Box Office Mojo Finds No Bawdy Comedies After 2019
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- The Rewatchables highlighted a stark gap in 2020s mainstream comedies during a discussion of 1990s film "There's Something About Mary".
- Box Office Mojo reports that none of the top‑100 highest‑grossing bawdy comedies were released after 2019, indicating the genre’s disappearance from mass cinema.
- Amazon produced the 2022 hybrid comedy "You're Cordially Invited" but largely focuses on action‑comedy hybrids and romcoms, while Netflix has shifted its comedy budget to stand‑up and Adam Sandler deals, with recent Sandler releases being dramas.
- Major comedy creators such as Adam McKay, Judd Apatow, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and Tina Fey have largely abandoned film comedy, moving to political projects, production roles, TV series, or drama.
- Indie‑style films like "The Drama" and Tim Robinson’s "Friendship" blend humor with darker or uncomfortable themes, showing that pure‑hearted mainstream comedies are now rare.
- Judd Apatow is slated to direct a new comedy "The Comeback King" next year, suggesting a possible revival of the genre.
Why it matters: Studios and streaming platforms lose a low‑budget, high‑return comedy market as blockbusters dominate, while the few remaining indie projects and veteran creators’ tentative returns may be the only avenue for audiences seeking pure‑hearted humor, and prompting studios to double‑down on franchise sequels.
