For my cash, “Bridesmaids” is likely one of the finest American comedies ever made, and we have now co-writers Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo to thank for it, together with their fearless director Paul Feig. Apparently, although, Wiig — the beloved “Saturday Night Live” staple who wrote and starred in the movie — thought it was an enormous failure at first, as a result of it did not have a powerful opening weekend.
“Bridesmaids” completed second on the field workplace in its preliminary opening weekend — behind the primary “Thor” film — and by the tip of the weekend, it boasted a gross of roughly $26 million towards a $32.5 million price range. Nonetheless, phrase of mouth saved the movie going, and when all was mentioned and finished, “Bridesmaids” raked in a actually spectacular haul of $288 million internationally and even turned the highest-grossing movie produced by comedy powerhouse Judd Apatow, surpassing his 2007 movie “Knocked Up.”Past all of these accolades, the film even earned Oscar nominations, together with a screenplay nod for Wiig and Mumolo and a supporting actress nomination for Melissa McCarthy, who turned one in every of Hollywood’s largest stars within the aftermath of “Bridesmaids.”
So why on the planet did Wiig suppose it bombed? Chatting with her former “SNL” colleague and friend Amy Poehler on Poehler’s podcast “Good Hang,” Wiig mentioned that the studio, Common, wasn’t precisely optimistic about the entire thing. “After opening weekend, they had been like, ‘Properly, we tried,'” Wiig mentioned, deadpan.
Once more, what?! As Wiig defined, the studio felt just like the film’s opening weekend was the make-or-break second. Fortunately, as she identified, the film gained a ton of traction because of phrase of mouth. “After which I feel simply, increasingly more folks saved seeing it, after which issues form of occurred later,” she concluded. As a result of that is Wiig we’re speaking about, she threw in a barely risqué joke: “It was a grower.”
The director of Bridesmaids was additionally nervous the blockbuster comedy would bomb on the field workplace
Director Paul Feig, who went on to work with Melissa McCarthy on hit comedies like “The Warmth,” “Spy,” and the all-female “Ghostbusters” reboot after making “Bridesmaids,” was additionally nervous about the very same final result as Wiig was when he made “Bridesmaids.” (Feig spoke about this throughout a SXSW panel in March 2025, per Variety.) Apparently, lots of people Feig knew — particularly feminine writers — had been “pitching female-led comedies” to studios and had been instructed, “We’ve got to attend and see how ‘Bridesmaids’ does.” The strain was, clearly, immense. “I used to be like, ‘F***! Do not put that on me. Am I gonna smash films for ladies?'” Feig mentioned earlier than talking up a few clear double normal. “I do not suppose with ‘The Hangover’ they mentioned, ‘I am gonna wait to see all these dudes on display earlier than we do that once more,'” he joked. “However thank god it did properly.”
Nonetheless, as Feig identified — which corroborates Wiig’s recollection — the studio was downright pessimistic concerning the story of a girl, Annie Walker (Wiig), getting more and more frantic and jealous whereas she’s a bridesmaid for her finest pal Lillian Donovan (Maya Rudolph). “Proper until the day we got here out, we had been predicted to not do properly,” Feig remembered. “We had been instructed, ‘It’s important to make $20 million on opening weekend, or you’ll be thought-about a failure.'”
To make issues worse, in response to Feig, a last-minute late-night screening of the movie did not carry out. “And we did a midnight screening the night time earlier than that did not go properly,” the director mentioned. “They had been like, ‘It is gonna be $13 million. Sorry, it is a bomb.’ All day, I used to be strolling round, like, ‘I suppose I destroyed comedy for ladies.'” Removed from it, Feig! Do not you are concerned!
Bridesmaids was an unlimited success
“Bridesmaids” has grow to be a significant Hollywood success story and a beloved comedy basic because it was launched in 2011. Because of Kristen Wiig’s grounded but completely bonkers efficiency as Annie — her whole sequence on the airplane is likely one of the film’s largest highlights and most quotable scenes — and unbelievable supporting turns from comedic undercover agent Rose Byrne (as Lillian’s rich new pal and Annie’s defacto nemesis Helen Harris III) and Melissa McCarthy (because the groom’s erratic however extremely smart sister Megan Value) do not harm both. So will we ever get a sequel now that the studio was proved soundly unsuitable over the field workplace haul for “Bridesmaids?”
No, in response to Wiig — and I feel that is for one of the best. In March 2024, Wiig spoke to The Hollywood Reporter concerning the unlikely success of “Bridesmaids,” echoing a few of her sentiments about how folks did not consider within the movie — “Folks get scared. What’s unsuitable with having a giant feminine forged? Why is that scary?” — and in addition mentioned {that a} sequel is not within the playing cards. “It is by no means been a dialog,” Wiig confirmed. “That story had an finish, and it is so beloved to me for 10 million causes, and I feel it is OK to simply have it exist on the planet as it’s.”
When you’re actually jonesing for extra “Bridesmaids,” although, could I make a humble suggestion? In 2020, Wiig and Annie Mumolo launched their second characteristic movie that they co-wrote, “Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar,” and while it’s a lot weirder than “Bridesmaids,” it is also unbelievable. Ever wanted to see Wiig play two characters and Jamie Dornan obsess about being in an “official couple?” Go watch “Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar” on VOD, and “Bridesmaids” is streaming on Netflix.
