'Pitch Perfect' star Adam Devine says Marvel superhero movies have 'ruined' comedies

• Adam Devine said that Marvel and other superhero movies have "ruined" the comedy genre.
• Devine believes that big-budget comic book fare has made audiences expect "$200 million" movies.

"Pitch Perfect" star Adam Devine believes that the Marvel Cinematic Universe and other superhero movies have "ruined" the comedy genre.

During a recent appearance on the podcast, "This Past Weekend with Theo Von," the actor said that it is now much harder to pitch and make comedy movies.

"You have to like mask it. This is why it's a big action-comedy because you really have to go like action, action, and then it's a comedy," Devine said referring to his new movie, "The Out-Laws."

"You watch comedies nowadays and you're like, 'This isn't a fucking comedy. Where's the jokes? Where's the bits?'" he continued.

Devine added that while there are good TV comedies, comedy movies "suck," and blamed comic book movies for the decline in quality.

"My theory is I think Marvel ruined it," the star said. "I feel like superhero movies kind of ruined comedies. Because people go to the theater and you expect to watch something that costs $200 million to make, and comedy movies aren't that."

Devine continued: "So you're like, 'Well, why would I spend the same amount of money to go watch a little comedy in a theater if I could spend the same amount of money and go see something that is worth $200 million?'"

Devine is not the first person in Hollywood to criticize Marvel's impact on the movie industry.

In 2019, Jennifer Aniston told Variety that she believed Marvel was "diminishing" the movie industry, which led to her decision to return to TV.

Jennifer Lopez also told Variety in 2019 that it had become harder to make movies outside of Marvel and other franchises.

"But the smaller more movies about humanity and people and life and struggles, you don't get that as much unless you do that for nothing and there's no budget and you're like scraping it together," Lopez said. "On top of the movies themselves, then when you have women characters at the front of it, it's a whole another battle. It's a whole new layer, and it's hard to get them made."