Shortly after going viral for suggesting that superhero movies “ruined” other, more casual moviegoing experiences like the comedies he would like to star in, actor and comedian Adam Devine is clarifying those comments. If you listened to the comments in their full context, there wasn’t actually a lot of clarification needed, but the choice of the word “ruined” ruffled some feathers, so Devine took to Twitter to clarify the comments, saying that the coverage of his comments (which appeared on tabloid sites like Just Jared as well as traditional entertainment trade papers like Variety) had been “misleading.”
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HIs actual criticisms — you can read both the original comment and Devine’s clarification below — sound less like spite and more like comments that actors like Iron Man‘s Gwyneth Paltrow and Air‘s Matt Damon have made in the past: enormous, IP-driven blockbusters have so dominated the theatrical marketplace for the last few years that studios have stopped making other kinds of movies.
“I feel like superhero movies ruined comedies because you go to the theater, and you expect to watch something that cost $200 million to make,” Devine said on the This Past Week podcast. “Comedy movies aren’t that. So you’re like, ‘Why would I spend the same amount of money to go watch a little comedy in the theater if I can spend that and go see something that is worth $200 million?’”
“As a guy who loves movies and tv, it’s cool to be in Variety but this is misleading,” Devine tweeted. “I like Marvel and think these movies are cool.”
What he meant to say was “that studios (in trying to compete with Marvel) have stopped making mid budget comedies. I miss seeing comedy in the theaters!”
The comments are so similar to things that have been said over and over again, they are basically a Hollywood truism at this point. It’s a little difficult to explain why Devine’s version went so viral, although it may be, in part, because there just aren’t that many celebrity interviews happening right now with the SAG-AFTRA strike going on. Devine is a comedian who can tour and post to social media, and make money using that skillset even while the strike is going on, and therefore he was a lot more likely than most to be out there just…saying things…right now.
Devine’s latest screen appearance was in Netflix’s The Out-Laws, the synopsis for which is below.
“Owen Browning (Adam Devine) is a straight-laced bank manager about to marry the love of his life, Parker (Nina Dobrev). When his bank is held up by the infamous Ghost Bandits during his wedding week, he believes his future in-laws (Pierce Brosnan, Ellen Barkin) who just arrived in town, are the infamous Out-Laws.”
