Seth Rogen’s ‘Good Boys’ Pulls in this Year’s Biggest Haul for an Original Comedy

FOUR foul-mouthed kids ruled the box office this weekend as the Seth Rogan helmed, rated R comedy, Good Boys, nabbed the spot for the highest-grossing opening for a comedy in 2019.

Rogen tweeted yesterday: “Holy shit. Thank you to everyone who went and saw our movie this weekend and for supporting original movies.”

Holy shit. Thank you to everyone who went and saw our movie this weekend and for supporting original movies. https://t.co/nyLZq8VjG7

— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) August 18, 2019

“This is a franchise-level opening,” David A. Gross, a movie consultant, wrote in a Saturday report that noted the movie’s modest budget and strong scores from audiences and critics. “Good Boys” cost about $20 million to make.

According to the New York Times, “Even rival studios breathed a sigh of relief. Moviegoers in North America have given a cold shoulder to one comedy after another in recent months…

The bar does seem to be higher. Good Boys was more than a well-crafted film backed by a very aggressive marketing campaign; it got noticed because it pushed taste boundaries. An R-rated movie about sixth-graders? One of the only other original comedies that has found an audience this year, Yesterday, released by Universal in June, used an over-the-top premise and Beatles music to up the ante.

In a statement, according to Hypebeast, Jim Orr, President of Domestic Theatrical Distribution for Universal, illustrated how Rogen and Evan Goldberg on the production side, along with direction from Gene Stupnitsky, helped with the success of the opening: “Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg flawlessly depict an awkward phase that everyone can relate to with not only outrageous laughs but quite a bit of heart as well. Further, when you have Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the creative minds behind some of the most iconic comedies of the last decade, there’s no doubt people will be talking about this one for a long time.”