The encyclopedia · Product & Design · Product decision · 2008
Paramount paid Mike Myers $20M of a $62M budget, and religious groups boycotted the result
The comedy leaned on caricatured Hindu spirituality, drew organized boycott calls ahead of release, and closed at $40.9M against its $62M budget.
Paramount Pictures · Spyglass Entertainment · 2008-06-20
What happened
Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment split the roughly $62 million budget for The Love Guru, a comedy starring and co-written by Mike Myers, of which $20 million went to Myers personally, betting his track record from the Austin Powers and Shrek franchises would carry an original comedy concept.
The film's humor centered on caricaturing Hindu spiritual practices and imagery for comedic effect, which drew organized criticism and calls for boycott from Hindu-American community groups ahead of the film's release, adding to negative pre-release buzz.
The Love Guru opened to a weak $13.9 million weekend, landing fourth, and closed with $40.9 million worldwide against its $62 million budget — a loss before marketing costs are even counted, and it became widely regarded as the film that ended Myers' run as a bankable leading man.
Why it happened
- The studio paid a large upfront star fee without validating whether the specific comedic concept would find an audience.
- Building humor around caricaturing a specific religious tradition created organized opposition before release rather than after.
- Nobody adjusted the marketing or content in response to the pre-release community criticism once it became public.
- A star's prior franchise success was treated as sufficient to carry an original, riskier comedic premise on its own.
The lesson
Comedy built on caricaturing a real religious tradition creates an organized audience working against the film before a single review is published.
Aftermath
The Love Guru's failure significantly damaged Mike Myers' standing as a leading man, and he did not headline another major studio comedy for years afterward.
Sources
- The Love Guru — Wikipedia
- The Georgia Straight — Religious boycotts spur The Love Guru's flaccid box office performance
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