Judd Apatow Claims Comedy Is Not Dead In Theaters, Sees A Comeback In Future

Bruce Haring

March 28, 2024 at 5:35 p.m.·1 min read

Judd Apatow has directed such comedy films as The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up and Trainwreck, among others. Despite his recent The King of Staten Island and The Bubble going straight to streaming, he still believes comedy films have a place in theaters.

“The highest-grossing comedy last year made over a billion dollars. Barbie was a comedy,” Apatow said in an interview with Vulture on the Good One podcast .

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Barbie is “not a drama,” Apatow said. “There are some emotional moments in it, but it’s just wall-to-wall jokes. There’s something about it where I feel like no one wants to give comedy the win there. Like, why can’t we say Barbie is a comedy? What other category would it be?”

Apatow thinks the genre just needs “another hit or two” to mount its theatrical comeback, citing Hollywood’s propensity to imitate success. Apatow said producers will “chase anything that does well” and “generally are averse to risk-taking.”

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