The films released in 2020 and 2021 exist in this weird bubble, thanks to COVID. The ones that were released in theaters didn’t get seen by a lot of people. Other films that were destined for theatrical release were sent to streaming. Just as a fan of films, it was a confusing, strange time. On the business side, we saw Scarlett Johansson sue Disney for loss of money due to COVID release changes, and we also saw filmmakers come out to decry the evils of a straight-to-streaming release. Now, we have Eric Andre talking about how his massively popular film, “Bad Trip,” went from being a potential festival premiere and hit theatrical release to being relegated to Netflix. And apparently, that change cost him a lot of money.
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In a recent interview with Howard Stern (video below), Eric Andre talked about the business side of the release of his prank comedy film, “Bad Trip.” For those that don’t remember, the film was initially supposed to get a world premiere at the 2020 SXSW Film Festival. However, COVID came, canceled the event, and changed the course of theatrical releases for more than a year. Eventually, “Bad Trip” was sold to Netflix, where it debuted in 2021, received good reviews, and became a hit on the streamer. Good news for Andre, right? Well, not so much, as the film’s change in release strategy ended up costing him serious money.
Eric Andre knew something was going on behind the scenes with the release of “Bad Trip” when he found out that the studio behind the film, MGM, was holding secret discussions to sell the film after COVID shut down theaters.
“MGM was secretly trying to sell it to Quibi, behind our backs… Then they got caught,” he said. “They kept telling us Netflix didn’t want it.”
Eventually, Andre found out that MGM was sending the film to the wrong rep at Netflix, and his producer figured it out and got it in the hands of the correct people at the streaming service. A deal was made, and “Bad Trip” debuted on Netflix in 2021. But changing from a theatrical film to streaming cost him money. When asked how much cash he made from “Bad Trip,” Andre didn’t mince words.
“Financially? Nothing,” said Andre. “I made zero dollars. I made the minimum SAG-AFTRA indie scale. The movie took seven-and-a-half years to make, and I made like $17,000. For like a decade of work.”
He went on to say that Jeff Tremaine, the director of the film, made “zero dollars” as well because the film skipped theaters and was only released on streaming. It wasn’t all bad, according to the actor. He said that the success of the Netflix release led to him getting other opportunities.
“But you know what? The success of ‘Bad Trip’ has opened up other opportunities,” Andre said. “It’s the beginning of a new chapter.”
As we become more distant from the COVID-era of the industry, we’ll probably learn more and more stories about these sorts of situations. Obviously, Eric Andre and Scarlett Johansson aren’t the only people who were negatively affected by last-minute release changes. Thankfully for them, they are big enough stars that it all worked out. But it makes you wonder who else out there got hurt like this and if they were able to recover.