In the recent past, Hollywood comedies have tried to dance around that PG-13 line, judiciously parsing out whatever profanities and “adult situations” they could while making that one “fuck” count. But in the wake of hits like The 40 Year Old Virgin and The Hangover, the notion of pitching comedies to the broadest possible audience has temporarily become a thing of the past; the loss of ticket-buyers under the age of 17 is more than made up by the desire of older viewers to see comedies that don’t hold anything back. For the fourth time this summer—following Bridesmaids, The Hangover Part II, and Bad Teacher— that line of thinking was affirmed by Horrible Bosses, a crude black comedy about ‘bros and homicide that took $28.1 million against a $35 million budget. That wasn’t enough to overtake the $47 million collected by Transformers: Dark Of The Moon, which in 12 days has already become the #1 draw of the year with $261 million. But it was enough to best the more family-friend Kevin James comedy Zookeeper, which opened in third with $21 million against an $80 million budget. That’s $10 million less than the James’ breakout hit Paul Blart: Mall Cop made in the middle of January, 2009, so perhaps some cursing is in his future.
In limited release, the contentious Tribe Called Quest documentary Beats, Rhymes & Life did excellent business, with a week-best $30,000 per screen on four screens. Had Sony Pictures Classics had the stones to release it to multiplexes everywhere, our calculations have it making approximately $90 million. A real missed opportunity there.
For more detailed numbers and analysis, head over to Box Office Mojo.