Ben Stiller on Zoolander 2's 'Blindsiding' Flop: 'Wow, I must have really f**ked this up'
Ben Stiller on Zoolander 2's 'Blindsiding' Flop: 'Wow, I must have really f**ked this up'
Ben Stiller has admitted that he felt "blindsided" by the commercial and critical failure of Zoolander 2, which arrived 15 years after its much-loved predecessor.
I think Ben Stiller just completely missed the mark with Zoolander 2 and it's good that he realizes it. It happens, not everything's gonna land the way you thought it would. But people really need to just stop making sequels to comedies years if not decades after the originals. It rarely ever works because comedy changes over time. Some humor doesn't age well but more importantly some premises just don't work well outside of the era they were conceptualized in because they were a reflection of that period. There are some exceptions of course but I've been burned too many times by shitty - purposeless sequels.
Also, the original worked because it was a new idea, same as Anchorman. Take a profession, ratchet the stupid up to 11 and have fun with it.
The sequel doesnt have the same "fresh ground" to walk over.
I liked the first Zoolander movie and I’m surprised I didn’t even realize they made a second one. I may have to watch it just because it exists and maybe now that I have a super low expectation it will not be so bad.
This realization is why I hope Austin Powers 4 never happens.
I recall him saying a year or two back that he ultimately thinks it's a good thing it failed, too, because, if it'd done well, he probably wouldn't have gone onto do more serious things like Escape At Dannemora and Severance.
I agree in part, I think that making a sequel decades after the original IRL and story-wise and updating the ideas and humour to not be the same as in the original might be worth it. But that would require an actual new idea that somehow aligns with characters strong enough to make it reasonable to make a sequel and not a new IP.
Wait... there was a Zoolander 2?
It's about the same quality as Anchorman 2. Meaning it just seemed like a remake of the first movie. A lot of the scenes I watched and might have laughed a bit, but there was always a better scene from the first movie to compare it to. I think that took away from my enjoyment.
I feel the same way about Ghostbusters 2.
No
They definitely fucked up the marketing, because this is the first I've heard of it.
You didn't miss out, it was terrible.
I wasn’t even aware (or completely forgot) there was another one.
I can 100% say I had no idea this movie happened.
Kinda like the Star Wars battlefront remaster that aparently dropped a month ago.
I knew all about that, was super hyped but waited for reviews and then didn't waste my money
I'm unfortunate enough to have seen this in theaters on opening day. It was very bad.
Luckily we saw Deadpool directly afterward which completely made up for it.
Joe Dirt 2 was so bad as well
Oh yeah, that was god awful. Fuck Crackle for releasing that garbage out into the world. I'm glad that streamer failed for Sony and the only buyers they could find were the publishers of the Chicken Soup for The Soul book series.
I totally remember choosing not to bother with this one because the first one was perfect.
This is an article 8 years after a movie was released 15 years after the first.
How timely.
The article is about an interview he did on David Ducovny's upcoming 'Fail Better' podcast... Which is specifically about people who've experienced high profile failures.
Idk I think it's valid to look back on stuff like this. I don't want/need a 24h news cycle for discussing movies.