Why’d it Bomb?: Holmes & Watson (2018)

Naw, it wasn't a classic comedy by any stretch of the imagination but it was better than the box office results when you look at some other comedies that made a lot more money but which were a lot worse than this one.

It came down to marketing, the film was not properly marketed. As for why, who knows... I've seen several movies over the years that were doomed by poor almost non-existent marketing. I think for this movie I never even saw a trailer for it only a cardboard cutout in a theater... in fact I only went to see it with my kids to annoy them because they are fans of Sherlock Holmes because I knew it was some kind of a spoof of Sherlock. Frankly it was funnier than I expected it too be.

https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/eklduh/holmes_watson_what_went_wrong/fdciemu/

Since no one has the actual answer, here it is in two words:

Adam McKay.

Anchorman, Step Brothers, The Other Guys, Talladega Nights. All directed by McKay.

Everyone thought the talent was who they were staring at on screen, blissfully unaware that the real talent was behind the camera. Some studio executive decided that wasn't true and paired the duo up with an amateur 'director' famous only for being mistakenly referred to as Ethan Cohen.

A few months ago, Adam McKay declared his separation from projects involving Will Ferrell. Anyone who knows how big of a deal this was recognized the end of a comedic era. McKay left and made Big Short & Vice, while Ferrell made...Holmes & Watson.

This wasn't random. It wasn't the writing. It wasn't the editing. Nothing in the movie made it bad; it's what wasn't in the movie. Adam fucking McKay.