Will Ferrell’s ‘The House’ Bombs: Star’s Worst Opening in 18 Years

Adult comedies have had a mostly rough time at the box office recently, and the latest to suffer from this trend is New Line/Village Roadshow’s “The House,” which stars Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler as a married couple who start up an illegal casino to raise money for their daughter’s college fund.

To find a wide release film that grossed lower than “The House” and had Ferrell in the leading role, we have to go back to 1999, when “Superstar” made $8.9 million from 2,061 screens.

Next month will see another female-driven adult comedy, Universal’s “Girls Trip,” try to turn the trend around on July 21 with a cast of African-American women featuring Queen Latifah, Regina Hall, Jada Pinkett Smith and Tiffany Hadish.

Starring Kumail Nanjiani and co-written by him with his wife Emily Gordon, the Sundance smash hit replaces raunch with romance and sprinkles in dramatic moments, as Gordon and Nanjiani tell the story of their turbulent meeting and the crisis they faced when Gordon was struck with a mysterious disease and entered a medically-induced coma.