There's no way MacGruber doesn't make money. I've heard good stuff about it from comedy nerds who I trust and I think there will be a big life for it on home media. The problem I think was that it didn't underline what it had going for it: The Lonely Island fellas.
On Mon, Jun 7, 2010 at 4:22 PM, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > On Mon, Jun 7, 2010 at 12:05 PM, Mark J. <[email protected]>wrote: > >> >> However, this was the first "SNL" character movie in a decade since >> the contract with Paramount ran out *and* the first movie Michaels has >> made for a Universal unit (Rogue Pictures is co-owned by NBCU and >> Relativity Media and used to be Focus Features' genre label, similar >> to Dimension Films with the Weinstein brothers' companies). It would >> seem to me that the failure of "MacGruber" at the box office would >> sour any future attempts at "SNL" character films for Universal units-- >> and let it be emphasized that the possibility of big screen versions >> of NBC properties were considered in the merger of NBC and Universal. >> > > Is it possible that part of the rationale for these films works the other > way? Even with as poor a box office as they often do, they function as giant > commercials for SNL. > > MacGruber is currently listed as grossing around 8.5M, and when all is said > in done should take in more than 10M. IMDB estimates that it cost 10M to > make (I am not sure if that includes marketing costs - probably not). If, > after foreign and DVD and cable etc, the film essentially breaks even, it > seems like the raised profile of SNL in the popular space, brief and minimal > as it might be, might be of some value (though not sure how that works when > a lot of the popular profile is along the lines of "wow, that sucked"). > > Below is the list of all 11 SNL films (these are limited to films based on > SNL sketches and characters). I am not sure how it will get formatted here, > if not readable see: > http://www.boxofficemojo.com/franchises/chart/?id=snl.htm. Macgruber is > one of the poorest perming films of the year but only the third worst SNL > film on this list (though does not look to be adjusted for inflation). > > Of the 11 listed here I only saw the first three and only kind of liked the > first 2. One thing I notice from the list is that it is not clear what their > criteria are for turning sketches into films. Aside from Wayne and the Blues > Brothers, the only other two sketches that I would rate as above mediocre on > television would be the Coneheads and Stuart, and the Coneheads film was so > divorced from the TV sketch it is hardly fair to include that here. Like > MacGruber (which I can actually tolerate on TV in small but repeated doses) > Stuart can not be taken in anything more than 2 minute stretches. > > The SNL sketch movie I would most like to see: "Lounge Singers" with: Bill > Murray and Paul Shaffer, Jan Hooks and Nora Dunn, and Will Ferrel and Ana > Gasteyer (perhaps with guest appearances by the folks from the Barry Gibb > Show and the Prince show). This would also follow the formula for success, > pointed out in the original article, that the three highest grossing SNL > sketch films heavily featured music. > > > Rank Title (click to view) Studio *Gross* / Theaters Opening / Theaters > Date 1 *Wayne's > World*<http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=waynesworld.htm> > Par. <http://www.boxofficemojo.com/studio/chart/?studio=paramount.htm> * > $121,697,323* 1,878 $18,122,710 1,768 > 2/14/92<http://www.boxofficemojo.com/schedule/?view=bydate&release=theatrical&date=1992-02-14&p=.htm> > 2 *The Blues > Brothers*<http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=bluesbrothers.htm> > Uni. <http://www.boxofficemojo.com/studio/chart/?studio=universal.htm> * > $57,229,890* - $4,858,152 594 6/20/80 3 *Wayne's World > 2*<http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=waynesworld2.htm> > Par. <http://www.boxofficemojo.com/studio/chart/?studio=paramount.htm> * > $48,197,805* 2,400 $13,516,699 2,400 > 12/10/93<http://www.boxofficemojo.com/schedule/?view=bydate&release=theatrical&date=1993-12-10&p=.htm> > 4 *Superstar* <http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=superstar.htm> > Par.<http://www.boxofficemojo.com/studio/chart/?studio=paramount.htm> > *$30,636,478* 2,016 $8,912,743 1,943 > 10/8/99<http://www.boxofficemojo.com/schedule/?view=bydate&release=theatrical&date=1999-10-08&p=.htm> > 5 *A Night at the > Roxbury*<http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=nightattheroxbury.htm> > Par. <http://www.boxofficemojo.com/studio/chart/?studio=paramount.htm> * > $30,331,165* 2,169 $9,604,791 1,865 > 10/2/98<http://www.boxofficemojo.com/schedule/?view=bydate&release=theatrical&date=1998-10-02&p=.htm> > 6 *Coneheads* <http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=coneheads.htm> > Par.<http://www.boxofficemojo.com/studio/chart/?studio=paramount.htm> > *$21,274,717* 1,978 $7,100,501 1,978 > 7/23/93<http://www.boxofficemojo.com/schedule/?view=bydate&release=theatrical&date=1993-07-23&p=.htm> > 7 *Blues Brothers > 2000*<http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=bluesbrothers2000.htm> > Uni. <http://www.boxofficemojo.com/studio/chart/?studio=universal.htm> * > $14,051,384* 2,516 $6,129,615 2,507 > 2/6/98<http://www.boxofficemojo.com/schedule/?view=bydate&release=theatrical&date=1998-02-06&p=.htm> > 8 *The Ladies Man* <http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=ladiesman.htm> > Par. <http://www.boxofficemojo.com/studio/chart/?studio=paramount.htm> * > $13,616,610* 2,043 $5,426,390 2,022 > 10/13/00<http://www.boxofficemojo.com/schedule/?view=bydate&release=theatrical&date=2000-10-13&p=.htm> > 9 *MacGruber* <http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=macgruber.htm> > Uni.<http://www.boxofficemojo.com/studio/chart/?studio=universal.htm> > *$8,458,000* 2,551 $4,043,495 2,551 > 5/21/10<http://www.boxofficemojo.com/schedule/?view=bydate&release=theatrical&date=2010-05-21&p=.htm> > 10 *Stuart Saves His > Family*<http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=stuartsaveshisfamily.htm> > Par. <http://www.boxofficemojo.com/studio/chart/?studio=paramount.htm> * > $912,082* 400 $371,898 400 > 4/14/95<http://www.boxofficemojo.com/schedule/?view=bydate&release=theatrical&date=1995-04-14&p=.htm> > 11 *It's Pat* <http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=itspat.htm> > BV<http://www.boxofficemojo.com/studio/chart/?studio=buenavista.htm> > *$60,822* 33 $31,370 33 > 8/26/94<http://www.boxofficemojo.com/schedule/?view=bydate&release=theatrical&date=1994-08-26&p=.htm> > *TOTAL:* *$346,466,276* - - - - *AVERAGE:* *$31,496,934* 1,635 $7,101,669 > 1,642 - > > > > -- > TV or Not TV .... 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