A diabolical dud that should have stayed in development hell cracks the case on streaming

As Mad Max: Fury Road, The Irishman, Deadpool, and Alita: Battle Angel have shown, spending years (if not decades) stuck in development hell is hardly a death sentence. However, on the other side of the coin exists Gemini Man, Chaos Walking, and The Happytime Murders, all three of which should have probably stayed there.

The latter took a fantastic concept, threw it through the meat grinder of too many cooks spoiling the broth, and then vomited an abject disaster on the screen. That might sound harsh, but let’s not forget that Melissa McCarthy teaming up with a puppet to solve an R-rated murder mystery flopped at the box office, and ended up nominated for six Razzies including Worst Picture and Worst Director, with McCarthy walking away as the Worst Actress victor.

The Jim Henson Company first announced the project in 2008, but it would be a full 10 years before The Happytime Murders ended up blighting the eyeballs of anyone unfortunate enough to be suckered in by an admittedly ingenious pitch that sees the felt-clad cast of a 1990s TV series getting killed off one-by-one, forcing a disgraced puppet P.I. to team up with his ex-partner to crack the case.

Proving yet again that reviews don’t mean sh*t on streaming, though, The Happytime Murders has somehow become one of the top titles on HBO Max. As per FlixPatrol, the panned commercial failure has become a Top 10 hit in 20 countries across the globe, but we can only hope this is a fleeting moment in the spotlight, as opposed to a full-blown resurgence.