Dave Chappelle's Return To Theaters Is A Box Office Bust With Less Than $50 Per Screen

Published Sep 8, 2026, 10:23 AM EDT Brennan Klein (he/him) is a senior news writer at Screen Rant, host of the Attack of the Queerwolf podcast, and contributor at Alternate Ending and Horror Press. He has been writing and podcasting about pop culture (especially horror movies) for over a decade at platforms including Blumhouse, Fangoria, Dread Central, The Backlot, and Arrow in the Head. The Nutty Professor is learning a harsh lesson at the box office 30 years later. The 1996 movie, which is a remake of the 1963 Jerry Lewis film of the same name, stars Oscar nominee Eddie Murphy as obese professor Sherman Klump, his skinny alternate personality Buddy Love, and five other characters opposite an ensemble cast that includes Jada Pinkett, James Coburn, Larry Miller, and controversial comedian Dave Chappelle. The movie earned $274 million at the global box office, outgrossing major hits such as Jerry Maguire ($273.5 million), Space Jam ($250.2 million), and Scream ($173 million). The Nutty Professor was Universal's highest-grossing movie of 1996 worldwide, spawning the 2000 sequel Nutty Professor II: The Klumps. Per Box Office Mojo, the 30th anniversary re-release of The Nutty Professor has debuted in 571 theaters at the domestic box office with a 3-day gross of $24,000. This comes out to a per-screen average of just $42. While the movie has not earned a place on Box Office Mojo's chart of the lowest debut per-screen averages of all time (which seems to only measure movies that debuted in 600 theaters and above), that total is slightly below the third-lowest on the chart, which was the $43 per-screen average of the 2025 re-release of Judd Apatow's The 40-Year-Old Virgin. While re-releases make up the majority of the Top 10, the lowest original release is the 2025 horror movie Jimmy and Stiggs, which is No. 7 with a per-screen average of $125, nearly tripling the Nutty Professor re-release. Below, see the Top 5 lowest per-screen average debuts, per Box Office Mojo: Rank Title Domestic Debut Theaters Per-Screen Average #1 Trainwreck (2025 re-release) $13,000 800 $16 #2 RBG (2020 re-release) $34,000 878 $38 #3 The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2025 re-release) $35,000 800 $43 #4 On the Basis of Sex (2020 re-release) $56,210 829 $67 #5 The Star (2019 re-release) $43,510 623 $69 While Box Office Mojo does not offer insight into how The Nutty Professor compares to other movies at its limited release debut level, the domestic chart for Labor Day weekend emphasizes what a low turnout the Eddie Murphy movie had. While The Nutty Professor was No. 31 out of 41 titles at the domestic box office over the weekend, its per-screen average was by far the lowest. It fell below the sophomore weekend of Idiots, which had a staggering 94.4% drop from its debut weekend but still managed to earn an average of $199 in 200 theaters. Meanwhile, movies that debuted in less than 5 theaters over Labor Day weekend outperformed The Nutty Professor by a considerable margin, including a 100th anniversary re-release of F. W. Murnau's Faust (No. 41 with an average of $669 in 4 theaters), the documentaries Sara Bareilles: Good Grief (No. 39, $2,604 average in 2 theaters), Occupational Hazard: The First Coral Reefers (No. 38, $5,220 average in 1 theater), and The Work in Progress (No. 37, $6,900 average in 1 theater), and the sci-fi mystery Chronovisor (No. 32, $20,944 average in 1 theater). While The Nutty Professor has significantly underperformed during its return to domestic theaters, Eddie Murphy should find redemption at the box office before long. He is set to reprise his voice role as Donkey in the upcoming Shrek 5, which debuts on June 30, 2027. Considering the fact that the three most recent Shrek movies grossed more than $750 million apiece, it's highly likely that the upcoming sequel will connect with modern audiences more strongly than this re-release. Enjoy ScreenRant's box office coverage? Click below to sign up for my weekly box office newsletter (make sure to check "Box Office" in your preferences) and get exclusive analysis, predictions, and more: Sign Up Release Date June 28, 1996 Runtime 95 minutes Director Tom Shadyac Cast Sherman Klump / Buddy Love / Lance Perkins / Papa Klump / Mama Klump / Grandma Klump / Ernie Klump Writers Barry W. Blaustein, David Sheffield, Steve Oedekerk, Tom Shadyac Producers Brian Grazer, Russell Simmons Main Genre Comedy Executive Producer(s) Eddie Murphy, Karen Kehela Sherwood, Jerry Lewis, Mark Lipsky