A party last week coincided with the release of Adam Sandler’s latest movie. Naturally, the topic of conversation turned to Adam Sandler movies and the question came up of what was Sandler’s last funny movie. Without hesitation, someone piped in with .
That answer revealed a lot about Adam Sandler movies — the last funny movie wasn’t much of a comedy and it came out ten years ago.
Anyway, linked to in which Emerson explains that Adam Sandler movies are actually carefully constructed financial instruments designed to maximize the difference between revenues obtained and resources used. Emerson explains:
What if those schlocky Adam Sandler movies that you either think are funny or you don’t really aren’t just schlocky Adam Sandler movies that you either think are funny or you don’t? What if they don’t have much to do with movies at all, but are more like leveraged derivative instruments (I don’t actually know what those are) or synthetic collateralized debt obligation (CDO) transactions, devised by accountants to provide maximum returns with minimum effort — that promise investors profits for next-to-nothing? Ultra-low-budget production values and minor league actors, writers and directors (except for Sandler himself, who gets $25 million-plus up-front plus a heavy chunk of the gross), subsidized by egregious product placements, make for maximum risk minimalization.
Sounds about right, but the model is likely not limited to Adam Sandler movies.