![]() Neighbors didn’t have much competition from last weekend’s No. Plus, it’s hard to imagine a better time to open a comedy about a frat house than the end of the spring semester. The May 2 release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and May 16’s Godzilla presumably scared other tentpoles away, leaving Neighbors without any major competition from new, wide-released movies on May 9. Neighbors’ slightly low Cinemascore (B) could spell trouble next weekend, but after an opening like this one, everything else is gravy. Good reviews aren’t strictly necessary for an R-rated comedy to do well, but they can sure help. Going in, Neighbors had positive word of mouth and rated a 74 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, which is pretty impressive for a 96-minute collection of penis jokes. (Last summer’s 21 Jump Street pulled off a similar demographic trick.) 47 percent of the people who saw Neighbors this weekend were under the age of 25, suggesting that Efron and Rogen were equal draws. But by matching Efron (26 years old) with Seth Rogen (32), Neighbors’ makers were able to attract both 20- and 30-somethings, two different audiences that are nonetheless close enough in age that they can still relate. Less-savvy producers might have moved an oldster like Ben Stiller, Jason Bateman, or Robert De Niro next door to Zac Efron’s frat house. ![]() ![]() But that hasn’t worked lately, maybe because in our era of infinite entertainment options, those audiences have become accustomed to being catered to individually. There was a time when Hollywood could make four-quadrant comedy hits by casting young stars opposite older ones as their parents or in-laws and telling jokes broad enough to bridge the generation gap (the Meet the Parents formula), thereby courting moviegoers in both age groups. How exactly did this happen? These are our ten best guesses. Seth Rogen and Zac Efron’s Neighbors obliterated expectations, earning $49 million in its first three days, one of the biggest-ever openings for an R-rated comedy. This weekend, Spider-Man met his match in the form of a chubby dad and a sparkly eyed, eight-abbed fraternity president. ![]()
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