{"id":2059538,"date":"2025-09-30T11:58:03","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T11:58:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2059538"},"modified":"2025-09-30T11:58:03","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T11:58:03","slug":"why-hollywood-stopped-making-new-comedies-according-to-judd-apatow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/why-hollywood-stopped-making-new-comedies-according-to-judd-apatow\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Hollywood Stopped Making New Comedies, According To Judd Apatow"},"content":{"rendered":"

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We really didn’t know how good we had it back in the early 2000s. Compared to today’s streaming-dominated media landscape and the garbage AI future that awaits<\/a>, the early-aughts were a blissful time when movies still felt like movies and great comedies were being shown in theaters around the world. There’s no question the king of these 2000s era comedies was Judd Apatow, who not only wrote and directed several of the best films from that time but seemed to have a hand in pretty much anything funny that hit theaters. Now, studios have all but abandoned big comedies<\/a>, and Apatow has some insights into why that might be.<\/p>\n

In a 2025 interview with The Hollywood Reporter<\/a> for the 20th anniversary of “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” Apatow was asked about recent IP-based comedy hits such as “The Naked Gun” and “Freakier Friday” and whether he thought “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” could be made today. “I think it’s possible,” he said, “It might be a slightly bumpier road, but I think the studios would love comedies to do very well.” That might seem slightly more positive than you were expecting, but Apatow went on to note just how big of a risk comedies represent for studios:<\/p>\n

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“The hard part is when you make comedies, you are taking chances. You can’t just make them based on old IP. You can’t rely on just casting someone who’s been in a lot of hit movies. The best comedies come from out of nowhere, and they are often based on unique and wild concepts. Most of them don’t even sound like they would work on paper.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The director also remembered how “for years” studios resisted making the Will Ferrell classic “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” and the delightfully vulgar coming-of-age comedy “Superbad,” both of which Apatow produced. “It requires someone to take a risk to have that giant breakthrough comedy,” he added.<\/p>\n

Read more: 10 Completed Movies That Were Never Released<\/a><\/p>\n

We need a new Judd Apatow for the modern age<\/h2>\n
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