Summary
- Tramps, Will Ferrell’s R-rated comedy, flopped its opening weekend at the box office, earning just $9.5 million.
- The film’s performance reflects the trend of R-rated comedies falling short of the box office, as do other films such as No Offense and Joy Ride.
- With a production budget of $46 million, Stryce currently ranks fourth at the box office behind Blue Beetle, Barbie and Oppenheimer.
Continuing the negative trend for R-rated comedies, Strais endured a humiliating opening weekend at the box office. Will Ferrell’s comedy is about a dog who struggles to come to terms with being abandoned by his owner. With the help of the other dogs in the neighborhood, he realizes what really happened and starts planning revenge on his former owner.
While Reggie Ferrell does end up at the end of The Tramps, it doesn’t do well at the box office. According to a Variety report, Strays made $9.5 million in its opening weekend, short of its $46 million production budget. The film currently ranks fourth in the overall box office behind Blue Beetle, Barbie and Oppenheimer. This weekend performance builds on the accomplishments of other R-rated comedies, including No Offense ($12 million), Fun Ride ($5.9 million) and The Car ($5.9 million).
Can Strais return to the box office?
Stray will need a huge amount of help if he wants to bounce back from this weekend’s box office results. The ongoing strike by SAG-AFTRA and the WGA hampered the film’s marketing. He doesn’t have the ability to bring in lead actors Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx to promote the movie he desperately needs. His black humor means that R-rated comedy can have trouble with traditional TV commercials that require significant editing.
Faced with stiff competition, Strays had to persevere. The latest iteration of the DC Universe, Blue Beetle, made less than expected grossing $25.4 million. Two other films, Barbie and Oppenheimer, are at the end of their programming. If Strays was going to be successful, he needed to secure a good starting weekend. Instead, it will soon have to compete with Gran Turismo, Retribution and The Equalizer 3.
Strays could capitalize on the word of mouth to boost its box office revenue through programming, but that’s unlikely. The Rotten Tomatoes score for Strays is divisive, with (Tomatometer) having a 54% approval rating and a 74% audience rating at the time of this writing. Higher scores could indicate the possibility of improvement, but this is unlikely at the moment. The Tramp still has a chance to improve at the box office, but will need to boost its performance significantly as it heads into its second week of showings.
Source: Variety