Perhaps the word “Tanked” is too strong… but it could indeed apply here. Will Ferrell’s new film “Semi Pro” (you can read Doug’s review of it here) is on pace to be one of his worst opening weekend’s in his career. The folks over at Yahoo News give us this:
“Semi-Pro,” in which the comedian plays the flamboyant owner of an underdog team in the now-defunct American Basketball Association, opened at No. 1 with estimated earnings of $5.45 million on Friday, tracking firm Box Office Mojo said. It is on track to earn about $14 million for the Friday-to-Sunday period, based on the multiples for his last two sports spoofs, 2007’s “Blades of Glory” and 2006’s “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.” Industry observers had expected “Semi-Pro” to open above $20 million for the weekend.
There are films out ther that would kill for $15 million on opening weekend… but not many studio wide releases. To put it in more context, the last 2 Ferrell films opened much stronger:
Blades of Glory – $33 million
Talladega Nights – $47 million
So the question that has to be asked is… why was the opening weekend of this Ferrell film so weak? I think there are three things that have to be looked at. The “R” rating, early bad reviews and finally, people getting tired of Will Ferrell.
1) R rating
There can be no doubt that this had an impact on the final numbers. Both Blades and Nights had the more age inclusive PG-13 rating which opened the theaters to a few more people that just couldn’t get into Semi Pro. Ferrell’s comedy does seem to target juvenile minds (mine included). However, I really don’t think this was that big of a factor.
2) Early bad reviews
Word got out early that this film wasn’t all that good. Ferrell has some classics in his stable of films, but this on didn’t get much pop from wither critics or those seeing early screenings. However, Ferrell is one of those guys who is pretty much critic proof, and I don’t think early bad word of mouth kept anyone away who was already intent on seeing it. I’m sure it had an effect… but I don’t think it was the major culprit.
3) Getting tired of Will Ferrell’s schtick
Let’s face it, in all of his sports comedies so far (Blades, Nights, Semi Pro… heck let’s throw in Anchorman and just about every other film of his) Ferrell plays the exact same person every single time. And no matter how funny a joke is, after you hear it for the 5th time you stop laughing. All of Ferrells high profile flick are essentially the exact same movie and I’ve been saying for some time now the general public is getting tired of it.
Where is that great comedic diversity we know Ferrell is capable of that he so often used during his days on SNL? The man is one of the best pure comedic performers of our age, but he’s been stuck in the is same character rut for the last 5 years.
So what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment, or do you think there are other reasons for the poor performance of Semi Pro?
Ferrell needs to take a leaf out of Jim Carrey’s book and look around for something meatier, even if he develops it himself. Sure he’s had a couple of stabs at it, but so did Carrey before he finally started to find an audience outside of straight comedy (Truman Show, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). Given the chance, many comedic actors make fantastic dramatic actors – seldom is the reverse true.
Semi-doofus, ill-fitting uniform, we get it.
alfie i agree with everything u just said…
I am japanese movie fun
what about kicking and screaming? thats another sports movie he is in. that was not to good though. did that flop
i think you nailed it spot on john.
personally i am not tired of his schtick as I still find him hilarious and i will always see everything he does but most people i know were not interested in this film mainly due to the fact that felt they had seen ti all before….
they are interested in step brothers but this was just another ferrell sports comedy.
as for me i thought it was o.k.
a little bit disappointing
but love me sexy is still the best song of the year
and his best film is still anchorman…..
I think he is over cooked in the comedy department. I also believe that there are too many “vehicles” designed for him. Most of the time (to my knowledge) good movies should not serve as vehicles for a star until after the script is written. Elf was a great example of Will Ferrel not taking over the film and being the star at the same time. In general, he is too over powering on the screen and takes over the scenes rather than having them happen more organically. Ferrel being in another sports film does nothing to help the matter either.
It doesn’t matter when they chose to open it. A bad-looking movie in February will still be a bad-looking movie in April.
The stands were empty for a reason, nobody went to see ABA games. That was the point.
I think the February opening coupled with very little promotion, aside from ESPN, caused it to tank. Hollywood seems to think they can open a movie anytime of the year and it will be a hit.
If they held off until late April or early May and beefed up the ad budget it could’ve hit $30 million, even with an R rating.
I had another thought. In all the ads and previews, it is clear that the stands for the basketball scenes are pretty much completely empty. Perhaps if they had shown scenes of crowds watching the game, people would have been more apt to be part of a crowd seeing a movie. I realize that, rationally, it shouldn’t matter. But I think that when people go to a sports movie, they want to feel like they’re one of the fans rooting for the team. And nobody wants to become, say, I dunno, a Detroit Lions fan unless they have to.
I think another problem was the incredible oversaturation of Jackie Moon before the movie ever hit the theaters. It seems like every time I turned on the TV, especially sports over the past month I have seen Jackie Moon hawking some product or making an appearance. After a month of seeing him in 30 second segments, I feel like I’ve already seen the movie. And it wasn’t that funny. So why spend the $10 to see it again?
I haven’t been able to stand Will Ferrell films except “Roxbury” and “Stranger Than Fiction”.
This actually looked funny to me – maybe because I come from a heavy basketball background – but I’m still willing to give it a chance. I’m not saying it won’t suck, but this film reeled me and I’m curious to see it.
I don’t think the R rating had anything to do with it – people probably just thought it looked like it sucked, or they’re just tired of Will Ferrell, the same way I’m tired of Adam Sandler – except for the fact that I’ve NEVER liked Adam Sandler.
I’m still trying to figure out what everyone saw in “Anchorman” and “Talladega Nights”, both of which I despised with a passion.
I just don’t care about Will Ferrell anymore.
Will, just give it a rest and retire. You’ve lost teh funnay.
On top of that, the theatrical trailer wasn’t nearly as funny as the red band trailer, which only internet movie folks saw. People smelled a stinker and stayed away. Funny that they avoided this but went to Meet the Spartans in droves. Go figure.
About that R rating…
This film did not have to be R. There’s no tits, no sex, no real violence. It’s just a bunch of F-bombs that really aren’t very funny after you’ve heard it ten times. They made it R to try and give the impression that it was racy so people would come and see it, and it backfired like a motherfucker.
Plus, the movie didn’t look good, anyway. If I hadn’t gotten a pass to a screening, I would have skipped this entirely.
reason #3 ftw, alex.
dont tell will ferrell but hes really not all that funny.
Step brothers will do less than 90 million since that is rated R too. Simply put nowadays people don’t like R rated comedy movies unless it has the name Judd Apatow attached to it. I know i don’t but i do like harold and kumar so i will watch the sequel.
On top of that this looked extremely stupid and no one i know was interested in this.
I agree John, Ferrel is a brilliant actor who has a lot of range but is stuck in one role for the past 10 movies he has done. Granted he is still very good at what he does but after a while it does get tired.
I saw this friday and yes it was disappointing not terrible but we all know he can do better. I do have to say his new film Step=Brothers looks awesome and hopefully get him back on track.
I’m fully behind the going to the well too often line of thought. Ferrell has done waaaay too many sports spoof movies.
I’ve written it on this blog before and many people have stated it above. One, maybe two movies with a comedic actor is enough. Does anyone really want to eat mac and cheese for dinner every night? Some might say yes, but they’ll end up with a muffin belly not to mention…high cholesterol.
1) Will should look for more films like ‘Stranger Than Fiction’ or ‘Elf’. Yeah, Elf. ‘Member Elf? In other words, enough with the sports satire comedies. I loved 90% of Talledega and I liked OTHER people in ‘Blades Of Glory’ (specifically Amy Pohler)…but his stuff is prety much the same old song.
2) Don’t film in my backyard (re: Flint,MI) and then cut out all the pickup shots including in front of the Captial theatre. When all but three seconds ofFlint,MI footage doesn’t make it into a film that has Flint,MI as a main point n the film This is a bad omen. :p
3) Is this a Will Farrell film or a Woody Harrelson one?
4) Maybe…just…maybe…It was a bad movie
5) Maybe…just…maybe…despite a Bud Ad, this darned thing got overhyped, overexposed and everyone put a lot of stock in it. Thus, the disappointment is twofold.
6) All the above.
How come every R-rated movie that fails gets the blame on the rating. What about “American Pie, Wedding Crashers, 300, The Matrix, etc.” All had R-Ratings and probably the same crowd this flick was going for.
It doesn’t say much about the overall quality of comedic actors if anybody considers Will Ferrell as one of the best today.
I’ve only found him mildly funny a few times but I just think he acts loud and stupid most of the time.
I thought Myers, Farley, Carrey and Rock were tens times funnier in their heyday than Ferrell.
Personally, I think the comedic genre has been suffering for a while now with the exception of Apatow films.
I agree, though I would also throw in the fact that this movie came out at a time when most people aren’t going to the theater.
i think its because of all the reasons TMB stated plus the fact it seems like a slight retelling of Dodgeball: a true underdog story
i dont think hes funny though
i think its because of all the reasons TMB stated plus the fact it seems like a slight retelling of Dodgeball: a true underdog story
You know, maybe it is time for Will to move on to some other things for a while. I like his dramatic roles. I particularly liked Stranger than fiction, he was able to take a “serious” role and keep is light as well.
people are just finally realizing that Will Ferrell just isn’t funny.
Having never been able to remotely understand the cult of Farrell, I’m going to go with #3, but the man has never really made me laugh. I’ve always found him amusing, but never funny, if that makes sense.
I agree with those that have said it’s time for him to evolve. I liked his performance in Stranger than Fiction, and it showed that he can try to tackle other things. For a model, he can look at Adam Sandler, whose first five “vehicles” were all in their same wacky vein. Big Daddy, lousy as it was, was his first step into something with a bit more substance, and he later continued that to generally positive results with Punch Drunk Love, Spanglish, and Reign Over Me. It’s time for Farrell to grow up a bit. At least with every other picture. And no, Bewitched doesn’t count.
Only movie I’ve liked Ferrel in was “Elf”.
Has anyone else noticed that WF is much better in small doeses? I mean SNL was always short scetches that normally had you rolling. He was in WEdding Crashers for about 10 mins. and that was some of the funniest scenes in the movie. Old School. He was not the focus of the film. He works when its not all about him. Quit pressing and go back to what you know best.
I think perhaps people just didn’t want to see the movie because it didn’t look very funny.
That’s what I think, I am not so sure if people have gotten tired of the whole act yet because Sandler does the same thing in virtually all of his movies. Sandler’s films still make money at the box office despite the fact that he really hasn’t changed the formula in his films to much.
R rating killed it I’m sure. No teenyboppers that saw “Meet the Spartans” were able to get in to see this.
I went and saw Semi-Pro this weekend. It was much better then i was expecting it to be. I did not see either Ricky Bobby or Blades of Glory in theaters. I saw parts of both on rentals and it seemed like Will was the main focus of the entire movie. Anything happening love wise he was the main guy as well as the person doing all the stupid shit. In semi-pro that did not seem to the true. It seemed that the other characters or well Woody was like a real whole person doing his thing and doing the love interest that farrel normally does and he was on of the best at playing basketball. Over all not as many insanely good laughs at the beginning of the film but near the end it got brilliant. I was amused and happy to pay for both my girlfriend and I to see it. And with both Ricky and Blades i would not have.
He needs to develop himself more as a dramatic actor (with a touch of comedy), like his work in “Stranger Than Fiction”.
Without reading any of the comments above …
I’d have to agree with John with some of the arguement in the fact that I think the sports comedies are starting to slow down. I personally don’t agree but I think the general public is getting sick of it.
I don’t think you can group Anchorman in there for the sake of pointing out bad things in review, you might aswell throw Old School in there too! That balls … Respectfully …
But …
“Where is that great comedic diversity we know Ferrell is capable of that he so often used during his days on SNL? The man is one of the best pure comedic performers of our age, but he’s been stuck in the is same character rut for the last 5 years.”
Stranger than Fiction was a branch out, even the movie ‘Winter Passing’ which nobody seen showed some dramatic talent.
I think he’s just doing what he enjoys and he has a big enough fanbase, if not in theaters, at least on DVD to say go fuck yourself if ya don’t like it!
…. And I don’t thikk the studios will give 2 shits because he’s making their money back 10 fold …
There is a God! I cant stand Will Ferrell and I am glad that his new movie is not doing well. The only thing I liked him was his cameo in Wedding Crashers and his role in Old School but thats about it. I was suprised last week to find out that Semi Pro was rated R. I dont understand that at all. The Rated R rating only works in a few comedies like Knocked Up, Superbad, and There’s 40 Year Old Virgin but not in everything.
yws number three for me.
lets not forget kicking and screaming, the football based comady.
Seriously people are tired of the same act.
I can only hope by this poor peformance, the message will be sent.
Brian
I think it’s people growing tired of the same old schtick from Farrell. I’d personally like to see him tackle another role like in Stranger than Fiction.
I don’t want to go to any movie and see a sea of children throwing popcorn at each other and go oh and aww and giggle when the work pussy or fuck is mentioned.. parents let there kids see these kinds of movies, I been to a theatre where this happened all the time.
I saw the Titanic movie and when the chick got naked, I had a kid a freaking kid sitting next to me and she turns to me and just stares.. so I just act mature and think of it as just another day at the beach. Things like this happen all the time. I don’t mind kid’s watching porn or anything like that, as long as the parents are there to explain the facts of life and etc..
Will farrels movies are usually the same bs. the movie where he made the racing one wasn’t very good.. I don’t remember that last movie he was in but it hasn’t been recent at all.
The movie just looks bad. I thought it was going to be a decent story, but it’s just Ferrell ad-libbing and then slapping a movie together around it. I just wish he would make a good comedy with a decent story.
You hit the nail John.
But i think is a normal problem with comedians doing movies.
What turns a comedian a succes is his remarkable schtick.
So was the same with Carreys crazy dude type,Stillers bad look dude type or Myers Camaleonic but always the same type.
Its a question of time until the public got tired to see the same same all the time,and wait for the new face.
He should return to tv where is easier to make fast contact with the viewer,making ease to keep the “arsenal” of gags in constant evolution.
i agree on the theory that it is a case of same old same old with this clown. even Stranger Than Fiction wasn’t that much of a departure. the guy should find himself a sitcom where his schtick can diversify. either Ferrell is just going through the motions @ this stage or the studio heads want him to do the same routine over & over again cos they want this tool’s movies to have the same success as Jim Carrey & Stiller have had.or alternately, he should take the cash he’s earned thus far & retire to Belize.
Don’t get me wrong, I do like Will Ferrell ( In the right film or in small doses anyway… ) John you hit the nail on the head. Especially with ” Getting tired of Will Ferrell’s schtick “. I didn’t care for Blades of Glory, but I liked Anchorman and thought Talladega was OK. These re-runs ( at least thats what they feel like to me ) are going the route of the scary movie series or any spoof movie for that matter…VERY STALE. Which makes me long for Ferrell’s SNL days, where at least you still got some variety. Which is what I’d rather do these days, pop in his SNL dvd’s instead of seeing him play the same 1 character in his next film project.
You should also include the poor promotions. I had no idea what this movie was until some time last month and even then, I had no idea when it was coming out. I thought that it was going to be a summer release because I have not seen one promotional ad on television about it.
I think they have gone to the well one too many times.
I’m a huge Ferrell fan, but even I can’t get excited to go out and see yet ANOTHER sports-themed comedy from him.
I hope Will just takes some time off and starts picking some better projects. He is definitely better than all this.