Perhaps the word “Tanked” is too strong… but it could indeed apply here. Will Ferrell’s new film “Semi Pro” (you can read Doug’s review of it here) is on pace to be one of his worst opening weekend’s in his career. The folks over at Yahoo News give us this:

“Semi-Pro,” in which the comedian plays the flamboyant owner of an underdog team in the now-defunct American Basketball Association, opened at No. 1 with estimated earnings of $5.45 million on Friday, tracking firm Box Office Mojo said. It is on track to earn about $14 million for the Friday-to-Sunday period, based on the multiples for his last two sports spoofs, 2007’s “Blades of Glory” and 2006’s “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.” Industry observers had expected “Semi-Pro” to open above $20 million for the weekend.

There are films out ther that would kill for $15 million on opening weekend… but not many studio wide releases. To put it in more context, the last 2 Ferrell films opened much stronger:

Blades of Glory – $33 million

Talladega Nights – $47 million

So the question that has to be asked is… why was the opening weekend of this Ferrell film so weak? I think there are three things that have to be looked at. The “R” rating, early bad reviews and finally, people getting tired of Will Ferrell.

1) R rating

There can be no doubt that this had an impact on the final numbers. Both Blades and Nights had the more age inclusive PG-13 rating which opened the theaters to a few more people that just couldn’t get into Semi Pro. Ferrell’s comedy does seem to target juvenile minds (mine included). However, I really don’t think this was that big of a factor.

2) Early bad reviews

Word got out early that this film wasn’t all that good. Ferrell has some classics in his stable of films, but this on didn’t get much pop from wither critics or those seeing early screenings. However, Ferrell is one of those guys who is pretty much critic proof, and I don’t think early bad word of mouth kept anyone away who was already intent on seeing it. I’m sure it had an effect… but I don’t think it was the major culprit.

3) Getting tired of Will Ferrell’s schtick

Let’s face it, in all of his sports comedies so far (Blades, Nights, Semi Pro… heck let’s throw in Anchorman and just about every other film of his) Ferrell plays the exact same person every single time. And no matter how funny a joke is, after you hear it for the 5th time you stop laughing. All of Ferrells high profile flick are essentially the exact same movie and I’ve been saying for some time now the general public is getting tired of it.

Where is that great comedic diversity we know Ferrell is capable of that he so often used during his days on SNL? The man is one of the best pure comedic performers of our age, but he’s been stuck in the is same character rut for the last 5 years.

So what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment, or do you think there are other reasons for the poor performance of Semi Pro?