The Sequel To A Comedy Masterpiece Is A Regrettable Box Office Flop

The weekend of September 12 proved to be a surprisingly busy one at the box office, even though, on paper, it didn't seem like it would be. "Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle" led the way with an astonishing $70 million debut, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. Unfortunately, with a wealth of options available to prospective moviegoers, a long-awaited comedy sequel was left in the dust.

"Spinal Tap II: The End Continues," a sequel to 1984's all-time great mockumentary "This Is Spinal Tap," opened to just $1.67 million on 1,920 screens domestically over the weekend. It landed at number nine on the charts overall. That made for a lousy $872 per-screen average. Unfortunately for Bleecker Street and the members of Spinal Tap, this is going down as a theatrical flop. It narrowly beat out the re-release of "The Sound of Music," which pulled in $1.6 million.

Aside from "Demon Slayer," other newcomers included "Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale" ($18.1 million) and "The Long Walk" ($11.5 million). Then there was "The Conjuring: Last Rites" ($25.6 million), which was coming off a record-breaking weekend for a horror movie. Not to mention the re-release of Pixar's "Toy Story" ($3.5 million). It all left very little room for "Spinal Tap II" to breathe, unfortunately.

The sequel picks up 41 years after the release of the groundbreaking mockumentary "This Is Spinal Tap," centered on the now-estranged bandmates David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel, and Derek Smalls (Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer), who are forced to reunite for one final concert. Rob Reiner returned to direct the follow-up, in addition to reprising his role as fictitious director Marty DiBergi.

Painful though it may be to say, this movie's inability to draw a crowd at the box office is unsurprising. In recent years, comedy has been a much bigger draw in the streaming realm, with movies like Vince Vaughn's "Nonnas" finding large audiences on Netflix. All the while, theatrical comedies have been struggling mightily during the pandemic era, with only rom-coms such as "Anyone But You" ($220 million worldwide) or "The Lost City" ($193 million worldwide) reliably becoming hits, for the most part.

Over the past few years, we've seen movies like "Strays" ($36 million worldwide), "Joy Ride" ($15 million worldwide), and others flop theatrically. There are rare surprises, such as Sony's "One of Them Days" ($52 million worldwide) earlier this year. Paramount's "The Naked Gun" has also pulled in $101 million thus far, becoming a modest hit against its over/under $40 million budget.

In this case, though, it was always going to be an uphill battle. For one, "This Is Spinal Tap" is a beloved comedy, but it's still a pretty niche movie, having made less than $6 million globally during its lifetime. Even if we set aside comedy's struggles during the pandemic era, long overdue comedy sequels have often had a tough time. "Zoolander 2" ($56 million worldwide) is a prime example. Couple that with the fact that Bleecker Street doesn't have the resources of a major studio to market the movie, not to mention factoring in the competition this weekend, and you're pretty much left with a no-win scenario.

The good news for all involved is that "Spinal Tap II" has a budget in the $22 million range. Between whatever overseas box office there is to collect, eventual VOD/streaming revenue, Blu-ray sales, and even renewed interest in the original movie, it will probably eventually make its money back — or, at the very least, not lose a lot. It's just a shame that it's another brick in the wall suggesting to Hollywood at large that comedy made for the big screen simply doesn't work anymore.

"Spinal Tap II: The End Continues" is in theaters now.