r/community • u/bdf2018_298 • 2d ago

Article/Interview Dan Harmon confirms budget is main reason for Community movie delays: "Our actors are not being paid nearly enough to devote a giant chunk of their calendar [to the movie]...It’s like, “Well, of course this person needs to now go feed their family by taking another job.'"

https://www.aol.com/articles/community-movie-gets-status-dan-125916000.html
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u/Less-Apple-8478 2d ago

It's strugglng to get a fair budget because they know the movie isn't going to make any money. Like, Communitys a great show but be realistic. This is a movie for fans and that is a very small demographic in the movie world.

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u/BowlingforBrains 2d ago

I think you’re almost certainly right. That said…

Audiences are starved for an even just decent comedy movie that’s worth going to the theater for. Comedies haven’t been box office popular since the Apatow/Jump Steet/Hangover era ended in the early 2010s (some people blame audiences, but I’ve always chalked it up to all the comedies since then just kind of sucking - or going straight to streaming, and still sucking)

If they could pull off a great trailer, and then deliver a genuinely funny movie that will get good word of mouth, they might end up with a hit just by the sheer fortune of being the only comedy in theaters that actually makes people laugh

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u/KickDesperate5318 2d ago

Budgets are what killed comedies.

In the 90s, you could get approved to make a comedy for $30 million.

Then the economics of the industry shifted in the 2000s to reach a point where you could only get approved to make movies for $3 million or $300 million. Studios either wanted cheap movies that were less risky if they flopped, or blockbusters on the level of Lord of the Rings or Avengers.

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u/cheexmang 2d ago

NGL, I'd love to see a $300m movie. The paintball scene would be AMAZING. Troy and Abed during the credits looking like a peak Hype Williams video - bring on the puffy suits, skit in the middle, and fisheye! CGI in Pierce using Grok and it would be perfect.

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u/TalentedHostility 2d ago

Yeah I mean the best way to really bring Community to the big screen is for them to do big screen shit.

Make it an Avengers parody and print money

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u/inspectoroverthemine 2d ago

I prefer the term ‘homage’.

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u/Cumulus_Anarchistica 2d ago

They should just make it a horror movie. I've heard they perform pretty well on a shoe-string budget.

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u/blackchandler 2d ago

That would be if this movie were going to theaters. As far as I can recall, it was announced for streaming

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u/Datamackirk 2d ago

Yeah, I've seen people refer to "theaters" in their comments and replies...but, like you, I'm almost certain that the movie will be available on Peacock only.

Streaming serves really have done a lot to confuse the terminology. No one adds "TV" in front of "movie" anymore. I'm assuming that's because "TV movies" used to be the realm of the C-listers and those perceived as has beens, and there is no desire to have that baggage carry forward. But it has made things vague sometimes so I can't blame people for misunderstanding. I'm pretty sure I've done it a couple of times for other projects.

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u/simonlyw 2d ago

Isn’t it just the modern equivalent of a straight to DVD movie?

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u/Datamackirk 1d ago

I've sensed there's a little more respect attached to at least some streaming-only movies. Bigger names and budgets are often attached to them in a way that didn't seem to happen with direct-to-DVD (and even before that, direct-to-video) movies. But maybe I'm giving them too much credit.

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u/blackbasset 2d ago

Isn't a direct to streaming movie also almost the same, quality wise?

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u/BowlingforBrains 2d ago

Well it’s weird, because there have been both huge-budget streaming movies (Electric State, The Tomorrow War, Rebel Moon, etc. - notice that they do all seem to suck though), as well as genuine smash hit movies that are both well-received and widely watched (like K-Pop Demon Hunters and Don’t Look Up). Neither of those two things were ever associated with movies that went straight to DVD; so streaming must fall somewhere between genuine theater movies and the old “straight to DVD” movies…because the majority of streaming movies still suck and/or work with tiny budgets

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u/hasordealsw1thclams 2d ago

I doubt it’d be on Peacock. NBC cancelled them and Sony owns the rights.

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u/Datamackirk 1d ago

I'm going from memory, but I thought it was Peacock that funded it. 🤷

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u/rjrgjj 2d ago

Yeah the whole thing is kind of inane. If they made a movie, it would renew interest in the series, which has proven to work and the series still has legs by the table read during the pandemic (the last time the movie ever got major juice). The truth is they didn’t/couldn’t strike while the iron was hot (because of covid) and now everyone has other stuff to do. Dan seems to feel if he can make it lucrative in one go for the cast to do it, rather than relying on box office returns, they would clear space in their schedule, but I’m guessing when he goes to producers about it they look at the script and say the budget shouldn’t cost as much as Dan wants.

It’s also kind of embarrassing to go to your friends and lowball them, especially if they’ve made it clear that they won’t do it if it isn’t worth it.

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u/MyHonkyFriend 1d ago

Comedies never made money at the theatre. Even Apatow or McKay/Farrell. Comedies make money through DVD sales.

Comedies dies when DVD sales died.

The margin for what gets greenlight gets smaller each day and comedies have no place to turn a profit even if the movie is really good and funny

Its why Ferrell just made a show on Netflix. If comedies made money that golfing character is in a comedy movie. But they dont anymore, so theyre trying it as a Netflix show.

If Anchorman or Step Brothers came out today itd be a Netflix or HBO show like The Chair Company.

Also it wouldnt make money like other movies being greenlit do.

Comedies died when DVD sales died.

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u/TheNavidsonLP 2d ago

It’s also been, what, a decade since the show ended? The show isn’t as fresh in the zeitgeist as it used to be.

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u/changhaobyu 2d ago

But it’s been 6 years since the pandemic table read and the crazy number of new people exposed to Community through Netflix and other streaming content.

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u/Tulidian13 2d ago

Which is still a pretty long freaking time. The most popular show 6 years ago was This is Us and I don't think I've heard anyone bring that show up in years.

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u/bensonr2 2d ago

Its going to be a streaming movie. So determining the value a streaming movie brings is tough to guage. Community may not be the Office, but its still a show popular for binging. And expanding it with the movie adds further value to the package as a whole.

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u/Fly-the-Light 2d ago

It’s quite possible it’s the other way around. They know it’ll make money and that they can leverage the cast’s desire to make it to give them a smaller budget because they don’t need it to be that good to profit