‘Funny People’ Opens Modestly with $23.4 mil
Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen in Funny People
Much like its mature tone, Funny People opened more like a drama than previous Apatow efforts. While the film opened lower than Sandler and Apatow’s biggest hits, its estimated $23.4 million opening weekend is a respectable number for a more adult-orientated dramedy.
Earlier in the week, pre-release tracking was predicting an opening weekend above $30 million. Following Friday night’s $8.6 million opening, Saturday’s numbers dipped to $7.4 million. All eyes are on word-of-mouth buzz to see if Funny People continues to draw crowds next weekend; The film cost more than double (almost triple) the $20-30 million budgets of previous Apatow productions such as The 40-Year Old Virgin and Superbad.
So where exactly do the Funny People opening numbers fall, and what range can it end up in? Here are some R-Rated Comedy comparables:
Seth Rogen
- The Hangover - $44.97m opening ($255.7m domestic total)
- Wedding Crashers - $33.90m opening ($209.5m domestic total)
- Superbad - $33.05m opening ($121.46m domestic total)
- Step Brothers - $30.94m opening ($100.4m domestic total)
- Knocked Up - $30.69m opening ($148.77m domestic total)
- Funny People - $23.4m opening
- The 40-Year-Old Virgin - $21.42m opening ($109.4m domestic total)
- Role Models - $19.16m opening ($67.29m domestic total)
- I Love You, Man - $17.8m opening ($71.44m domestic total)
- Forgetting Sarah Marshall - $17.72m opening ($63.17m domestic total)
- Old School - $17.45m opening ($75.58m domestic total)
Keep in mind, Funny People is both more dramatic and expensive than the other selections on the list.
What we want to know is what our readers thought of Funny People. Chime in below!
great movie but it kind of dragged in the third act.
The final numbers are going to drop, as that $23.4 includes a miniscule 3% Sunday drop (where the other films in the top ten are estimating drops in the 20% range).
While I think there are funnier set-pieces in Virgin and Knocked Up, I thoroughly enjoyed Funny People. The story was very moving, and while it is true the third act doesn’t live up to the incredible note-perfect first and second acts, I did enjoy how the story played out. The end of the movie functioned somewhat like The Break-Up in that it did not play out in a conventional way. The movie is ambitious and challenging, but to me that’s a good thing.
Gotta say, though. That shot at the end of the movie of some pieces of paper was very moving. If this is “disappointment” from Apatow, then I’ll take that any day!
That said, I’d be very surprised is Apatow’s next writing/directing gig isn’t more like Virgin with comedic set-pieces.
I want a full Crossman review, sir!
apatow’s best not his funniest but his best
the movie is really good BUT i think a lot of people will be disappointed as most of the trailers play it as purely a comedy. So i can see it not getting great word of mouth.
As I predicted, final actual box office numbers for Funny People were $22.66 million.
The movie is underperforming and can be a challenge for some audience members. But I think those people are really missing out on one of the best movies of the year.