Stupidity seems to sell well as 'Dumb and Dumber To' rake in the biggest ticket sales at the box office with a huge opening this weekend.
The sequel to the original 'Dumb and Dumber' screwball comedy topped the box office with an estimated $38.1 million in United States and Canada sales for Nov. 14, Friday through Nov. 16, Sunday, according to media tracker Rentrak. Worldwide, the film garnered a total of $9 million in sales.
'Dumb and Dumber To' took a long time coming for brothers Bobby and Peter Farrelly, who directed the original film two decades ago. In 2003, director Troy Miller produced 'Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd' as a prequel to the 1994 comedy, but was met with a mild reception by moviegoers and an even cooler reaction from the critics.
Miller's 'Dumb and Dumberer' starred TV actors Eric Christian Olsen and Derek Richardson. In 'Dumb and Dumber To,' actors Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels revived their on-screen friendship as Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne, two dimwitted best friends on the quest to find Harry's long-lost daughter.
Though film critics are not rolling on the floor with laughter over Carrey and Daniels idiotic antics, with Rotten Tomatoes giving an overall freshness rating of 27 percent and describing the Farrelly brothers' brand of humor as "nowhere near as refreshingly transgressive as it once seemed," the movie-going public is certainly delighted over the sequel.
"This was a gamble. Cinematic history is littered with long-lead sequels that just haven't worked," says Rentrak senior media analyst for box-office Paul Dergarabedian. "It's always a risky move to wait this long, but in this case, the casting of Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels really made a difference."
'Dumb and Dumber,' which received mixed reactions from critics but went on to become a cult classic, made a total of $247 million worldwide and ruled over the box office for four weeks. This fueled the Farrelly brothers' reputation as one of the most bankable brands of humor in history. While the original film cost $16 million to produce, 'Dumb and Dumber To' cost around $40 million and was originally produced independently by Red Granite Productions before Universal Pictures came onboard.
In an interview with The Los Angeles Times last month, Peter Farrelly said he had high hopes for the sequel.
"We didn't want this to be 'Dumb and Dumber Lite,'" he said. "We wanted it to be as good as the first movie. Our goal is that after you see both movies and a couple of years have passed, they will blur together."
Universal president for domestic distribution Nikki Rocco says 'Dumb and Dumber To' is the first successful comedy with broad appeal, noting that 38 percent of moviegoers who saw the film this weekend were Hispanics and 43 percent were aged below 25, indicating that the film isn't just for nostalgic old folks longing for the good, ol' years.
