After 13-years, Bad Santa 2 made its way into theaters without much fanfare or excitement. The sequel to the raunchy dark comedy sees Billy Bob Thornton reprise his role as Willie Soke, an alcoholic who goes on another mission to rob a Chicago charity with Marcus on Christmas Eve. Most of the original cast members make their returns in the second installment; however, that ultimately didn’t matter because the movie was trashed by critics upon release. However, a bad rotten tomatoes score isn’t a sign that a movie will bomb at the box office and with a $24 million price tag, the dark Holiday comedy could’ve easily made its money back in theaters. Unfortunately, the film only made $6.8 million during its opening weekend and would end its run with $24.10 million worldwide. Ouch. So, what happened? The first film is considered a cult classic by many and it actually pulled in a solid $76.50 million worldwide. Let’s dive deeper into the reason that Bad Santa 2 bombed at the box office.
Bad Santa 2 Was The Definition Of An Unnecessary Sequel
Despite taking nearly 13 years, Bad Santa 2 never justifies its existence. In fact, the sequel is essentially a carbon copy of the first film. Willie is still an alcoholic a**hole who’s plans to rob another place on Christmas eve. There are some new details here and there, but the overall plot is extremely identical to the first film. Bad Santa is a cult classic. It was never a huge mainstream success thus I doubt executives expected this to be a smash hit and make a ton of money. However, the strong word-of-mouth regarding the first film should’ve resulted in a better showing for the sequel. Bad Santa 2 is a vulgar, crass, and crude feature, just like its predecessor. The problem lies that the first film had some heart as well, which is mostly missed in Bad Santa 2. Sure, Brett Kelly returns and anytime he’s onscreen then the good side of Willie mostly comes out; however, it appears that the filmmakers thought that Thornton being an unlikeable douchebag was what audiences loved about the first film. It’s not. Don’t get me wrong, there was fun to be had with Soke’s antics in Bad Santa; however, the charm of the original movie helped balanced out the negatives of Willie’s ugliness. Bad word-of-mouth definitely got the best of this film and most of the fanbase opted to skip the sequel since its essentially the same movie as the first film.
Raunchy Comedies Are Not Hugely Popular
Bad Santa was a surprise success back n 2003 because it felt fresh and new at the time. However, when it comes to raunchy comedies, the genre doesn’t have many hits on its roster. The Hangover, Ted, Beverly Hills Cop, There’s Something About Mary, and The Hangover Part II all have the distinction of making over $500 million worldwide. Other films like Neighbors, American Pie II, Borat, the 21 Jump Street series, and several others saw a big box office return in theaters as well; however, raunchy comedies haven’t seen that much love in the past several years. At the end of the day, raunchy and dark comedies just aren’t popular with mainstream audiences. Tie that with the fact that this came out around Thanksgiving, a time where audiences tend to prefer cheery films, then in retrospect, Bad Santa 2 bombing at the box office isn’t that much of a surprise. Bad Santa 2 in vain of Blade Runner 2049, despite the cult status of the original films, executives overestimated the popularity of both intellectual properties.
Bad Santa 2 Was Overshadowed
As I previously mentioned, Bad Santa 2 came out several days before Thanksgiving, which isn’t typically the most successfully time for movies. However, the season is usually plastered with Oscar hopefuls and holiday films, but one movie dominated the box office at the time: Moana. While Moana wasn’t a powerhouse like some of Pixar/Disney’s other animated features due to it’s holiday five-day opening of $82.1 million, the animated feature would go to make $645 million. While the age demographic for Bad Santa 2 and Moana are vastly different, there were plenty of adults distracted by the Moana feature because of Pixars ability to have their films resonate with audiences of all ages. However, the Brad Pitt vehicle Allied helped steal away the adult audiences until Rogue One: A Star Wars Story stole the box office thunder and dominated theaters everywhere. Bad Santa 2 is a good counterpoint from all three of these movies; however, the terrible critical reception, the general lack of interest and notable stars prevented this film from truly finding success.
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