'Sisters': Amy Poehler and Tina Fey team up again for the upcoming comedy
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Molly Driscoll Staff writer
Comedy stars Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will release their new movie 鈥淪isters鈥� this December.聽
The movie centers on siblings Jane (Tina Fey), the ne鈥檈r-do-well of the family, and Maura (Amy Poehler), the rule-following sister, who decide to have one big party before their childhood home is sold. The film co-stars Ike Barinholtz of 鈥淭he Mindy Project,鈥� 鈥淏ig Hero 6鈥� actress Maya Rudolph, John Leguizamo of 鈥淛ohn Wick,鈥� and 鈥淪aturday Night Live鈥� actress Kate McKinnon.
The movie is written by 鈥淪aturday Night Live鈥� writer Paula Pell and is being directed by 鈥淧itch Perfect鈥� helmer Jason Moore.
Fey and Poehler have hosted the Golden Globes together multiple times and also both starred in the 2008 comedy 鈥淏aby Mama鈥� as well as the 2004 film 鈥淢ean Girls.鈥�
The movie will be released this December, an interesting time for a comedy that has already been rated R by the MPAA.
The traditional thinking is that December is the month for Oscar bait (see last year鈥檚 pile-up on Dec. 25 which included the releases of the movies 鈥淯nbroken,鈥� 鈥淚nto the Woods,鈥� 鈥淏ig Eyes,鈥� 鈥淪elma,鈥� and 鈥淎merican Sniper鈥�) or films that will appeal to a wide audience like 2008鈥檚 鈥淢arley & Me,鈥� which was released on Dec. 25 and became the 14th-highest grossing movie of the year.聽
Trusting "Sisters" to do well on its Dec. 18 release date relies not only the name recognition of Fey and Poehler but also the bet that someone in the world will want to see something besides the new 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� movie, which comes out that same weekend. (All the other studios have just gotten out of the way that week).
December releases of R-rated comedies have been rare over the past several years.聽 Even PG-13 comedies, which presumably would have a wider audience, have had a mixed performance at that time of year.
The closest analogues in the R-rated category are last year鈥檚 Chris Rock R-rated comedy 鈥淭op Five,鈥� which came out in December and performed reasonably well, and the 2012 R-rated comedy 鈥淭his Is 40,鈥� which drew fairly well at the box office. PG-13 comedies coming out in December have had a mixed performance. 2013鈥檚 鈥淎nchorman 2鈥� was a hit (it was also a follow-up to a successful film), but the 2012 comedy 鈥淭he Guilt Trip鈥� did not perform well. However, 2010鈥檚 鈥淟ittle Fockers鈥� and 2008鈥檚 comedy 鈥淵es Man鈥� with Jim Carrey did fine.
