Between them, Melissa McCarthy and husband Ben Falcone have staged rip-roaring road trips in Tammy and wealthy CEOs with the release of last week’s comedy, The Boss. It’s a cinematic partnership that impresses more in the box office department than anything else, though it’s one that will continue when McCarthy becomes the Life of the Party.
Setting up shop at New Line, The Hollywood Reporter has learned that McCarthy and Falcone’s third comedy effort will come tethered with a similar production budget to Tammy – somewhere in the $19 million ballpark, essentially – as the studio looks to carry out a similarly low-budget, high-profit feat.
Placing the soon-to-be-Ghostbuster as the movie’s lead, it’s understood that “the film has been described as being akin in tone to the Rodney Dangerfield hit Back to School and pitched as a broad comedy playing on McCarthy’s strengths.” While it’s far too soon to draw conclusions from THR’s report, McCarthy and Falcone could be poised to shake up the formula for Life of the Party. Third time’s a charm, right?
Despite largely negative reviews, Tammy clocked in with a relatively strong $100 million box office off the back of a $19 million budget. Early box office signs for The Boss are certainly positive, too, even if Matt Donato found McCarthy and Falcone’s most recent comedy to be something of a tonal mess.
New Line will likely push ahead with production on the Life of the Party towards the end of 2016, when McCarthy will light up the screen in Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters reboot come July.
