No one seemed to be calling for a sequel to Sony's (SNE +1.90%) 2010 Grown Ups, but here we are with Grown Ups 2 debuting at a multiplex near you this weekend.
The original installment scored a weak 10% score on Rotten Tomatoes, and it seems as though fewer than one in 10 critics are recommending the sequel.
Naturally it's the star power that finds Sony going through with bankrolling another movie. Adam Sandler, David Spade, Chris Rock, and Kevin James return as four of the five friends that rediscovered their youthful ways after reuniting to mourn the loss of their basketball coach. Rob Schneider -- the fifth member of the original ensemble -- didn't return for the sequel, though there are plenty of comic stars in the celebrity-studded cast to draw a crowd to the theater despite the scathing reviews that have come in so far.
- "It honestly seems as if Sandler and his team descended on a random suburb, halfheartedly improvising and moving on when they got bored," writes New York Post's Sara Stewart.
- "This movie starts at a juvenile level and regresses from there," claims Bentley from the Fresno Bee.
- "The shtick must be rote by now, and, indeed, Grown Ups 2 appears to have been made while engaging as few brain cells as possible," writes Washington Post's Stephanie Merry.
The good news for Sony is that moviegoers aren't always in agreement with film critics. The original film took in a reasonable $162 million domestically in box office receipts and a total of $271 million worldwide. That's not too shabby for a film with a reported production budget of $80 million. This weekend's sequel also supposedly has a similar production budget.
It also only helps that most of the films out now are either action flicks or computer animation. Just one of the seven highest grossing movies this past weekend -- 20th Century Fox's The Heat -- is actually a comedy.
Then again, that could also be indicative of folks heading out to the movies lately for more than just a laugh.
Let's go over the 10 highest-grossing movies of 2013 so far.
|
Movie |
Domestic Gross | |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Iron Man 3 |
$406.6 million |
|
2 |
Man of Steel |
$275.2 million |
|
3 |
Fast & Furious 6 |
$235.9 million |
|
4 |
Oz The Great and Powerful |
$234.9 million |
|
5 |
Monsters University |
$224.6 million |
|
6 |
Star Trek Into Darkness |
$223.5 million |
|
7 |
The Croods |
$185.3 million |
|
8 |
Despicable Me 2 |
$175.3 million |
|
9 |
World War Z |
$165.8 million |
|
10 |
The Great Gatsby |
$143.0 million |
Source: Box Office Mojo.
There really isn't a legitimate comedy in the bunch. The four family-oriented releases may seem humorous, but there isn't a true traditional comedy in the list until you bump into Identity Thief at No. 11 on this year's list.
So forget about Grown Ups 2 faltering because it may not be a very amusing film in the eyes of film critics. This sophomoric sophomore may fail to live up to the original freshman because moviegoers just don't seem to be heading out to the movie theater for a laugh.
