For starters, neither Melissa McCarthy nor Elizabeth Banks were available to promote The Happytime Murders in the run up to the release – and with the stars unavailable there was also no premiere.
Additionally, it seems the stars also didn’t have much faith in it, with no mention of the project featured on Melissa McCarthy or Elizabeth Banks’ personal social media accounts.
Despite some hilarious red-band trailers, the film earned a rough C- CinemaScore, and has only a 22% on Rotten Tomatoes.
With the biggest names unable to promote the movie, STX didn’t throw a lot of money towards TV spots, spending less than it usually does on comedies.