Why Did Hollywood Stop Making Comedies? A Statistical Analysis
Why did Hollywood abandon comedy films?
Intro: 1984, The Golden Age of Hollywood Comedy
1984 was a golden year for Hollywood comedies, headlined by Eddie Murphy's Beverly Hills Cop, which grossed $977 million, and Bill Murray's Ghostbusters, which earned an estimated $882 million (both figures adjusted for inflation). These films featured original narratives (unrelated to existing intellectual property), anchored by rising stars whose appeal hinged on their comedic talents. Buying a ticket to these movies meant entering into a social contract, exchanging money for the promise of laughter.
Fast-forward to today, a time when the Hollywood studio comedy is (allegedly) dead. The past decade has witnessed a parade of postmortems lamenting the demise of this once-dominant genre, including:
Hollywood Is Giving Up on Comedy (The Atlantic, 2014)
The Completely Serious Decline of the Hollywood Comedy (Quartz, 2022)
Were Blockers and Game Night the Last Great Studio Comedies? (Variety, 2024)
While it's easy to dismiss these headlines as hyperbolic, they aren't wrong. According to genre data from Letterboxd, the past decade has seen a sharp drop in the prevalence of comedy filmmaking when compared to a pre-1990 film landscape—surpassed only by declines in the now-extinct western and infrequently-produced war film.
The inevitable follow-up question is: why? What led this time-tested storytelling format to fade from mainstream prominence, and is the blockbuster comedy somehow primed for a comeback?
So today, we'll explore Hollywood's newfound aversion to comedy filmmaking, examining the case for the genre's revival and the economic realities that have driven its precipitous decline.
The Case for Comedy Movies
Explaining the relative decline of mainstream comedy is complicated by the format's measurable popularity: people genuinely enjoy watching this genre in theaters—or at least say they do.
In a recent survey of 68,000 consumers, comedy ranked second among genres that audiences "wanted to see more of" in theaters, a preference echoed across all age groups.
There's an undeniable appeal to laughing alongside others in a darkened room (rather than alone at home). Online ratings for comedy films are significantly higher during a movie's theatrical run, second only to family films, which elicit goodwill for providing two hours of childcare assistance.
As improbable as it may seem, there's an untapped demand for theatrically-released comedies. Audiences will flock to theaters for half-decent films that are vaguely reminiscent of classics like When Harry Met Sally or Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Consider the recent box office success of A24's Materialists, which marketed itself as a RomCom only for viewers to realize the movie was severely lacking in "Com." The film earned a subpar "B-" CinemaScore, indicating that many moviegoers were disappointed by the final product.
The mismatch between Materialists' promotion and content triggered a wave of think-pieces on A24's bait-and-switch marketing strategy. Why had this romantic drama been packaged as a comedy? And what kind of pent-up demand drew audiences to a film that merely hinted at the prospect of humor?
Studios could readily capitalize on this ostensible demand, especially given the relatively modest financial investment required to produce these films. Historically speaking, comedies are cheap to make, given that their success is primarily dependent on screenwriting and performance.
A film like Beverly Hills Cop grossing $977 million, is all the more mind-boggling when you consider the movie cost $40 million to produce (adjusted for inflation).
On average, comedy films double their production budget, constituting a healthy return on investment for financiers.
Considering the latent demand for this format and the relatively low costs of comedy production, the genre appears to be an overlooked cash cow (on paper!). So why aren't studios like Paramount and Universal churning out dozens of low-budget comedies every year?
The unfortunate reality is that mainstream comedy no longer aligns with an operating model that defines 21st-century Hollywood—one that prioritizes Wall-Street-friendly revenues and visual spectacle over modest, reliable profits.
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The Case Against Comedy Movies
Every year, studio executives present their upcoming film slates to theater owners at an industry conference known as CinemaCon. These presentations center on well-known franchises like Jurassic Park and DC Comics, while small-scale comedies (and dramas) are rarely acknowledged. The economic rationale behind these omissions is simple: an original comedy, unrelated to existing intellectual property (IP), is unlikely to move Warner Bros.' stock price or boost ticket sales for struggling theater owners. Although comedies demand a smaller upfront investment, they also deliver modest returns.
If you're the head of Universal Studios, market forces will push you toward an eleventh installment of The Fast and the Furious rather than allocating that same budget toward ten original comedies. No one feels good about making reheated car garbage (besides Vin Diesel). However, this cynical sequel is far more likely to gross hundreds of millions of dollars and provide that studio executive with temporary job security.
A film like The Fast and the Furious plays well internationally—because the cars are the main draw—while comedies have narrower domestic appeal and struggle mightily abroad. According to data from friend of the newsletter, Stephen Follows, non-IP comedy films earn the majority of their box office revenue domestically, which is a roundabout way of saying that these movies do not resonate with international audiences.
Humor, especially verbal comedy, is often culturally specific, while a fast-moving car or Jurassic Park dinosaur is universally understood. Jurassic Park's T-Rex endures across borders, generations, and reboots. The actors, directors, and story elements surrounding the T-Rex are subordinate to the visceral thrill of lifelike dinosaurs rendered on screen.
The brand recognition and straightforward appeal of Jurassic Park and Superman lend themselves to franchise-ization, while standalone comedies rarely mint new intellectual property.
Over the last thirty years, action and horror films have been disproportionately responsible for follow-up installments, while comedy and drama have lagged behind these formats.
If you've recently sat through movie previews and wondered, "Why is every trailer for recycled IP or horror sequels?" it's because these formats lend themselves to serialization.
The Scream movies require little more than an anonymous stunt performer wearing the franchise's iconic mask, as do Halloween and Friday the 13th. People will flock to theaters for this familiar iconography, which is a $10 prop anyone can buy at a Spirit Halloween store.
Meanwhile, comedy sequels rely heavily on the original performers and writers. A follow-up to Talladega Nights or Step Brothers would require the return of Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, and the creative team responsible for the film's comedic chemistry. It's unlikely Talladega Nights would produce seven installments that resonate across multiple generations (would Gen Alpha still care about Will Ferrell?).
Economic incentives have steered Hollywood toward the formats best suited to serialized storytelling, while shifting cultural norms have made studio executives wary of the political risks associated with comedy. If you've been skimming this piece hoping for mentions of cancel culture, then congratulations, you will now be rewarded for your persistence.
Historically speaking, comedy is heavily tied to contemporary tastes. When we compare a movie's average online rating across two separate periods—1995 to 2004 vs. 2018 to 2023—we find that comedy and drama films see a marked decline in appraisal over time.
The movies that experienced the sharpest decline in acclaim were contemporary '90s comedies like The Nutty Professor and Chasing Amy, whose humor has "not aged well."
If you harbor a particularly strong disdain for cancel culture, then I hope this relatively mundane chart satiates your craving (at least for today).
Awareness of comedy's (potential) expiration date has calcified with the rise of social media and streaming availability of all movies. If a comedic premise guaranteed $300 million in box office revenues, studios would gladly accept this risk. But in the absence of unambiguous financial triumph, many executives feel the juice simply isn't worth the squeeze.
Final Thoughts: What is "Theatricality"?
In Shakespearean times, plays primarily fell into three genres: comedies, tragedies, and histories. With the advent of film, theatrical exhibition expanded into new genres such as science fiction, action, and animation. The first half of the 20th century saw formats like westerns, war movies, and musicals dominate the big screen, delivering visual spectacle that television could not replicate. By the turn of the century, action and adventure franchises emerged as predominant genres, facilitating an experience that "had to be seen in theaters," and not at home. Through trial and error, Hollywood's understanding of "theatricality" has continually redefined itself in opposition to television, evolving in response to TV's limitations.
Today, the notion of "theatricality" mostly centers on marketing strategy—the ability to draw people out of their homes without incurring significant risk. Ironically, comedies possess a distinctly theatrical appeal—the joy of laughing in a communal setting—but this experiential quality is difficult to convey in trailers, Comic-Con presentations, or promotional posters. Despite being the genre most naturally enhanced by theatergoing, comedy films are no longer perceived as "theatrical."
I recently perused the most popular comedies of the 2020s on Letterboxd and was surprised to find that ~50% of these films were:
Not particularly comedic (like Saltburn or The Banshees of Inisherin)
IP movies that could have been any genre but happened to pick comedy (like Barbie, Super Mario, and Minecraft).
For many of these films, humor is not a central aspect of the movie's appeal. Instead, comedy is a screenwriting ingredient—an element to be dialed up or down as needed. It's no longer sufficient to simply put Will Ferrell, Bill Murray, or Eddie Murphy on a poster wearing a ridiculous outfit. Comedy is now supplemental to an instantly recognizable marketing hook that resonates with global audiences (such as dinosaurs or Ken dolls).
Laughter alone cannot get a movie greenlit, as it once did for Saturday Night Live alumni in the 1980s or Judd Apatow comedies in the 2000s. Perhaps you were lucky enough to experience the golden age of Hollywood comedy firsthand and now yearn for the films of 1984, when Bill Murray and Eddie Murphy ruled the box office. Well, fortunately for you, 2024 was an excellent time for the movies of 1984, headlined by reheated leftovers like Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire and Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. These films were as "theatrical" as it gets, giving audiences a sweet hit of IP-induced nostalgia with a sanitized side of comedy.
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Wow - There are only three movies out tof the 36 lettrboxd "comedies of 2020s" you show that are ACTUAL comedies (Bottoms, Anyone But Us, No Hard Feelings). I wonder why the others are genred as such??
With the decade half over, if those three are lifted up as the comedies of the era, we are indeed in sad shape...
I’ve noticed newer comedy-dramas like Everything Everywhere have an easier time being emotionally engaging than being funny. They’re great dramas but humor feels tacked on and cheesy. Older comedy-dramas were more often the opposite: effortlessly funny but with an unconvincing plot and tacky drama.