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A Wiig-less BRIDESMAIDS 2?
Nordling here.
I understand Universal's concern. They've had a rough couple of years. Then, BRIDESMAIDS opens this summer and does terrific business, at least in comparison to other box office releases of the time. It makes a tidy profit here and overseas, so naturally Universal wants to have another go-around with Kristen Wiig, Annie Mumolo, Paul Feig and Judd Apatow, right?
Well, according to Hollywood Reporter, Wiig and Mumolo aren't interested in returning to that story, at least not right now. Acoording to Wiig, "Annie and I aren't planning a sequel. We're writing something else." Apatow further added, "The key is we have to come up with an idea that is as good or better than the first one. We don't want to do it unless it can be great. I don't think anyone has had the brain space to think about it yet. Hopefully that can begin this year."
Universal doesn't completely shut off the idea of going it without Wiig, Mumolo, or Apatow, though. It's possible that a sequel would happen without them, centering on Melissa McCarthy's character. I think that would be a mistake, and a case of Universal killing the golden goose. Besides, I'd rather have those people in your corner, continuing to make funny movies with reasonable budgets and huge returns. BRIDESMAIDS didn't feel like it was a movie that had more to say after the credits rolled, anyway. Granted, I thought the same about THE HANGOVER, and while I didn't think the sequel was all that, it made a huge amount of money at the box office.
BRIDESMAIDS was a really good comedy, playing in a genre that many critics tend to write off these days, but when romantic comedies are done well, they really can rake in the money, and not make the audience feel stupid in the bargain. Universal may move ahead on BRIDESMAIDS 2 without the core group that brought the film about, and it remains to be seen whether or not that project would be successful, either monetarily or creatively.
Nordling, out.
Readers Talkback
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... just... no.
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At all?? I love aint it cool, but jesus...
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...give a fuck.
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FACT
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Let them try but it'll be another passionless cluster-fuck a la Dumb and Dumberer.
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The only time I even cracked a smile was the shit scene ... and that was because I imagined myself shitting all over the script.
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If you think Kristin Wiig ruined SNL, you're young. SNL was already completely ruined by the time she strolled on the stage
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Didn't think it was that funny. More uncomfortable than anything else. Also, I thought the characters were extremely poorly written (aside from the core three of Wiig, Rudolph, and Byrne) and were often times annoying. But the most egregious offense, for me anyway, was how poorly the other Bridesmaids were treated by the script. They are set up to be important members of this group, fully fleshed out and realized, but in the end, they're just window dressing. There's absolutely no resolution for any of the conflicts that had been set up for them. It felt very wasteful and somewhat amateurish in that regard.
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Jan. 4, 2012, 7:43 p.m. CST
Now if I can get more of Rose Byrne posing like she does on that poster up above...
by D.Vader
I'd be happy for that.
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Jan. 4, 2012, 7:44 p.m. CST
Also, Nordling, I'm not sure if this is what you're implying, but I wouldn
by D.Vader
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Unless we're talking about the latent romance of women's love for each other.
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Jan. 4, 2012, 7:52 p.m. CST
I can see this being the Fast and the Furious franchise for chicks.
by Mitch
Do one sequel focusing on McCarthy, then another on Byrne, then get the whole gang together for the fourth installment. It could work.
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Are probably the same guys who don't think any woman can be funny, but at the same time think "The Big Bang Theory" is hilarious. Geeks can be a rather sexist lot. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that most of them did not do well with females in school, and now resent the opposite sex for that.
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...but for my money, Rose Byrne's character was the funniest part of BRIDESMAIDS. I could see a movie with Byrne's character working pretty well. But chances are the studio wants to reunite as much of the cast as possible, no matter how contrived or redundant. What do you bet the sequel will revolve around a BABYSHOWER?
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There's a chapter where he makes fun of the process of punching up scripts, and it's pretty clear that the idiotic scatological slapstick movie he's punching up is a thinly disguised Bridesmaids. 'Cause it wasn't very funny.
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Stellar logic there, toe jam.
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"Bridesmaids" wasn't a romantic comedy. Just because the protagonist has a love interest in a comedy doesn't make it a romantic comedy. The main thrust of the story wasn't her developing relationship with the Irish cop character.
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True, there was a romantic subplot but the main story was more a buddy picture/growing apart angle.
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Come up with something else. Seriously, this movie said all it had to say in one movie and you aren't going to get anything funnier by re-treading the Bridesmaids concept. A sequel to this sounds like direct-to-video shit (see: the American Pie franchise).
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Yeah, calling it a "Rom-Com" isn't really correct, since the main event is the chicks. (and btw, I really liked it! I thought it was funny as hell and very original! Full disclosure: I really like Kristen Wiig. She's cute and funny! There! I said it!)
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That mediocre shit made 170 domestic? Did not know that
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Starring funny females in another funny situation. Something that has nothing to do with being a bridesmaid. Because as has been stated, there is no further story to pursue.
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It mentions Wiig was offered an 8 figure payday to do the sequel and she turned it down. I don't know what urks me more: The fact that the studio offered an 8 figure salary for 3 or so months of very easy work or that she turned down an 8 figure salary for 3 or so months of very easy work
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Here's a good one. A buddy of mine works for a smaller theater chain (5-15 different locations) and apparently Sony started demanding upwards of 60% of ticket revenue. To get them down to a "reasonable" amount of 45% or so, his company has to open every god damn Sony piece of shit on two screens. It doesn't matter how poorly it does, it gets two fucking screens. Also, let's say you go to one of these shit fests on a Friday night and the film breaks (or the digital projector goes tits up) and you have to leave. Don't expect passes. Sony expects the theater chain to pay for a full ticket price share if a pass is used. So, some theater chains no longer accept passes for any Sony films. Shitty electronics, save the Playstation, and shitty movies, now this....
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Jan. 4, 2012, 9:10 p.m. CST
It was basically an Apatow movie from the chicks' point of view
by Terrence
And all his movies are basically romantic comedies for dudes, as the media dubs them.
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no, you're not sexist if you didn't like Brides Maids, you just not very bright and have a poor sense of humor.
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How is that a reason to boycott Sony? The theater your buddy works for should stop carrying their movies or shut the fuck up.
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You're a hot mess studio right now. Don't fuck up critical talent relationships. Wait until Wiig wants to do it. DON'T SCREW THIS UP. And if McCarthy does it without them, there goes all goodwill toward her ass.
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Jan. 4, 2012, 10:29 p.m. CST
How about Dead on Arrival, creatively, and hopefully, monetarily
by Han Cholo
Maybe Universal doesn't need to be a movie studio anymore. It seems to be empirical since they can't seem to come up with new shit. Why are they still in business?
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It was awkward and uncomfortable. It was 2 hours of "Hey, lets see how much shit we can dump on a character until they snap." It wasn't funny. It wasn't entertaining. It was fuxking sad. I love Wiig on SNL, but this was just not remotely as good as they hyped it up to be. A sequel (direct or indirect) would be a mess. At least the Hangover II told you up front "same movie but a different city". They made no bones about it.
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IN. THE. $8.00. BIN. <p> Ok...that's technically 7 words...but that's what Universal is gonna get. And...yeah...piss off Apatow...great strategy, Universal. <p> Not only did BRIDESMAIDS not have anything left to say when the credits rolled...It was lightning in a bottle to begin with. Sure, smart script by Wiig & her partner... Apatow overseeing...but it was the pitch perfect CASTING that MADE that movie not just become a "Lame Knockoff Of The Hangover... With Vaginas". <p> Change up any of that casting chemistry, and that movie would have tanked. Hard. I would think Mya Rudolph will step out of any rinky dink sequel out of respect to Wiig & co, too. <p> But anything that keeps Universal from remaking JAWS gets a pass from me!!
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Nice to see Wigg come out and jut say no to a sequel, despite the money waved at her and the everyone else wanting to cash in off it. Weird to see someone actually interested in moving onto a new, original project.
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The first one was ho-hum. But at least if gave Roy from the IT Crowd some work. I love that guy.
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Bridesmaids was well shite. I heard all the hype about how "hilarious" it was and that it was "the funniest movie of the year" so I was ready for a good time, prepared to piss myself laughing etc. Wow. Never have I been so disappointed when it comes to a comedy movie. This thing is just terrible. I can't believe the love this gets yet something like HALL PASS gets shat on by everyone. HALL PASS is like the funniest movie ever when compared to this tripe. BTW in case you think I'm being sexist, every single woman I know agrees with me. I watched it with my wife and daughter and they laughed as much as I did (i.e not at all). SHITE!
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Jan. 5, 2012, 6:34 a.m. CST
I laughed at Apatow saying he has to "come up with an idea as good or better than the first one"
by Spandau Belly
Doesn't every Apatow movie use the same idea? And isn't that idea for Apatow to just call up every comedian he's met and get them to stand around doing foul-mouthed improvising and then edit it together into a 3 hour mess?
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To each his/her own - if it worked for you, great! - but I think this was an unfunny movie that worked desperately hard w/ little payoff. Almost all the jokes were variants on "isn't it just hilarious to see WOMEN being this gross? Isn't this just so edgy and cool and different?". Er.... no, no, no and who cares? And I think a lot of critics felt compelled to talk it up for precisely those reasons; they saw it as a big poke in the eye to the "women aren't that funny" crowd. And to those claiming detractors must be sexists - that is the lazy approach. The question isn't whether women can be funny, the question is whether THESE women, in THIS movie, are funny. For some of us, the answer was a resounding NO.
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He's not even sure what end that came out of.
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My wife loved this thing and I chuckled maybe once. It wasnt horrible it just wasnt funny. Guess I am getting old.
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I honestly do not understand how this movie even ever made it to the screen, let alone a sequel. What the hell is wrong with american culture for a piece of garbage like this to be liked in any way what so ever??? (rhetorical question, ofc)
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Some of her bits are pretty funny. Others are like nails on a chalk board. Especially the "one upper bit" that she managed to work into Bridesmaids. That alone took the movie down a notch.
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Hangover 2. Bridesmaids 2. But no Anchorman 2?
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Bailed on THE DARK TOWER and AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS. COMCAST/UNIVERSAL CAN GO SUCK A FAT DICK
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Rinse repeat the first film slap a II on it and make a billion dollars.
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A laugh riot waiting to happen. Writes itself. We return to the characters a few years later- there's alchohol and shenanigans..
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Jan. 5, 2012, 10:24 a.m. CST
I haven't watched SNL since they fired Norm Macdonald
by MrEkoLetMeLive
Give me the Kids in the Hall, Monty Python, and the State any day over tired old SNL.
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Surely you will remember: you guys got so excited at having a cash-cow in 'The Fast and the Furious,' that Vin Diesel's bowing out of an immediate payday made you say: 'Hey, Paul Walker is just as good!'
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If you want to talk about bad comedies desperately aping the Apatow formula, let's talk the Change-Up. So offensively bad I couldn't take half of it. And Leslie Mann CGI nakedness is criminal.
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A movie about a dorky girl ending up with a dorky guy.
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I get it that Melissa McCarthy's character was arguably the funniest of that cast but her character would have nothing new to offer that we didn't already see in the first film let alone carry a 90 minute feature. I can see a possible sequel involving the original cast where we get a role reversal and Kristen Wiig is the one getting hitched to that Irish cop and having a sort "Meet the Irish Parents" kind of plot but even then we'd be stuck with the same jokes and conflicts from the first movie.
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Jan. 5, 2012, 12:31 p.m. CST
Universal did the same with American Pie..taking a title and milking it
by openthepodbaydoorshal
with sequel after direct-to-DVD sequel, and now luring the original cast back to big screen, as if they were doing anything else at the time. I don't get the gushing love for Bridesmaids either. It was funny, but not "Oh My God You've Got To See This!!!!!!!" funny. Wiig's character was so passive aggressive that after a while I really didn't care what happened to her. Not good for the main protaganist of a comedy.
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It was barely entertaining and that's about it
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If it wasn't mentioned, there would be someone just like you, complaining that aintitcool DIDN'T cover it. There are always whiners, I guess.
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"The question isn't whether women can be funny, the question is whether THESE women, in THIS movie, are funny." I agree, that is precisely the question. And for some of us (me), the answer is a resounding YES! As for a sequel, no thanks. Just because it was funny once doesn't mean a rehash is necessary (yes, I'm talking to you, HANGOVER II!)
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Sure its all green with pictures of past Presidents on it, but does it really make you happy. You can take a dump on a script and throw the Bridesmaids franchise name on it, but will that make the pain go away. Will that bring a silence to the screaming lambs. Money is overtated, i just use it to wipe my ass and manipulate people. Unless studios come to my point of view, i would say that a Wiig less Bridesmaid would make plenty of sense
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..."I really liked that movie, but let's leave well enough alone" camp.
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Maybe I should call you a moron for liking a movie with such a terrible script. Not too bright, either. Cause I guess that's what you do to people you disagree with, huh?
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Had fun watching Bridesmaids with my wife, if only for the dress fitting scene. Can't remember the last time I laughed that hard.
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A lot of female comics fall back on playing the same "crazy lady" character over and over and over and over again in different guises. Wiig is one of those female comics. All of her characters are just different variations on the stock "crazy lady" routine. Bridesmaids was a movie in which situations were contrived so that the female cast could periodically do the "crazy lady" thing. Drunk on a plane, flipping out at a wedding, getting the shits while trying on dresses, etc. It all added up to the same joke repeated over and over again. Of course, lots of male comics repeat the same stuff over and over again too. There are male comics who just play stoned over and over again. Wiig is their equal.
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Jan. 5, 2012, 8:17 p.m. CST
Just make the exact same movie with the exact same plot, just a different locale and the some of the same character actors playing different cameo roles from the first movie, then hype the fuck out of it...
by mdk
...worked for Hangover 2 until people caught on a few weeks in.
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I think the sequel should have shitting in it, like the the first one!
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Jan. 5, 2012, 11:39 p.m. CST
Embarrassing to watch Oswalt, Mr. Anti-Establishment, plugging Young Adult on Conan
by ennio
He looked even more pathetic than your usual Hollywood actor trying to sell his movie. He was actually sincere, talking up the script which made it worse. Back to the main point, Wiig has the rare combo being funny and hot. She's been the only highlight on SNL for years. Kudos to her for sticking to her guns on B2.
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I don't think so. In fact, if I'm so inclined, I'd call her the Carol Burnette of this generation. I think she's hilarious.
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It was what is known as a "mordant comedy." It wasn't a romantic comedy at all, at least not in the usual idiotic formulaic Hollywood sense. The reason it was successful is that it resonated with women. Nearly all of us have been in the situations Wiig and Mumolo depicted: dating moronic user men because they're good-looking and rich; losing a job/business and feeling like an abject failure; losing a best friend because she's moving on up and you're not; feeling belittled by other prettier, more successful women (something modern women HAVE to get over), feeling that everyone in the world is paired off but you; having to move back in with your MOTHER when you hit rock bottom (boy, can I identify with this) etc etc. The reasons most of you men can't understand the popularity of this film is BECAUSE YOU AREN'T WOMEN. Wiig and Mumolo hit pay dirt because they were honest about the lives of modern women, and if Patton Oswalt had to "punch up" this script, all he added were the slapstick elements because at heart this film is not a laff riot. I loved it for that, and I'm glad Wiig and Mumolo aren't going to cheapen the story by writing another one if it doesn't feel authentic to them.
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Especially when people then go and rant about an Anchorman 2 movie. Bridesmaids and Anchorman are essentially one in the same. Bridesmaids frankly was a breath of fresh air for comedies. They could make this a good franchise... But they won't. So don't do a sequel. But they will because the Bridesmaids title is just too much $$$.
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You think geeks are sexist? How about it's sexist to assume that everyone who reads AICN is male? It's not sexist if you didn't like the movie. I hated the movie and I am a woman. I think women can be quite funny, but I just didn't enjoy Bridesmaids. I agree with d. vader that it makes you uncomfortable. I don't find those kinds of situations humorous.
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but i don't think it was that great.there are some incredibly funny women like maria bamford around, but i haven't seen too many other excellent stand up comedians. by the way, i can't stand the big bang theory.
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If Universal just wanted more of the same, but different, they should just get back all the same principal participants, and the cast, and just make a different comedy, you know like they used to do with Abbot & Costello and Martin & Lewis movies. You didn't have Buck Privates 2, 3 and 4; it was a series of movies with the same two guys, and similar casts, hamming it up with different stories.
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