Here's every movie that was adapted from a Saturday Night Live skit. TV has featured dozens of sketch comedy series over the years, including the likes of Mad TV, In Living Color or Chappelle's Show. However, with the possible exception of the latter, no sketch program has left a bigger imprint on pop culture than SNL. NBC's comedy institution has been airing for well over 45 years at this point and shows no signs of winding down anytime soon, at least as long as creator Lorne Michaels remains at the helm.
Saturday Night Live has definitely seen its ups and downs over the decades, including a brief stint by Robert Downey Jr. that didn't work at all, but such is the nature of sketch comedy as a genre. Not every sketch will be a hit, and even some that hit with a good chunk of the audience may not land with the rest. What's ensured Saturday Night Live's longevity though is that rarely does a season go by without at least some characters or impressions taking off and becoming a pop-culture touchstone.
In some cases, a Saturday Night Live character or sketch does so well with audiences that Michaels and other executives have tried to extend that success into its own feature film. Sometimes doing this has worked out, but often, it becomes clear that what works during a 10-minute sketch doesn't necessarily translate when stretched out to fill a feature-length story. With that in mind, here's every SNL sketch that spawned a movie, or in some cases, movies.
The Blues Brothers (1980)
Future Ghostbuster Dan Aykroyd and the late, great John Belushi led Saturday Night Live's first spinoff movie, classic 1980 musical/comedy The Blues Brothers, and it's not hard to see why they pressed forward with turning more SNL skits into movies. John Landis directed The Blues Brothers, with Aykroyd and Belushi reprising their roles of Jake and Elwood Blues, two brothers "on a mission from God" to save the Catholic orphanage where they were raised. The Blues Brothers is today preserved in the U.S. Library of Congress.
Wayne's World (1992)
It took over a decade for the next Saturday Night Live spinoff to arrive, but 1992's Wayne's World was worth the wait. Mike Myers and Dana Carvey starred as Wayne and Garth, respectively, two rock music-loving hosts of a popular public access talk show. Stoner comedy Wayne's World made nearly $200 million at the box office and still stands as the biggest hit of all the Saturday Night Live movies based on a skit.
Coneheads (1993)
1993 saw the arrival of Coneheads, which actually reached backward and saw Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin reprise the alien characters they had originated during the early days of Saturday Night Live. While this SNL movie has its fans, Coneheads was a critical and commercial flop, grossing a mere $21 million at the box office and earning negative reviews.
Wayne's World 2 (1993)
After the smash success of Wayne's World, it was entirely unsurprising when Lorne Michaels and Paramount went straight back to the well for Wayne's World 2 in 1993. The Dana Carvey/Mike Myers (Shrek) fronted sequel earned fairly positive reviews, and some fans now believe it might be even funnier than the original. That didn't translate at the box office though, as Wayne's World 2 only barely recouped its $40 million budget in theaters.
It's Pat (1994)
It's no secret that not all popular Saturday Night Live skit characters age well. Perhaps the biggest example is Pat, an androgynous character played by Julia Sweeney. These sketches revolved entirely around other people not being able to figure out Pat's gender, and in today's world, can be seen as wildly transphobic. The It's Pat SNL movie was also an infamous bomb, earning scathing reviews and poor box office.
Stuart Saves His Family (1995)
Stuart Saves His Family was a vehicle for future U.S. senator Al Franken's SNL skit character Stuart Smalley, a self-help guru known for the catchphrase "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me." Smalley was a very popular character - though probably not as popular as Tom Hanks' David S. Pumpkins - but that didn't translate into movie success and it was yet another SNL box-office dud.
Blues Brothers 2000 (1998)
One of the most infamous failures among the Saturday Night Live movie spinoff lot, Blues Brothers 2000 - which oddly released in 1998 - attempted to serve as a sequel to the 1980 classic. Unfortunately, even with John Landis back in the director's chair, Dan Aykroyd back as the star as Elwood, and John Goodman trying his best to fill the shoes of John Belushi, most disliked the sequel, and it utterly bombed at the box office.
A Night at the Roxbury (1998)
A Night at the Roxbury, also released in 1998, starred future Talladega Nights star Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan as the Roxbury Guys, a pair of wannabe Casanovas that awkwardly attempt to woo women by annoyingly dancing around them at nightclubs to the sounds of Haddaway's hit "What Is Love?" While A Night at the Roxbury didn't make waves financially and was critically panned, it's since become something of a cult movie.
Superstar (1999)
Another example of a popular SNL skit character that seems a bit odd in hindsight is Molly Shannon's Mary Katherine Gallagher, an awkward Catholic schoolgirl with the disgusting habit of putting her fingers in her armpits and then smelling them. While Superstar did break even at the box office, it was again trashed by critics, as most Saturday Night Live movies based on skits have ended up being.
The Ladies Man (2000)
One of SNL's longest-tenured cast members, Tim Meadows' (Hubie Halloween) most popular character was radio sex expert Leon Phelps, otherwise known as The Ladies Man. Phelps got his starring vehicle in 2000, but as had become a tradition for most SNL skit movies, The Ladies Man was a critical and commercial failure. Thankfully, Meadows has maintained an active, successful career as a comedian since.
MacGruber (2010)
In hindsight, it's baffling that anyone involved thought MacGruber would work as a movie. Not only was it based on a Saturday Night Live sketch - which already had a largely bad track record for movie adaptations - but the sketch itself was based around parodying a TV show that hadn't aired in years. Will Forte and future Wonder Woman 1984 villain Kristen Wiig are certainly talented performers, but MacGruber the movie earned mixed reviews and failed to make its budget back in theaters. That said, it's another cult favorite and the cast is returning for an upcoming, TV show sequel.