Pamela McClintock points out that this summer, R-rated comedies edged out the usually dominant superhero genre:
Combined, the summer’s five R-rated comedies have grossed $1.05 billion to date, an astounding total for a genre of movies that was considered second-rate only a few years ago.
That number is slightly ahead of the $1.01 billion earned so far by the usual parade of summer superhero pics — Thor, X-Men: First Class, Green Lantern and Captain America: The First Avenger.
True, she’s comparing the totals of five movies against four, but the comedies also cost much less than their superhero brethren. And the usual knock against American comedies — that they don’t travel well overseas — appears to be lessening:
Bad Teacher and Bridesmaids also are doing well overseas, grossing $71 million and $70.4 million to date (both are still rolling out). Likewise, Horrible Bosses got off to a strong start at the international box office over the weekend of July 22-24, grossing $3.4 million in the U.K.
Now if we can just get some big hit dramas.