Ahead of the film’s opening over the weekend, the Jennifer Lawrence-led R-rated comedy, No Hard Feelings entered box office tracking expected to open in the $10-13 million range. The opening was forecasted so low because, despite having a star of Lawrence’s magnitude leading the film, the raunchy R-rated comedy has seen a bit of a dry spell on the theatrical front in recent years.
While films of that sort began to thrive in the late ’90s and in the ensuing decade, they began to fall off in popularity and would often be regulated to straight-to-streaming releases. Sony Pictures decided to test the waters once again with No Hard Feelings, giving it a prime summer release date that resulted in a decent opening weekend that could signal there is still life for a dirty good time at the cinema.
No Hard Feelings opened to $15 million over the weekend. While that number does soar to the heights of previous R-rated hits, the fact that the film opened ahead of its box office tracking is a promising sign that movies like this were missed by moviegoers. Some of its success can be attributed to Lawrence herself because she hasn’t been on the big screen since 2019’s Dark Phoenix, and this looked like a fun project to reengage her fanbase.
On the other hand, the film’s red band trailer made sure the audience knew what they were getting into, and it was clear that the comedy would not be holding back. The film, which follows Lawrence as a down-on-her-luck woman who answers a listing to date an introverted 19-year-old (played by Andrew Barth Feldman), harkens back to a time that really isn’t that long ago at the multiplex, but it has been missed. The communal aspect of howling at jokes in a crowded theater just can’t be replicated watching at home on a streaming service.
R-Rated Comedies Once Ruled the Box Office
Comedies along these lines infiltrated the pop culture zeitgeist in the late ’90s with releases like There’s Something About Mary and American Pie. What they had in common was, while they pushed the R-rated comedy’s boundaries, they also had a lot of heart that made them more than movies that could only thrive on their jokes alone.
They featured likable and relatable characters, which made many of the NSFW jokes earned rather than tolerated. As we entered the ‘2000s, this brand of comedy continued to thrive with big successes such as Old School, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Wedding Crashers, and, of course, Superbad. Even though the comedic leads that spearheaded these projects would change over the years, they all still had a similar DNA that made them a hit with audiences. It really appeared as if comedy was king at the box office.
Moviegoers continued to get more hits heading into the 2010s, with the likes of The Hangover, Bridesmaids, Ted, 21 Jump Street, 22 Jump Street, and Neighbors giving viewers something to laugh about. In fact, some of these films even ranked among some of the top-highest-grossing domestic titles of the respective years that they were released.
You could argue that along with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there was an R-Rated Comedic Cinematic Universe that kept butts in the seats. Unfortunately, viewing habits began to change as the streaming era became more prominent, and movies like this felt less like events that needed to be seen in theaters and were more suited to be watched at home for an arguably cheaper price.
As many of the trades discussed the box office potential of No Hard Feelings ahead of its opening weekend, it was made clear that the marketplace had been void of a true theatrical hit from this genre in recent years. Oddly enough, the director of No Hard Feelings, Gene Stupnitsky, saw success in 2019 with the release of Good Boys, an R-rated comedy with foul-mouthed little kids as its hook. The film grossed $111 million globally on a $20 million budget, but most quickly pointed out that it was in 2019, so it has been four years between that film and No Hard Feelings.
It’s a big gap considering how much these films used to come out in previous years. For a movie in a similar vein to No Hard Feelings, you’d have to go back to 2015 and the release of Trainwreck. Directed by Judd Apatow and starring Amy Schumer, that film became a hit with critics and audiences, grossing $140.8 million worldwide on a $35 budget. What’s significant here once again is the gap between releases—a reason why the industry seemed so unsure how No Hard Feelings would actually perform.
Times Have Changed for the R-rated Comedy
No Hard Feelings was sought after by streamers before they were all outbid by Sony Pictures. The studio likely saw some potential in the film to reinvigorate the R-rated comedy theatrically, but streamers being interested in the project should come as no surprise.
Since 2022, there has been a slew of R-rated comedies that have debuted on streaming, such as Netflix’s You People, which was led by Eddie Murphy and Jonah Hill, Senior Year, starring Rebel Wilson, and Me Time, starring Kevin Hart and Mark Wahlberg. There was a time when it would be no question that these films would’ve seen a theatrical release, but times have certainly changed.
It’s interesting to note that many comedies tend to be low-cost efforts that could make them appealing for a theatrical run, but the price tags likely make them even more attractive for a cost-effective streaming launch. On paper, No Hard Feelings looks like a low-cost endeavor. Still, questions about its reported budget had come into question when a star like Lawrence reportedly commanded $25 million for the film. The movie will need legs, and if word of mouth is strong, it could continue to be one of the comedic choices of the summer.
It is true that what many are willing to accept in their comedies has also changed in recent years. A bit of a cultural shift has made comedy safer out of necessity because so many are too afraid to potentially offend.
In the wake of the #MeToo movement, discussions and depictions of sexuality have been monitored more closely. That can be problematic in an R-rated comedy where sex is at the forefront of the plot. Filmmakers will have to be willing to take risks despite these potential limitations. In the case of No Hard Feelings, the film includes nudity and much more R-rated content that proves it was willing to take those risks.
Even though No Hard Feelings has arguably received the most publicity ahead of its release, other R-rated comedies are set to make a case that this genre can continue to thrive theatrically. We’ve already seen the release of the horror-comedy The Blackening, which took advantage of the Juneteenth holiday to an opening of $7 million. This isn’t a huge figure, but given the film’s modest $5 million budget, its take of $12.3 million to date should give Lionsgate a little bit of a profit.
The rest of the summer also sees the release of Joy Ride, a film that follows four Asian-American friends as one searches for their birth mother. Starring Oscar-nominee Stephanie Hsu and Ashley Park, the movie has received positive responses from early screenings that could turn it into a surprise hit.
There is also the live-action Strays, which features dogs voiced by Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx that go on a quest to seek revenge against one of their negligent owners. The trailer has played well to a packed crowd, and there is hope that Universal Pictures can turn that into box office gold.
The future of the raunchy R-rated comedy won’t rest solely on the success or failure of these aforementioned films, but studios are likely paying very close attention to them. It’s possible that we will never see the heyday of this brand of laughter that denominated in the late ’90s and through the 2000s. Still, a successful run for some of these recent releases in theaters could lead to us laughing together as a crowd in a movie theater more often than we have in recent years.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
