> they’re inexpensive, even with big star salaries (Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, etc)
> however most of them still don’t make any money
> this is mostly because studios stopped making films with narrative/pathos **and** humour because script readers thought they were “too smart” and instead tried to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Very few of these movies are successful.   
> It can work - see something like *Dodgeball* where the entire joke is basically people getting hit with various objects and it’s hilarious - however even there its propelled by narrative over jokes. As time went on studios made fewer films like *Dodgeball* and *Old School* and more films like *Semi-Pro* and *Holmes and Watson*  
> Unable to get projects made, directors like Chapo-extended-universe member Adam McKay turned to more dramatic fare like *The Big Short*
> Only people who can get major studio comedies made in todays film climate are really Chris Tucker, a major star so long as it’s “an action comedy” and Judd Apatow
> and that’s only because Judd owns a very very successful production company that basically grants him free reign on his own projects.
> Netflix still kinda does them with it’s happy madison projects but when was the last time anyone mentioned one of them to you? 
  

fun fact - the fact that such movies underperformed so massively in the late 2000s and 2010s is why Will Ferrell was for many years the star with the highest average salary and the lowest average return of investment in the entirety of Hollywood. Studio comedies crashed fucking big time.