The Top 10 Upcoming Comedy Movies That Might Suck

They’ve been crafted to make us laugh, and turn a tidy profit. Will they succeed? We’re not convinced. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the "Top 10 Upcoming Comedy Movies That Might Suck."

For this list, we’ll be looking at comedies yet to be released as of January 2019, but which, for various reasons, we suspect will fail with critics, at the box office, or with audiences. We hope we’re wrong and that these comedies wind up as pleasant cinematic surprises, but we have our doubts.

Comedy remakes don’t exactly inspire confidence; and remakes of remakes even less so. The Hustle is a female-centered remake of the 1988 film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which itself was based on 1964s Bedtime Story. Can the premise possibly have anything left to offer? Making such familiar material new again is a daunting challenge. Admittedly, it’s hard to argue with the cast. Stars Rebel Wilson and Anne Hathaway have both proved themselves in past comedic roles, but writer Jac Schaeffer’s only other comedy feature, Timer, received lukewarm reviews, and The Hustle will be director Chris Addison’s feature debut. Here’s hoping that his TV experiences translates over to the big screen.

The first film in this franchise made a whopping $875.5 million when it was released in 2016. Considering it did so on a budget of just $75 million, a sequel was guaranteed. Here’s the thing though, at 73 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, it was mostly well-received; but it didn’t have the same sort of cultural impact of say, Zootopia, and some reviewers criticized it as being derivative of Toy Story. Complicating things for the sequel is the fact that the original film starred Louis C. K., who, in the wake of the MeToo movement, has seen his role go to Patton Oswalt. Oswalt is a solid replacement, but sequels with a recast lead often struggle.

Remember when we only got a couple of CGI family films a year? Nowadays, the market is far more saturated and significantly less consistent in terms of quality. UglyDolls is STX Entertainment’s first foray into an animated feature film under the STX Family banner. So… that is already a gamble. But when you take a look at the cast, the outlook gets worse. While the film is a musical-comedy, we’re still concerned by the fact that the cast is made up of celebrities who are singers first and actors second. Kelly Clarkson and Nick Jonas take the leading roles, supported by Pitbull, Wang Leehom, and Blake Shelton, among others. The music will no doubt be great, but what about the comedy?

Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson have already proven themselves to have solid chemistry, as seen in Thor: Ragnarok. We have no doubt that they have what it takes to lead an action-comedy together, we’re just not sure about this action-comedy. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones leave behind big shoes to fill. And despite an uneven middle chapter, the original trilogy ended strong with help from Josh Brolin in the third installment. Though we’re always excited to return to the world of MIB, the first trailer for this spinoff film felt uneven. The tone FELT like Men in Black, but something special was still missing. It was also a bit short on the trademark MIB humor.

Will Smith and Tom Holland? Those are two solid names to have attached to your film. In the right movie, that’s a leading cast with cross-generation appeal that translates to pure box office gold—especially with Karen Gillan and Rashida Jones in tow. Except… this doesn’t feel like the sure thing it should be. Smith’s last leading voice role in an animated feature was 2004s lackluster Shark Tale. The trailer starts off strong, looking like a shot at animated redemption for Smith as secret agent Lance Sterling. Then he turns into… a pigeon? That’s a seriously wacky turn for the film to take. It might very well pay off, but it feels like a big risk.

Melissa McCarthy certainly has come a long way from her days on Gilmore Girls, where she played fan favorite character Sookie. Since then, she’s starred in a number of successful films, including Spy, Bridesmaids, and The Heat. She’s quickly established herself as one of the foremost actors in big screen comedy. Unfortunately, every time that she’s partnered up with husband and director and Ben Falcone, the results have disappointed. Tammy, The Boss, and Life of the Party were all co-written and directed by Falcone, and respectively earned 24 percent, 22 percent, and 37 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Their collaborative batting average does NOT inspire confidence.

We get that green-lighting sequels is ultimately a numbers game, but we wish that financially successful movies would forego a follow up when critical and audience reactions are so decidedly mixed. The Angry Birds Movie was by no means 2016s worst film, but cinemagoers were pretty ambivalent. It made $350 million against a budget of $73 million, a profit based largely on its name recognition. But the mediocre film didn’t leave audiences wanting more—most people likely forgot about the movie by the time they got home. This sequel feels like a financial decision, plain and simple; and so, we can’t help but assume that the follow up will be another middling cinematic offering.

This 2019 satirical comedy comes armed with a strong cast, including Rebel Wilson, Liam Hemsworth, Adam DeVine, and Priyanka Chopra. It follows a woman who suddenly finds herself living in a world that follows the rules of romantic comedies. Fun premise, right? Unfortunately, it also feels like a bit of retread of 2018s I Feel Pretty, in that the leading lady is a quote-unquote “unconventional one” who starts seeing the world differently after hitting her head. The trailer also feels a little short on laughs. Now… satire doesn’t always translate well to trailers and the film’s strengths may lie in its long form parody of genre cliches, but this first look has us worried.

Whatever could lead us to believe that this Madea film will be a bad one? Well… to date, only one such film has actually gotten decent reviews from critics, and it was one of the few installments that kept Madea’s involvement to a minimum. After so many Madea films, there’s no reason to believe that the humor in this alleged final installment will be any stronger, or that the plot will be any less predictable and silly. Be that as it may, the thing about Tyler Perry’s tonally-inconsistent but long running franchise is that it has its dedicated core fanbase; and come release day, they’re sure to show up and make the film a financial success.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a couple of dishonorable mentions:

• Limited Partners
• Fighting With My Family

Elizabeth Banks is a talented actor, who in 2015 proved herself as a director with Pitch Perfect 2. Depending on the projects she chooses, Banks could very well become one of the leading female directors in the industry. If she continues to champion strong female casts, she could also be a major agent of change. Unfortunately, we have our doubts about her next film. If anyone is capable of pulling off a Charlie’s Angels reboot, it’s Banks, but we’re not convinced anyone CAN. The 2011 TV reboot failed, and though it’s been nearly two decades years, the 2000 film still feels like a part of pop culture. The potential for failure just seems SO high.