Once upon a time, Lorne Michaels had the juice to turn “Not Ready for Primetime Players” into box office gold.
As executive producer, Michaels may now have even more programming power and influence within Rockefeller Center’s NBCUniversal, NBC, and Peacock than he did at launch. saturday night live. But 49 years later, he’s no longer in the business of scouting unknown young comedians and turning them into movie stars. SNL Writers and performers are now more likely to marry a movie star than become a star themselves (see Colin Jost and Scarlett Johansson).
A movie directed by Jason Reitman is currently in production. SNL50th anniversary of SNL: 1975, no movie stars either. But they have a better chance (especially Rachel Sennott, who came from a cult hit) bottoms, body body bodyand shiva baby) that he became more of a star than any of the recent cast members.
It does not mean that SNLThe pipeline to stardom was completely destroyed. Bill Hader and Jason Sudeikis have won multiple Emmy Awards for their work in recent years. barry and ted lassoEach.
But no one would argue that Hader or Sudeikis are movie stars. Nor could bankruptcies be filed against any of the cast members who appeared under the loan over the past 15 years. Wait, as Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler used to say when they anchored “Weekend Update,” “Really!?” Really.
Kate McKinnon may have put some weirdness into last year’s box office smash, Weird Barbie. barbieHowever, McKinnon was the fourth highest-grossing film, behind star Margot Robbie, Oscar-nominated supporting actor Ryan Gosling, and America Ferrara. There is no example of a successful major movie in which he has starred. SNL Cast members or alumni from 2020 starring Pete Davidson in semi-autobiographical film king of staten islandCritics Choice Award-winning film co-starring Andy Samberg palm springsKristen Wiig, who co-starred in the movie. Barb and Star head to Vista Del Mar—Due to the pandemic, they all went straight to streaming services.
For about 30 years since 1978, National Lampoon’s Animal House Made John Belushi a movie starSNL Cast members and alumni have dominated the box office charts. Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Steve Martin (who never officially joined the cast but has hosted enough times to play multiple iconic recurring characters), Eddie Murphy, Billy Crystal, Ben Skutiler, Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell. Every year from 1978 to 2008, at least one of these names dominated the big screen comedy world that year. In living color Star Jim Carrey was the most notable outlier to break out in the mid-1990s, just as rumors spread that NBC might cancel it completely. SNL.
So what happened since 2008?
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler co-starred in mid-budget hits during the year. baby mama ($64 million worldwide on a $30 million budget)—but by that point both had pivoted to television, with Fey starring. 30 locks Poehler also agreed to appear. parks and recreation At the beginning of 2009.
As they switched the focus of their aspirations, so did Lorne Michaels and his production arm, Broadway Video.
For all the attention his work with Chase, Martin and Martin Short received over the years in 1986. three amigosit was in the 1990s that loans attempted to substantially change the popular regular. SNL Build your character into a feature film.
Responsibility/trust Wayne’s World and Wayne’s World 2 for giving us cone head, Stuart saves his family, roxbury night, Super star2000s ladies man2010s mcgruver.Michaels also greenlit his own movie. SNL Cast to appear tommy boy, black sheep, mean girls, hot rodand the aforementioned baby mama.
Does it smell? mcgruverThe bombing at the box office added to the anxiety. SNL In the film, it certainly coincided with a change in Lorne’s long-standing attitude toward permission. SNL The cast member would go on to appear in outside television projects, particularly with Broadway Video and under his own management.
Proud of past achievements 30 Rock, Portlandia, Documentary Now!, Up All Night, Awesomes, The Maya Rudolph Show, Mulaney, Man Seeking Woman, Maya and Marty, Detroit, AP Bio, Miracle Workers, Thrill, Kenan, Schmigadoon!, Mapleworth Murder, The Kids in the Hall, MacGruber, Los Espoquies, Bust Down, Bap Kiss and That damn Michael Che—In addition to his role as executive producer, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers’ Late Night.
Looking at season 34 SNL 2008-2009 Cast – Fred Armisen, Will Forte, Bill Hader, Darrell Hammond, Seth Meyers, Amy Poehler, Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis, Kenan Thompson, Kristen Wiig, Abbey Eliot, Bobby Moynihan, Michaela Watkins, Casey Wilson – Not one is now a movie star on the same level as the previous cast.
even SNL The alumnus, who enjoyed blockbusters away from Lorne, is not only enjoying it in movies but also on the small screen. barry and Ted Lasso But also Forte’s last man on earthSamberg’s Brooklyn Nine-NineTim Robinson’s i think you should leaveNasim Pedrad’s chadby Casey Wilson Happy endand now Abby Elliott bear and rudolph is booty. This spring, Wiig will star in his own Apple TV+ series. palm royaleco-starring comedy legend Carol Burnett.
Just like in the 2011 hit, Wiig and Rudolph themselves might take on the roles of modern-day, bona fide comedy movie stars. bridesmaids It also introduced millions of people to the talents of Melissa McCarthy.
That’s where Paul Feig and Judd Apatow come in, reminding us that it’s possible to create interesting movie stars outside of society. SNL system.
NBC may have given up. freaks school Although it only lasted one season, Feig and Apatow began their run in 2005. 40 year old virgin So they turned Steve Carell, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill, Jason Segel, John C. Reilly, Emma Stone, Amy Schumer, and unfortunately Russell Brand into stars. did.Feig also followed up his success with bridesmaids By co-starring with McCarthy, the heat, spyand Ghost Busterswhere she performed with the trio. SNL Starring Wiig, McKinnon, and Leslie Jones.
Lorne Michaels is mean girls The musical reboot raked in nearly $100 million worldwide on a $36 million budget, but his other film ambitions have been decidedly smaller in the past decade.likely not to remember mastermind, whiskey tango foxtrot, guilt trip, staten island summer, brother natureor Vampire vs. Bronx.
Why is the 2008-2009 season so important? Because it’s also when Tina Fey returns SNL As a parody of Sarah Palin, Lorne increasingly takes a liking to her famous friends (most often Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump, Larry David as Bernie Sanders, and Jim Carrey as Joe Biden). I urged him to do so. SNL Cast members are on benches in the back, playing second fiddle to the show’s “real” “stars.”
So, here are the nominees for Comedy Movie Star of the Year at this Sunday’s People’s Choice Awards. SNL Adam Sandler’s Alum (Netflix production) you are not invited to my bat mitzvah); Two newcomers to romantic comedy: Glen Powell and Sidney Sweeney anyone but youand five stars who were thought of primarily as dramatic actors before hosting SNL (Timothy Chalamet Wonka; Gosling. lobby.for johansson asteroid city; and Jennifer Lawrence I don’t hold a grudge)?
You may have seen many current and past works SNL Watching McKinnon and Davidson dish out mayonnaise in a Super Bowl ad last Sunday doesn’t exactly scream movie star. Not to mention the daily commercials where Ego Nwodim touts the goodness of Pizza Hut and Kenan Thompson appliances.
Legendary movie stars like Sandler and Murphy still make money on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Other stand-up comedians occasionally appear as movie stars, but Zach Galifianakis’ breakout example is the hangover Trilogy or Tiffany Haddish girls trip It didn’t become a permanent protagonist for either of them. It seems like the only time Kevin Hart will have a big movie audience is when he teams up with The Rock (Hart’s appearance on Netflix is another story).
Two of them are almost litigious. pitch perfect Starring Rebel Wilson and Adam Devine — Wilson made two films in 2019, both of which exceeded their budgets. Isn’t it romantic? and hustlewhile her and Devine’s most recent blockbusters were both available on Netflix.
But that doesn’t stop Apatow from trying to help. SNL The star jumps onto the big screen.he directed Davidson’s work king of staten islandwas pulled from SXSW in 2020 due to the pandemic, and the film’s official release was also canceled. Apatow also produced the film debut of the Please Don’t Destroy trio of Martin Herlihy, John Higgins and Ben Marshall last year. Treasure of Kiriyama. It was scheduled to be released in cineplexes nationwide, but NBCUniversal instead decided to release it only on Peacock last November.
“The most important thing to me is we need to let new comedy stars break out. If we don’t give people a chance, the next generation of comedy stars won’t grow,” Apatow said last November. , told The Daily Beast. “To me, the bigger problem is that a lot of people seem to be drawn to familiar IPs and big-name stars. That’s the safety net. Most of what’s broken is new. Everyone participates. the hangover It was new.Full participation 40 year old virgin It was new. People go to movies because they like to see fresh faces, but because someone took a chance and that way they could get Kristen Wiig or Seth Rogen, the studio didn’t want to do that. have to take such risks. ”
Apatow added: saturday night live This is what we do in the movie Please Don’t Destroy. We want to find new people to make these movies in addition to the people we already love. ”
Gen Z may associate hardcore with the Please Don’t Destroy guys, but SNL Their film failed to make the Nielsen Top 10 Streaming Movies list, a clip of which is on YouTube.And to be honest, who is still thinking foggy mountain Now, 3 months later? Anyone?
if SNL We’d love to start casting movie stars again, but we’re going to have to do a lot better than this.
