Steven Spielberg's West Side Story Set To Bomb With $10.5 Million Opening Weekend
Category: News & Politics
Via: john-russell • 3 years ago • 21 commentsBy: Hannah Shaw-Williams (SlashFilm. com)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
20th Century StudiosByHannah Shaw-Williams/Dec. 12, 2021 12:18 pm EST/Updated: Dec. 12, 2021 12:26 pm EST
2022 continues to be a rough year for lavish Manhattan-set musicals, as Steven Spielberg's "West Side Story" has grossed just $10.5 million in its opening weekend — a disastrous result when measured against the movie's $100 million production budget.
The first warning sign was the Thursday preview ticket sales for "West Side Story," which amounted to just $800,000. Friday brought the total to a still-meager $4.1 million. Now, per The Hollywood Reporter, "West Side Story" will round out the weekend with a $10.5 million weekend. It did at least manage to claim the top spot, though its biggest competition was Disney's "Encanto," currently in its third weekend of release.
Great Reviews, Bad Marketing
20th Century Studios
Genre-wise, "West Side Story" is comparable to this year's earlier movie musical "In the Heights," also set on Manhattan's Upper West Side and featuring a predominantly Hispanic cast. "In the Heights" performed slightly better than "West Side Story" in its opening weekend, but was nonetheless a box office bomb. It's worth noting that "In the Heights" was released considerably earlier in the pandemic, when people were still only hesitantly starting to return to theaters, which likely had a suppressing effect upon its box office.
A more apt comparison, however, is Ridley Scott's "The Last Duel" (also distributed by 20th Century Studios). Like "West Side Story," this was a prestige drama from a revered veteran director that was not part of an action or superhero franchise (two genres that have managed to thrive in spite of the ongoing pandemic). Both of these movies suffered from two core problems. The first was that their target audience skewed older, and while people are now returning to theaters in almost pre-pandemic numbers, that rush back to the big screen has been led by younger people who are less likely to experience severe cases of COVID-19.
The second problem was the marketing. As La Donna Pietra wrote for /Film, critiquing the marketing of Scott's movie:
Rather than presenting the film as a thoughtful, innovative, and fine-grained analysis of the delusions men tell about themselves and the effects they have on the women they supposedly love, the trailers for the movie instead made it look like an overstuffed "Gladiator" redux smarmily focused on whether or not a man had committed rape.
"West Side Story," meanwhile, was seemingly marketed on the assumption that everyone in today's landscape of moviegoers already knows and loves "West Side Story," a musical that was last adapted to the screen in 1961 by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. Wise and Robbins' "West Side Story" is one of the most beloved and critically-acclaimed movie musicals of all time, so it's not as though fans have been waiting for a good or even a great adaptation. Meanwhile, non-fans weren't given much reason to get excited for "West Side Story" besides Spielberg's name on the posters, and musicals are already a bit of a tough sell to general audiences.
Poor box office showings often lead to a short life in theaters, so if you feel safe doing so, get out and see "West Side Story" on the big screen while you still have the chance.
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They should have put a couple superheroes into the plot.
Less singing and dancing more blood and guts.
Back to the original Shakespeare?
Perhaps "The Sharks" should have been CGI shark-human hybrids? And "The Jets" would be genetically enhanced humans who can fly and leave a little jet trail when they do. And when a Shark falls in love with a jet it threatens civilization with the potential of flying shark babies completely adapted to the post-climate disaster world whose birth must not be allowed or the last vestiges of humanity clinging to the very edge of survival would be wiped out...
When you're a Jet,
You're a Jet all the way
From your first cigarette
To your last dyin' day...
Poor marketing. Poor "prep." And Spielberg(?) should know better than this. The man's work is "golden" and critically acclaimed. For example: Why no wide-spread television appearance by Spielberg and the like to promote this movie opening? (I did not see any promos pre-opening)?
Perhaps, as word of mouth gets out, audiences will pick up on this movie. Westside Story is epic-sized story-telling and choreography.
I'm not into Musicals but even I know that the Fans of West Side Story love the 1961 classic so much that remaking it is like trying to remake "The Godfather", there's just no reason for it.
Yeah, I'm not sure why it was remade. Unless they had something new and better to offer, what's the point? Were the actors better? The singing? The dancing? If not, stay home.
There is really only one musical I like. Rocky Horror.
In cartoon form I don't mind it. Like Lion King or Aladdin.
The rest, no.
I always get pissed when I'm watching what seems to be a perfectly good movie and then they start singing and ruin it.
It's time to reSALE the story to a new generation. I just don't understand why the under Promotion. Spielberg's team should have known better! Real shame. But let's see how it goes.
This is the GRANDEST opportunity for me to play this song (I love this 'package'):
West Side Story (4/10) Movie CLIP - America (1961) HD
I hear you! It does seem like the days of the musical has gone bye-bye. But, I wonder is that just for us (aging 'wonders')? Can there still be a 'new beginning' musical outlet for the very young?
Remember the days of this?
Dean Martin & Anna Maria Alberghetti - You I Love
We use to have a joke...There was an Elvis movie where he was a racecar driver.
You are three laps behind and have a flat tire...What are you going to do?
(singing) We're gonna win this race....
Watch, it will become some kind of cult classic.
Also, there is a larger Hispanic population in this country (than ever before). Wonder why they did are no supporting it?
I think the film industry in general has an uphill battle. People got used to not going out to the movies during Covid. I'm trying to remember the last movie I saw in the theater - Downton Abbey, maybe?
Most people have TVs at home with great picture and sound, and if they have a few streaming services, they have lots of entertainment options at their fingertips. The snacks are cheaper, the floors aren't sticky (one hopes), and we can pause the movie for bathroom breaks and refills. No deafening sound levels. No strangers talking during important dialogue scenes. No straining to see over heads in front of you, as in theaters without stadium seating. No need to pay a babysitter for parents of younger children. No driving to the theater - it's a twenty-ish mile drive for me to the nearest theater with stadium seating, good snacks, and more than two bathroom stalls. At home, you don't even need to put on pants.
Film companies may have to consider streaming for all new releases, if they want big opening weekends. Folks are comfortable at home. Even if they really want to see a particular movie, they'll likely wait for it to come out on some streaming service.
I can't go to a theater because I'm grossed out at the thought of sitting in an upholstered seat that thousands of people I don't know have lounged in. Think about it, if the floors are sticky (and they always are) what's on the seat.
STELLAR! Come to the head of the class!
There is nothing quite like a pandemic or incurable disease to re-focus the mind and reframe what is permissible in the minds of individuals, groups, and corporations. 'Overstuffed' seating even wiped down are not a 'treat' anymore!
What's happening (btw, I am NOT a theater goer type), is the movie industry NEEDS to get people back into the seats before the 'big screens' go the way of the "Dodo bird." In any case, they need to see if they should keep the buildings without the proper draw audiences numbers and profits - or stop paying rent for the mortars and bricks locations. The question is this:
Will the big movie houses in towns across the country survive a reset after SARS COVID-19?
What has to be realized is this: What was the country going through that ignited the era of musicals? Can those lowly embers be fanned to burning hot again? Because the musical movie genre is 'waiting' for whomever can risk the time and energy to open it up again (if possible)!
From 1920 to 1970 or so the broadway musical, and/or movie musicals, were the king of American entertainment hierarchy. Not only were broadway shows often adapted into hit movies, the most popular songs in the country at any given time often came from stage musicals.
But although Broadway itself remained popular after 1970, movies from musicals went into sharp decline. Nothing has really changed that til now.
Hmm. And why does it seem the timing is 'ripe' now? Is it because of animated musical films ("Happy Feet," "Sing," "Sing 2". . . .)? Or, is it the increase population of people of color? Lastly, (but not really) is it because this genre wants needs to 'strike back' and reasonably survive?