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Melissa McCarthy's 'The Happytime Murders' has been a disaster at the box office, and made less than every single Muppet movie

Sep 19, 2018, 18:56 IST

&quotThe Happytime Murders"STX Entertainment

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  • "The Happytime Murders" has only taken in $20.6 million domestically. That's less than any of the Muppet movies that were released theatrically (counting inflation).
  • The Jim Henson Company, which produced all the Muppet movies, also produced "Happytime Murders."
  • We look back on the domestic performance of all the Muppet movies.

"The Happytime Murders" had Melissa McCarthy starring, the son of Jim Henson at the helm, and a hilarious trailer - but none of that seemed to matter.

The really raunchy puppet movie was slaughtered by critics (it has a 22% rating on Rotten Tomatoes) and has only earned $20.6 million in the US since its August 24 opening ($24.5 million worldwide).

The weak box-office coin makes it one of the lowest-earning wide releases of the 2018 summer. But that's not all. It also didn't make close to what any of the Muppet movies that had a theatrical release took in domestically (even "Muppets Most Wanted").

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It's a real black eye for the movie's production company, The Jim Henson Company ("Happytime Murders" director Brian Henson, son of Jim, is its chairman), which decided to take a risk and make a puppet movie without its cash-cow Muppet characters, and paid the price.

"Great trailer, disappointing film," Jeff Bock, senior box-office analyst at Exhibitor Relations, said to Business Insider summing up the movie's performance. "'Happytime Murders' would have been better off mimicking the Muppets we know and love."

Here's a look at the box office performance (counting inflation) of all eight Muppet movies that were released theatrically:

Note: All box office figures below are from Box Office Mojo.

8. "Muppets From Space" (1999) — $30.3 million

Unadjusted: $16.6 million

7. "Muppets Most Wanted" (2014) — $58 million

Unadjusted: $51.1 million

6. "The Muppet Christmas Carol" (1992) — $61 million

Unadjusted: $27.2 million

5. "The Muppets Take Manhattan" (1984) — $70.4 million

Unadjusted: $26 million

4. "Muppet Treasure Island" (1996) — $72 million

Unadjusted: $34.3 million

3. "The Great Muppet Caper" (1981) — $104 million

Unadjusted: $31.2 million

2. "The Muppets" (2011) — $105 million

Unadjusted: $89 million

1. "The Muppet Movie" (1979) — $241 million

Unadjusted: $65.2 million

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