Seth Rogen is in the business of making comedy films and TV series. Plain and simple. It’s just that the definition of a comedy has been evolving over the past decade, making his job a bit more difficult. No longer is it good enough to just have some sort of R-rated raunchfest and hope it makes $100 million at the box office. With the likes of Marvel Studios altering the viewing habits of the masses, Rogen admitted to GamesRadar that he has to do something different to stand out.
In the new interview, the star of “An American Pickle” was asked about the state of comedy films in 2020. And surprisingly, he spent most of his answer talking about how Marvel Studios has changed how he approaches movies.
“That being said, something that me and [producing partner] Evan [Goldberg] talk about a lot is how Marvel movies are comedies,” said Rogen. “‘Thor: Ragnarok’ is a comedy. ‘Ant-Man’ is a comedy at its core. So that’s what’s out there. There are $200 million comedies out there, and so that’s something, as a comedic filmmaker, to be aware of. That is the benchmark that people expect!”
He continued, “If you’re going to make a big huge comedy, just know that your competition is like Marvel. Not to say you should not make those types of films, but know that’s what audiences are seeing, and that, when you see those movies in theatres, they are playing like comedies. They are legitimately funny and star comedy stars.”
So what does a filmmaker do when he makes sub-$50 million films that have to compete with one of the largest studios in the world that continuously pumps out some of the biggest films of the year annually? Focus on the human element.
READ MORE: Seth Rogen Says ‘The Boys’ Is The Most Popular Project He’s Ever Made
“Audiences still love comedy, and they want that – ‘Deadpool’ – but the scope of them is huge,” he explained. “So when you’re not offering them that scope, you have to think, ‘What am I offering them?’ That’s why something like ‘Good Boys’ does well, because we’re not offering scope. What we’re offering is pure comedy and emotion and relatability and nostalgia. That’s the trade-off. You don’t get to see the God of Thunder being hilarious, but you get to see something that maybe represents your actual life, and that’s very gratifying in another way.”
Though Marvel Studios films tend to vary in tone and style pretty greatly from film to film, Rogen is definitely not wrong in his assessment. Even the most “serious” Marvel films (“Captain America: Winter Soldier,” “Avengers: Infinity War,” “Avengers; Endgame,” etc…) are still rooted in comedy. And features like the ‘Guardians’ franchise and the aforementioned ‘Ant-Man’ films are basically slapstick comedies for all intents and purposes.
But if anyone has been able to figure out how to combat that, it’s Rogen. And let’s hope that people like him are able to keep offering different types of comedies for years to come.