana was a nice touch, however. And the most chatter coming out of the theater was people surprised that he’s more than an action man.
Best line coming out of the theater: “I TOLD YOU we should have just seen The Hangover again! You reTARD!”
Take a look at last night’s Facebook and Twitter updates. Even the people who liked it said it was wasn’t what they expected and it was “waay too long”. Those people aren’t going to see it again this week, and their reviews aren’t going to get undecideds into the theater, either.
@maria Sandler big overseas? No. And save possibly the UK, Apatow’s movies are even less popular overseas than other American comedies. Domestic box office makes or breaks these kinds of films, because the foreign audience prefers action, animation, and even our art films to the main stream comedies. “Funny People” is the second comedic disappointment of the summer.
Have to imagine it’s a miserable summer for Paradigm when its two biggest stars, Michael Cera and Katherine Heigl, star in severly under-performing movies.
Kind of makes you wonder how long it’ll be ’till they bolt to bigger agencies.
Unless FP has good word-of-mouth over the next week or so, this is gonna drop out of sight.
Apatow, please make a mental note: Longer isn’t always better (comedies usually are better off when they’re less than two hours long). Plus, $70 million for a comedy isn’t a great idea (especially for on-location shooting). If L.A. is too costly for the studio, you’re gonna have to go someplace else.
Like I said:
#
Movies about comedians have not done well for some reason. It might be because underneath the humor, all comics are backstabbing, assholes who’d screw their mothers for a dime.
I think the film will under perform and fade fast.
Sorry Judd.
Comment by CineFileX — July 31, 2009 @ 9:33 am
If GREEN HORNET flops, can Seth Rogan finally be returned to the ranks of supporting actor where he belongs? ZACK AND MIRI, OBSERVE AND REPORT, and now here, he’s proven he’s not a marketable leading man. Now I understand why Sony hired Cameron Diaz and Nicolas Cage for that film, they’re probably scared. And they should be, he is NOT the type of actor you can hang a franchise on. As for Universal, not only is this the second high profile disappointment in a row (thanks to BRUNO), they just made a three picture deal with Apatow, who has finally been outed for the overrated, self-indulgent (every movie breaks 2 hrs!) talent he is.
The thing that should be staring Universal and Apatow right in the face – get back into television. Apatow’s great at creating multi-dimensional characters and giving them interesting material. Why NBC hasn’t pushed for an hour-long show from Judd, I just don’t know.
Four friends. Living in L.A. Trying to make the transition from party-boys to responsible adults.
It’s hilarious that Judd Apatow is being called the reigning Hollywood king of comedy just as his bombs start piling up: Funny People, Year One, Drillbit Taylor, Walk Hard… are the suits so cowardly that they’ll greenlight any piece of shit that this guy excretes?
looks like most of the budget was ATL. Janusz Kaminski was the dp… Pretty expensive for a comedy.
Alright so it will make around $23 to $25mill opening weekend which was actually on the lowest end of Universal’s expectations. It’s not really a flop because Universal knew about the soft tracking in certain areas and $25mill was expected on the lower end. It really needs to have decent WOM to make atleast $60 to 65$ mill to become some kind of profit. Yes it’s still a big dissapointment, but with a budget of only 70$ mill it can be saved some.
I heard Apatow on fresh air, said that he had several comics work over A YEAR on Sandler’s stand-up routine and it was NOT FUNNY! The “Funny People” stand-up special on comedy central…not funny! And I agree, Leslie Mann is not a leading lady. Sometimes, the mighty have to fall to re-build themselves as something truer to their original voices…
This is NOT a summer movie. It serves these guys right for being greedy.
I think you can draw comparisons between FP and the comedy material used in Punchline with Tom Hanks and Sally Fields. In both cases, the so-called “comedy bits” from the comics were actually pretty lame. Movies about comics typically bomb — remember “Mr. Saturday Night”?
FP should have been pushed back to a fall/winter release and marketed differently. People are going expecting comedy and they’re getting Terms of Endearment. Wrong time of year to release this movie.
Leslie Mann has to go star in movies not written nor directed by her husband — she’ll end up like Marsha Mason starring in all those silly Neil Simon movies.
Seth Rogen? Outta here! His success came too quickly. Too much. His 15 minutes are almost up. Our next Jim Belushi. Watch for his sitcom on the WB. “The World According to Seth.”
How could a major studio let this guy run 15 minutes of his friends’ and family’s Home Videos, and expect this pic to have good word of mouth? (word-of-mouth: comedies live or die on it.)
I don’t have time to watch my OWN home movies, and isn’t it axiomatic that watching your friends’ kids on videotape is death by boredom?
The movie was mediocre enough even if it maintained a professional standard… What a letdown. I bought tickets opening night and I won’t recommend it to ANYONE. It was a time-killer.
I’m not surprised. First off, it’s called ‘Funny People’ and whenever a title implies its content so blatently, even if it’s has a drama setting it turns out bad for some reason. For example: ‘Last ACTION hero’ and ‘FUNNY about love’.
I saw that Half Blood Prince film yesterday, it was probably funnier and people died in it.
Judd makes movies that are true to his personal vision, his voice and his experience – he hasn’t directed a sequel, remake, reimagining, or anything based on an existing property. He doesn’t rely on a corny high concept hooks that would never happen in real life and to the best of my knowledge no one in his three films has been covered with any bodily fluid for “comedic” effect.
How can you NOT love this guy?
Sandlers last three movies have all grossed 100 mil or more overseas. So I think that does make him a boxoffice draw over there.
26 MILLION IS PRETTY GOOD.
I thought it was really funny. Could have cut 20min and not lost a thing though.
Sony co-fi’d but Uni has worldwide distribution rights.
The film cost around 100, with 50 in domestic p and a and 25 in international. There’s also approx 40 million in participation.
You do the math.
This is Apatow’s MAGNOLIA. He’s earned it, it may not be gangbusters at the BO, but it’s an interesting exercise in seeing an artist push himself. I saw it last night and it played well to a full-packed audience. Some of the serious scenes are a bit jarring next to the dick jokes, but there’s no denying it: there were LOTS of laughs, and well into the third-hour. No walkouts. At the end of the day, Apatow’s career will be fine, and he’ll still have the same amount of clout. Since he’s now become a brand, and that will serve him will into the next few decades, he’ll get to make what he wants. It’s better though that he stays in the under $50 million budget range — over that, that’s when things start to go off the rails, too many cooks in the kitchen get involved… I think FP will have strong word of mouth from the masses, and the movie will probably do $75 million domestic. It’s twice the movie than most of the other comedies Apatow produces. Apatow pulled through on this one and trumped my expectations…which were low after seeing the crappy first trailer.
Opening weekends
Knocked Up – 30.7M
40 Year Old Virgin – 21.4M
Pineapple Express – 23.2M
Superbad – 33.1M
Forgetting Sarah Marshall – 17.7M
I never studied math, but it seems like 25-26M is an average Judd opening to me. Yes it cost a lot (and that’s the real issue) but as far as the audience is concerned this is squarely in line with his other major director (or producer) HITS, at least after one weekend. With August being soft in general – and no real comedy competition for weeks – there is no reason to panic yet if you are Sony/Universal.
If you dislike Judd’s work to begin with, fair enough. But then box office and audience reception are irrelevant to how you construct your opinion anyway. And to take seriously the opinions of people who hate Judd/Adam/Seth or who know they hate the movie before seeing it is silly.
But I’ll say this: I liked it more than I thought I would.
The movie is hilarious in parts. Incredibly funny.
But…
(MINOR SPOILER) The last third is a huge mess. Changing tones mid-scene, sometimes mid-sentence, to the point where it doesn’t work at all.
(MINOR SPOILER #2) A five minute scene about your wife’s tush in a two and a half hour film is incredibly self-indulgent.
Too bad it couldn’t maintain the greatness of the first hour and a half. Still worth seeing though.
The only thing I noticed about the trailer for Funny People was how cheap it looked. Evidently, the budget went almost entirely to the director and cast. There must have been about a buck fifty left to make the actual film with.
People are jealous of and therefore enjoy hating on Apatow, and with the possibility of this guy failing, it’s is too tempting not to say some snarky remarks on here and delight in a soft opening weekend for his latest film.
The overall industry is the real culprit that has caused the Apatow hate. You get a success like 40 Year Old Virgin and they interpret that as everyone needs to now go out and write movies just like Apatow’s (seriously I have heard about several instances where an agent will throw the guy’s name around when you pitch your original idea to him/her, as though if what you have to offer doesn’t remotely resemble the Judd Apatow formula/writing style/use of over-the-top vulgarity paired with touching sentimentality, they are not interested at all, whether it’s good or not), oh and/or every movie needs to star Seth Rogen or the like.
The thing is, even if there was no Judd Apatow, the studios still wouldn’t be taking a chance on your original material. They’d be trying to force you to recreate someone else’s success, like that of the Hangover.
And Apatow will be just fine. Unfortunately for those ready to dance on his grave, he’s not going anywhere, he may just have to keep his movies under 2 hours in the future.
This looks to be Apatow’s She’s Having a Baby…he tried to veer in a “new” direction about 2% off the trail and ended up in Cleveland somehow
Apatow’s problem is that eventually people tire of the same comedic sensibility especially when they see it 5-7 times a year from various Apatow Inc. productions…at the same time his idea of artistic growth is to noodle self-indulgently over half-baked existential concepts and characters…that way lies the last half of Woody Allen’s career
How many more lazy, sloppy efforts can even Sandler’s career sustain, for that matter? It’s a little pathetic to see someone with his talent (and salary) bring his C game over and over to these things…like it’s beneath him to break a sweat
You would have to pay me $70M to watch Seth Rogen in a movie.
And for all you Adam Sandler fans I have just two words – Dark Backwards. If you don’t know what that mean you really can’t call yourself an Adam Sandler fan.
What’s next for Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann-Apatow? Is he going to command a 200-million-dollar budget for an epic three-hour remake of Working Girl with her as the title character and Paul Rudd in the Harrison Ford role?
Since when has running time become such a huge issue — it wasn’t an issue for Transformers or for Harry potter or for Apatow’s other effots Knocked Up and Virgin. Leslie Mann is amazing and I hope incontention.com is right and hope that she finally gets nominated (she should have gotten nominated for knocked up for which she got a chicago critics choice nod). It’s a great film — but it is a dramady — but it is also judd apatow and in my mind he is my favorite director right now.
Harland — this is only the third movie that he has directed and both of his first two films were major hits and this one is gonna open over 20 million.
I have no problem with Apatow & Co. churning them out. So long as Todd Phillips doesn’t get to inherit the ‘comedy throne’.
I don’t know how Pillips has managed to get to where he is, but I assume it’s because he knows how to suck a mean d!ck.
Nikki, Funny People is 17 minutes longer than Knocked Up. That’s a lot. Hopefully the soft opening convinces Apatow to be a more judicious cutter; 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up got away with their running times, but Funny People suffered from its
Opened right in line with other apatow directed movied. What’s the cinemascore — with movies like this it’s about legs more than openings.
And how come the rest of the posts are commented on by industry professionals whereas the box office numbers get reviewed by weirdo soccer mom trolls?
Oh my God, it was a very enjoyable film! Put that in your pipe and smoke it d-punks…. your time here is very short.
I think Funny People may have done a little better if they had opened it sooner.
The trailer looked okay when it first began screening, and always generated a good audience response. But by the start of July, I was tired of seeing ads for it. Worse, I felt like I already knew the entire plot, thanks to the trailer.
Then again, has any movie about a fictional stand-up comedian ever done well? None that spring to mind were particularly successful at the box office (ie. The King of Comedy, Jo Jo Dancer, Punchline, Mr. Saturday Night).
Nikki, it always seems that when a “big” movie opens soft, it comes off like you’re routing for it and the production team behind it to fails.
But, this movie deserves a little better than that. It has a few flaws, but it’s a pretty heartfelt love letter from Apatow to comedians and comedy in general. Because, the denouement is basically that funny people ultimately share humor and that it is essentially the best medicine.
And, Apatow laid out a pretty special film in my opinion. You can feel the connection the actors have to the material and to one another in the film. Plus, a Norm MacDonald and Sarah Silverman Cameo.
Comment by Webster — August 1, 2009 @ 7:09 am
Dude he said spoiler alert twice, IN CAPS. That’s the proper etiquette and warning for you to um, stop reading.
Ok, “Funny People” being emotional and deep?
Perhaps it is, but I cannot conceive of a casting that could be worse for conveying those feelings.
This movie will be on the $5.00 DVD rack faster than you can say “Petunia”…
Anonymous re: your comments on Cera and Heigl. Maybe you are right, but I thought Heigl’s movie was well above expectations by all accounts, especially given the less than favorable reviews. It had a modest budget of $38 million and made that in its first week of release.
The more I read about this movie, the more interesting it sounds. I’m looking forward to it now. I’m glad to see Apatow can do movies that are multi-note.
When the best part of the movie is a guest appearance by a rap star what should Apatow have expected. Very disappointed with the movie. BTW I think Vince Vaughan could have played the lead better. Seth was fine in his part.
(MINOR SPOILER #2) A five minute scene about your wife’s tush in a two and a half hour film is incredibly self-indulgent.
Comment by Josephine — August 1, 2009 @ 2:21 pm
..
It was weird that he kept a pair of jeans of hers for 12 years. Pictures – yes Jeans – no
Why Universal continues summer losing streak? “Public Enemies” is on track to gross $200 million worldwide; “Drag Me to Hell” and “Bruno” will also be profitable for Universal. (Universal only paid $42.5 million for buying the right to distribute “Bruno” domestically and in eight foreign territories.)
For Universal, the only real moneyloser in this summer is “Land of the Lost”.
Comment by Alex — August 1, 2009 @ 1:36 pm
Brilliant! Harry Potter 6 was alot more funnier than FP and it was worth every penny and 150mins of my time.
The problem with FP is having a director who doesn’t know the diff btw what is funny and what is not. Worst, over-indulgence is his forte and witnessed in many of his outputs
Nuff said..he is no longer the toast of tinsletown
@ cookmeyer1970:
This is not about jealousy over Apatow’s success. Rather, it’s about oversaturation of Apatow’s name and similarly-written movies surfacing since “40 Year Old Virgin” hit theaters. Plus, his movies have been cheap by studio standards to make ($30 million or less), so it astounds me that Universal shelled out 2.5x that amount for “Funny People.”
Apatow needs to learn control and keep costs down. Just because you rake in the big bucks after two big hits for Universal doesn’t make you immune from scoring your first dud or criticism about your movies being too long.
I enjoyed the Hangover more than any of Judd’s films. I also enjoyed I Love You Man and Role Models more than any of Judd’s films. While his success has obviously earned him the right to push execs around FOR NOW, I say he better hit the next one out of the park. After seeing “Marginally Funny People” I’m more excited for Todd Phillips’s next film. Should have seen ORPHAN instead!!
I watched Funny People at a 10:20 show on a Friday night in Florida. People laughed from beginning to end which is pretty impressive considering how heavy the film is. I didn’t love 40 Year Old Virgin or Knocked Up. But I didn’t dislike them either. Anyone who complains they were too long, I see their point. They were all comedies until the third act. But Funny People is a drama from beginning to end. And it’s great. There is so much hate in these talkbacks. You guys love writing obituaries. Sandler’s career is over. Apatow is finished. Rogen is done. Really? You guys are a joke. What they did with Funny People was amazing. Great film. Too many jaded hacks on this site. You can’t admit you like anything because your names aren’t on anything.
This has been a terrible summer for Universal.
I love the way fans always try to spin a film’s box office performance, saying things like, “It didn’t lose THAT much money”…”It will still make a small profit for them”…etc.
A studio looks at results like this and thinks, “We should’ve gone with that other project.” No one cheers when their stock just manages to break even. The goal is to actually make a good profit.
Maria, you clearly don’t know how the movie business works.
Shmuger = Toast.
You’re delusional if you think Funny People will have box office staying power and longevity. The word on the street is poisonous. Apatow really screwed the pooch with this project. The film was a gross display of a filmmaker being so self-satisfied with what he wrote and what he directed that he had no consideration for making it more digestible for an audience. Somebody should seriously do a fan edit of the film and eradicate every trace of Leslie Mann.
All you Apatow haters sicken me; you probably didn’t make these kind of statements when Spike Lee bombed last year with “Miracle if Anyone Can Sit Through This”, which made far LESS then Funny People will (domestic and overseas), cost even more and (of course) was way more boring throughout…probably because you don’t have the guts to! Also, the tool who put down Broascast News clearly has not taste and can’t comprehend anything more complex than Transformers and bright blinking lights…
Nikki just hates stoners. This Movie is #1 the summer and is traditionally the kind of movie to be slow and steady. watch it break 100 million by September and this film will rent forever. Judd Apatow owns you al it’s just scary. Long Kiss Goodnight was a bomb at less than 5 million for the whole run 24 million is a respectable opening. You all are not so smart
Hows “Hurt Locker” doing? The real story of summer!
Of course, Nikki has failed to mention that Bruno has made more money than The Ugly Truth, yet we hear that Heigl is an A+ Lister while Sasha Baron Cohen’s career is in jeopardy?
I hope people start talking about The Hurt Locker…GREAT film. Probably the only good film on Iraq made so far.
While most of Universal’s summer films will be profitable, that doesn’t mean they’ll make the kind of money U was looking for. Drag Me to Hell was always going to be profitable since it’s a low-risk horror movie, a genre that always makes money. Orphan is already in the black and it’s only been out two weeks, The Collector is as well as it only cost $2.5M. At least Leonardo DiCaprio knew what he was doing when he decided to pony up some cash and co-produce Orphan with Joel Silver. Hollywood would be better off producing more films like that than 70-100M self-indulgent borefests like Funny People.
It’s about time Judd Apatow goes away. His idea of comedy is to talk about people’s private parts and make disgusting, unfunny attempts at jokes about them. Yuck! And Leslie Mann needs to go away. Apatow really needs to get over casting his wife (and now his kids!) in his movies as she isn’t funny or attractive. Her voice is grating and she’s physically underwhelming, to say the least.
Go see The Hurt Locker – it is a great movie and very enjoyable as well.
I respectfully disagree Maria. It is a pretty bad losing streak. When you consider last year Universal had 4 films grossing over 260 million worldwide….
MAMMA MIA! – 602 million
MUMMY 3 – 401 million
WANTED – 341 million
THE INCREDIBLE HULK – 263million
This year they have
FAST AND FURIOUS – 342 million
PUBLIC ENEMIES – 127 million
BRUNO – 119 million
Even if BRUNO and PUBLIC ENEMIES hit 200 million, this is a seriously down year for Universal.
And outside of THE FOURTH KIND and COUPLE’S RETREAT, they don’t have much left that looks encouraging for the rest of the year.
But hey, FUNNY PEOPLE might catch on. I hear it’s good. The trailer just looked awful though.
Scorcese catches flack from studios for the length of his movies. Apatow gets to do what he wants. What’s wrong with this picture?
Rupert P.,
There’s still five months to go and two of the films you’ve listed (Bruno and Public Enemies) are still in theatres. Give me a break.
You know what a tell is, right? An instinctive action that tips poker players to the relative strength or weakness of a player’s hand?
Universal has one.
Whenever you see a poster or ad that starts “From the producer/director/writer/best boy of [big hit] [other big hit] and [blockbuster]” it usually means “Another turd from Universal.”
As soon as I saw that kiss-of-death on “Funny People” I knew it was a loser.
Posting this won’t make any difference. It’s reflexive. They’ll keep doing it.
Not a summer movie. March yes. Late September – October yes. Better than the numbers suggest I think. Major problem : I know a lot of comedians, see plenty of stand-up; their genitalia are not nearly the ongoing subject of their material as this movie would have you believe. Trailer/promotion problem too : The best material was in the trailer and on-line a long time ago. The trailer has been in the theatres a long time. The puerile overtook the potential. One could make the case that all of the leading characters are odious. Worth seeing for the deconstruction of show business in human terms alone however. Apatow is starting to feel formulaic unfortunately and without a back-up plan. All of this aside Adam Sandler (in my opinion) gives a great, and dark DRAMATIC performance. Like Leslie Mann too, but the Cassavetes of Comedic Improv is a stretch and, in a way, the incest is distancing. You also leave with the impression that the relationship between Apatow and Sandler is much more complex, competitive, and twisted than they would have you believe. In the end a good rule of thumb might be : Don’t be having more fun than the audience. If people find the film off-putting, and they can’t quite put their finger on why, it may be that they sense an over-reliance on self-indulgence coasting.
I said Public Enemies and Bruno were not done making money Kirk. But do you really think either one is going to clear 260 let alone 200 million worldwide?
And as far as the next five months go, I said nothing looked too encouraging on the slate outside of COUPLE’S RETREAT and THE FOURTH KIND. COUPLE’S RETREAT did have a funny trailer. Maybe it will be this year’s MAMMA MIA! for Universal. Highly unlikely, but it should do okay.
The point was, it’s been a bad year for Universal. But hey, all studios have them from time to time.
The trouble with Hollywood is that it’s a club not a business. When someone gets anointed it takes ages for the suits to understand the Emperor’s New Clothes reality of many of these choices. JA has been milking the same aggressive juvenalia for years and it actually wore thin ages ago — and so he’s rewarded with a three picture deal. It’s not like there aren’t many other talented funny people out there who can’t even a script read while this guy roles out flop after flop.
The title killed it. “Funny People” so what??.
What’s the damn thing about? I still don’t know. I’m sure it’s a fine film, but would anyone think it a good idea to name the next big thriller, “Very Stressful”???
Perhaps it’s unmarketable, but with a title like “Funny People” the marketing department blew it, no matter how you look at it.
“….watching a Judd Apatow film is like watching a dog lick it nuts.” Perfect description. Where I saw it, people were hissing and walking out. One customer even tried to get a refund from the theater manager.