Seth Rogen is one of the most successful people in Hollywood when it comes to comedy. Through movies like Superbad, This is the End and Pineapple Express, he has helped shape the face of studio comedies for more than a decade. But Rogen says that his movies, and all comedies, are now competing directly with Marvel movies, which have become more comedic in nature.
While promoting his new movie An American Pickle, Seth Rogen revealed that movies Marvel movie like Thor: Ragnarok, which was very comedic compared to previous entries in the franchise, have offered audiences a lot of bang for the buck. As such, a comedy like Neighbors is competing more directly with the massively popular blockbusters. Here’s what Rogen had to say about it.
“Something that me and [producing partner] Evan [Goldberg] talk about a lot is how Marvel movies are comedies. Thor: Ragnarok is a comedy. Ant-Man is a comedy at its core. So that’s what’s out there. There are $200 million comedies out there, and so that’s something, as a comedic filmmaker, to be aware of. That is the benchmark that people expect! If you’re going to make a big huge comedy, just know that your competition is like Marvel. Not to say you should not make those types of films, but know that’s what audiences are seeing, and that, when you see those movies in theatres, they are playing like comedies. They are legitimately funny and star comedy stars.”
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has done a great job at blending humor and spectacle. But in the eyes of the consumer, Seth Rogen has a point. When movie theaters are operating like normal, people are choosy about how they spend money at the box office. If they can get more from a single experience, like with Ant-Man, they are likely to go that route. Speaking further, Rogen elaborated.
“That’s something we talk about a lot, just to be aware of as filmmakers. These huge budget films function like comedies. Audiences still love comedy, and they want that, Deadpool, but the scope of them is huge. So when you’re not offering them that scope, you have to think, ‘What am I offering them?’ That’s why something like Good Boys does well, because we’re not offering scope. What we’re offering is pure comedy and emotion and relatability and nostalgia. That’s the trade-off. You don’t get to see the God of Thunder being hilarious, but you get to see something that maybe represents your actual life, and that’s very gratifying in another way.”
Fortunately for Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and fans of comedies, the genre is far from dead. As Rogen explains, mid-budget comedies, which are often cited as a dying art, continue to succeed under the right conditions. Rogen has a few recent examples in his own filmography.
“Movies like Sausage Party and Blockers have managed to do really, really well, even though they’re the exact type of thing that people say doesn’t do that well. But then every once in a while we’ll have a Neighbors that does really, really, really well. It allows us to keep making them.”
Granted, a comedy will certainly never make the $1 billion that something like Thor 4 might be able to. But that doesn’t mean both things can’t exist. It just means that filmmakers must have something to offer the consumer that a Marvel movie doesn’t. This news comes to us via GamesRadar.
