Adam DeVine has given his take on the film industry in this day and age, saying that “superhero movies kind of ruined comedies.”
Appearing on “This Past Weekend with Theo Von,” the “Pitch Perfect” actor, 39, said that while he thinks television comedies still deliver, the same can’t be said for films.
“My theory is I think, I think like Marvel ruined it,” he shared. “I feel like superhero movies kind of ruined comedies.”
“Because people go to the theater and you expect to watch something that costs $200 million to make and comedy movies aren’t that,” he added.
The “Modern Family” actor said it’s now much tougher to pitch a comedy movie to studio bosses.
“You have to like mask it. This is why it’s a big action-comedy because you really have to go like action, action, and then it’s a comedy,” DeVine said referring to his latest onscreen project, “The Out-Laws.”
Adam DeVine said that Marvel superhero movies are ruining comedies on “This Past Weekend with Theo Von.”Getty Images“You watch comedies nowadays and you’re like, ‘This isn’t a fucking comedy. Where’s the jokes? Where’s the bits?'” he added.
DeVine isn’t the first actor speaking out about Marvel’s impact on Hollywood.
Jennifer Aniston made her stance known in 2019, telling Variety that Marvel was “diminishing” the film industry, which ultimately prompted her to return to TV.
Adam DeVine theorized that Marvel superhero films are making it tougher for one to pitch a comedy movie to studio bosses.©Walt Disney Co./courtesy Evere
Other fellow actors, such as Jennifer Aniston, also agree that Marvel films have made big impact on Hollywood — deeming them “diminishing” to the film industry. “It wasn’t until the last couple of years when these streaming services were just sort of exploding with this amount of quality that I actually started to think, ‘Wow, that’s better than what I just did,'” the “Morning Show” star said at the time.
“And then you’re seeing what’s available out there and it’s just diminishing and diminishing in terms of, it’s big Marvel movies. Or things that I’m not just asked to do or really that interested in living in a green screen.”
Jennifer Lopez echoed Aniston’s thoughts that same year, telling Variety that it’s become harder to make films that don’t conform to the superhero franchise.
Adam DeVine says people go to the theater with expectations to watch something that costs $200 million to make — but made the point that comedy movies don’t quite offer that. Getty Images“But the smaller more movies about humanity and people and life and struggles, you don’t get that as much unless you do that for nothing and there’s no budget and you’re like scraping it together,” she said.
“On top of the movies themselves, then when you have women characters at the front of it, it’s a whole another battle. It’s a whole new layer, and it’s hard to get them made.”
