The dramatic comedy (or is it comedic drama?) Funny People took in a healthy $8.6 million to take the top slot at the Friday box office, keeping writer-director Judd Apatow and star Adam Sandler’s box-office reputations intact. The guinea pig kiddie flick G-Force landed at second place with $5.8 million, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince conjured $5.4 million for third, and The Ugly Truth, starring Apatow bete noir Katherine Heigl, slipped to fourth with $4.4 million. Be sure to check back tomorrow for full weekend results.
More from EW:
Box Office Preview: Funny People likely winner
Funny People: EW review
Adam Sandler on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
The Movie Critics: Owen Gleiberman and Lisa Schwarzbaum blog
i saw funny people at midnight on thursday and i thought it was brilliant. the audience seemed very receptive. that being said, friday numbers seem to be soft. i hope it shows legs like apatow’s previous films or else experiments like this may be discouraged in the future.
I would hardly describe the box office take of Funny People as healthy, it was far below industry estimates that were not long ago expecting something closer to 40 million for the weekend. It looks like Apatow, Rogen and company are losing some of their appeal.
Good. I don’t like one type of comedy having a monopoly on the cineplexes.
karma’s a bitch! both judd and seth lashed out at katherine heigl for speaking out her mind about knocked up… and ugly truth made more money on its opening weekend that funny people would eventually make. yay!
I too would describe Funny People’s opening day as healthy. It’s performing far low than expected. Last week The Ugly Truth scored a high and unexpected 10 million at the box office. Funny People is performing less than that, and on a bigger budget of 75 million. It’s heading it’s way to about 20-22 million. People are mentioning the length, but the length is close to Knocked Up lenght and KU is still to this date the most highest Apatow film. At this rate Funny People is going to have an opening weekend than Bruno. That’s not healthy, but rather considered a flop due to the high expectations put on it.
Typo..I mean “I too wouldn’”
Ugly Truth got 10 million opening day and opening weekend exceeded expectations. While Funny People can’t even met close to expectations. I’m glad because Apatow and Rogen have been coming really jerky and arrogant lately, and not that very funny.
The length and the more serious subject matter keeps it from having the opening The Ugly Truth had, or even Knocked Up. But still a very healthy opening. The net nerds calling it a flop are loco. Good job Mr. Apatow!
I don’t buy the length argument because Knocked Up was just as long, and had an opening of 30 million. It’s nowhere near healthy for a film that had expectations in the 30-40m range. The Hangover boys are the new comedy boys in town now.
I notice you didn’t address my other point. This is being marketed as something sort of like Terms Of Endearment, a drama with comedic elements. Knocked Up was a straight up raunchy comedy. This is a very healthy opening for such a movie. Predictions of 30-40 million weren’t realistic given the subject matter.
I didn’t have to address that point because Terms of Endearment is considered a “chick flick”. Apatow-Rogen films are a completely different demographic. They were selling this movie on misleading marketing and assuming Apatow and Rogen could sell the film. Due to Apatow and Rogen’s constant fueds, tirades, and arrogance people had enough. This happened long before this movie came out. Check out Reuters and many other movie sites slamming the opening weekend of this film. It’s not a healthy opening especially when I see headlines of “No Joke Funny People Falls Flat”. Your basically a minority in this.
You didn’t address my point because you couldn’t. Your second attempt proves that. Sure it fell flat as far as opening at 30-40 mil, that was never realistic though. For some, they think anything with Seth Rogen is guranteed to open huge. Zack and Miri proved that wrong. This is a drama with some comedy mixed in, I’m surprised it opened at more than 15 million. Very healthy opening given the type of movie this is.
That number is horrible for a film with a budget of 75mil. No way is it going to make its money back anytime soon.
I just got back from watching and I loved it! I hope it has higher numbers in the upcoming weeks!
Both Apatow and (especially) Rogen are arrogant and nasty. The movie wants to be a Woody Allen film but fails.
It’s certainly not ‘healthy’ as compared to EW’s Nicole Sperling’s $35 million prediction.
What about “Aliens In The Attic”? What’d that make, 7 bucks?
The ugly truth is all the new films failed miserably this weekend. Funny People will struggle to get past 20 million in its first weekend due to its Saturday night drop. Trailers that were not engaging enough, poor word of mouth from theater patrons, and 2.5 hours of film for yet another Rogen/Apatow R-rated romp will work together to kill this movie faster than the lightening quick death of Bruno.
Looks like Hollywood could have benefitted from G I Joe opening a week earlier as it’s probably going to be the last major hit of the summer.
Funny People was a very strong film for its first 2/3rds but gets lost in its last act which is a big time creative misfire. 6 out of 10. Should have been great but the last hr hurts it overall.
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