{"id":374827,"date":"2026-08-11T09:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T16:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/?p=374827"},"modified":"2026-08-11T09:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T16:20:09","slug":"its-one-of-the-greatest-classics-of-american-comedy-but-now-we-know-its-success-came-exclusively-thanks-to-dvd-sales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/its-one-of-the-greatest-classics-of-american-comedy-but-now-we-know-its-success-came-exclusively-thanks-to-dvd-sales\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s one of the greatest classics of American comedy, but now we know its success came exclusively thanks to DVD sales."},"content":{"rendered":"

A comedy with Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks? It sounds like a guaranteed hit now, sure, but in 2001 it was little more than a pipe dream, an attempt to recreate the sex comedies of the 80s from a modern point of view that, just as its director, David Wain, expected, wasn’t going to interest anyone. He wasn’t far off: Wet Hot American Summer took in less than $300,000 and slipped into obscurity\u2026 until it came out on DVD<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Wet Hot American Summer on DVD<\/h2>\n\n

As its director recalls on the film’s 25th anniversary, \u201cWhen we were shooting it I used to say, \u2018I hope we finish it and if we do it plays in some theater so the New York Times can review it<\/strong>. Then we’ll have won. And that happened\u2019\u201d<\/em>. Of course, that doesn’t mean the movie became an immediate triumph, far from it.<\/p>\n\n

In fact, quite the opposite: \u201cIt opened in two theaters, we got one review and I said, \u2018Okay, that’s it, we’re done\u2019. And that was all. Still, the DVD came out a year later and people started to discover it and started to talk about it and to pass it around. And over the decades it became a legendary project\u201d<\/em>. That’s not just a figure of speech: besides being a terrific comedy and a fantastic example of nostalgia done right, Wet Hot American Summer eventually became a franchise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Netflix<\/a> released two different series based on the movie (a hilarious prequel and a not-so-hilarious sequel), and on top of that there was a feature-length making-of, a role-playing game, and even a graphic novel<\/strong>. And although all its stars are now hugely famous, a second film set 25 years later can’t be ruled out. We’ve seen stranger things (and with less talent).<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A comedy with Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks? It sounds like a guaranteed hit now, sure, but in 2001 it was little more than a pipe dream, an attempt to recreate the sex comedies of the 80s from a modern point of view that, just as its director, David Wain, expected, wasn’t … Continue reading “It\u2019s one of the greatest classics of American comedy, but now we know its success came exclusively thanks to DVD sales.”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9263,"featured_media":374826,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[1015],"tags":[],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-374827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t