Lionsgate is moving its Seth Rogen-Charlize Theron comedy Flarsky to the summer season. It will now premiere on June 7, 2019.
Studio executives are feeling bullish about the film after recent audience test screenings gave it scores above 95% — indicating that Flarsky can perform as a major summer comedy. Ocean’s 8 launched on the same weekend this year with $41.7 million and is on its way to a solid $138 million domestically.
Flarsky had been set to open Feb. 8. Rogen stars as Fred Flarsky, a down on his luck journalist, who through a string of comedic circumstances catches the attention of the world’s most powerful woman, Charlotte Field, (Theron). Much to the chagrin of her handlers, he becomes an important part of her inner circle in her globe-trotting journey to become the first female president of the United States.
Test audiences are comparing Flarsky to Rogen’s earlier work in Knocked Up, which made him a household name with $213 million worldwide in 2007.
Flarsky is directed by Jonathan Levine and re-teams Rogen, Evan Goldberg and James Weaver of Point Grey with Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chairman Joe Drake and Lionsgate Motion Picture Group president Nathan Kahane. They previously collaborated on Neighbors, This Is the End and 50/50. Rogen’s comedies have seen major success in the summer with Knocked Up, Neighbors ($150 million), Superbad ($121 million), This is the End ($101 million), and Sausage Party ($98 million).
