Weekend Thread | Actuals: Smile 22.6, DWD 6.85, TWK 6.8, Avatar 5, Bros 4.8

[BestPicturePlutoNash]

29 minutes ago, Eric Smiley said:

I will say that while I am very interested in Bros and think it looks very funny, I do think that the whole "groundbreaking" thing Eichner's touting in the press for this movie rings pretty hollow IMO. The movie's pushing itself as "the first major gay romcom ever", but that just reeks of "Disney's first gay character" syndrome to this bi boy.

 

Maybe if we haven't gotten any major gay comedies since The Birdcage, I could understand the "groundbreaking" hype. But Love, Simon came out only a few years ago. Blockers featured a girl coming to terms with her sexuality as a major plot point. Netflix and Hulu have stuff like The Prom and Single All the Way and Happiest Season and Fire Island. And yeah I know that the kid playing Simon was straight and those other movies are "streaming movies", and that what Bros did was legit unique and special in terms of casting out actors and having a theatrical release...but I don't think this kind of stuff really matters to even the demographic it's representing.

 

This just looks and feels no different to stuff that's already on streaming at first glance and what seems unique and special in terms of representation isn't even all that enticing to the demo being represented. It's like they are moving the goalposts to make this feel more "one of a kind" instead of simply letting the movie speak for itself. A pity it's hurting a good-looking movie like Bros nevertheless.

After seeing the movie, I kind of disagree. It is really trailblazing and holds the weight and burden of its subject on its shoulders. Especially sexually

[ringedmortality]

I don’t know how much this has to do with it, but I’ve always felt like Bros was kind of a terrible title.

[AJG]

53 minutes ago, Eric Smiley said:

I will say that while I am very interested in Bros and think it looks very funny, I do think that the whole "groundbreaking" thing Eichner's touting in the press for this movie rings pretty hollow IMO. The movie's pushing itself as "the first major gay romcom ever", but that just reeks of "Disney's first gay character" syndrome to this bi boy.

 

Maybe if we haven't gotten any major gay comedies since The Birdcage, I could understand the "groundbreaking" hype. But Love, Simon came out only a few years ago. Blockers featured a girl coming to terms with her sexuality as a major plot point. Netflix and Hulu have stuff like The Prom and Single All the Way and Happiest Season and Fire Island. And yeah I know that the kid playing Simon was straight and those other movies are "streaming movies", and that what Bros did was legit unique and special in terms of casting out actors and having a theatrical release...but I don't think this kind of stuff really matters to even the demographic it's representing.

 

This just looks and feels no different to stuff that's already on streaming at first glance and what seems unique and special in terms of representation isn't even all that enticing to the demo being represented. It's like they are moving the goalposts to make this feel more "one of a kind" instead of simply letting the movie speak for itself. A pity it's hurting a good-looking movie like Bros nevertheless.

I agree.

 

I’d go beyond what you’re saying here. There’s been countless LGBT films that revolve around romance. They may not have been big movies but LGBT cinema for LGBT people has existed for decades. Wolfe Video has been releasing LGBT movies since the 1980s.

 

Bros is not the Avatar or Batman for LGBT people. It’s a Gay Rom-Com of which there’s been hundreds. Being the first gay movie released from a mega corporation doesn’t mean much to anybody.

Now if they release Gay John Wick then maybe we’d be in business.

 

Edited September 30, 2022 by AJG

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

53 minutes ago, filmlover said:

That said, not looking forward to the inevitable "this is the movie Twitter claims they want and then don't show up when Hollywood actually makes it" think pieces that will surface after the weekend over its low numbers.

In this case, I think Film Twitter showed up (specifically the gay/awards-loving segments) for Bros but not much more than that, really...

[LonePirate]

1 hour ago, filmlover said:

Bros had an awful marketing campaign that failed to sell the movie sell. Somebody posted a tweet a while back in the movie's thread that its promotional campaign was an example of a studio selling a movie based on its significance instead of its quality (which a lot more people care about at the end of the day), as if they never believed the movie could sell itself despite the strong reviews, and that sounds like an accurate miscalculation.

Yeah, the reviews the film is receiving are great and the film's quality should have been the focal point of the marketing. It will end up with an RT score around 90% give or take a couple of points which is very high for a comedy and sky high for a rom com. That's how you lure adults away from their homes and into a theater. The studio knew the film was good enough to show at the Toronto Film Festival; but they never capitalized on that angle of the movie.

[DAJK]

The marketing was just terrible for Bros imo. The studio should have realized they have a winner on their hands, and I just don't think the awareness was there outside of us/Film Twitter/Letterboxd crowds. Even people I know in the LGBTQ+ community, while they have heard of the film, had no idea when it was even coming out. And that lack of awareness I think is entirely on the marketing team.

[Chaz]

I fucking hate Billy Eichner so I’m not upset that his movie bombed. 

[Flopped]

Shocked by the reaction to SMILE, which has a very good first 30 minutes but then devolves into a plodding, repetitive, seen-it-before RING knockoff. Where are the jump scares everyone is talking about? Lead actress is good but I was never scared for her. Surprised Paramount got behind it as hard as they did. Meh. 

[Ryan Reynolds]

2 minutes ago, Flopped said:

Shocked by the reaction to SMILE, which has a very good first 30 minutes but then devolves into a plodding, repetitive, seen-it-before RING knockoff. Where are the jump scares everyone is talking about? Lead actress is good but I was never scared for her. Surprised Paramount got behind it as hard as they did. Meh. 

Kevin Bacon's daughter

[Flopped]

Just now, Ryan Reynolds said:

Kevin Bacon's daughter

Yes she carried the movie. 

[ThomasNicole]

2 hours ago, TwoMisfits said:

 

I assume Cinemark cut Netflix a theatrical deal (b/c they've been the Netflix go-to) and they'll have Glass Onion from mid-Nov til the Dec 23 release?

 

That could be very good for that chain...a known sequel to a popular movie would be an even better draw than some of the celebrity Netflix movie draws they've had (and done well with)...

Yes, they're definitely releasing on theaters. Glass Onion, Bardo, White Noise and Pinocchio all will have at least 2 weeks exclusively on theaters. 

 

But sadly will be probably limited because after so many months i doubt they will get the huge theatrical release they wanted for Glass Onion.

[Eric Duncan]

1 hour ago, LonePirate said:

Yeah, the reviews the film is receiving are great and the film's quality should have been the focal point of the marketing. It will end up with an RT score around 90% give or take a couple of points which is very high for a comedy and sky high for a rom com. That's how you lure adults away from their homes and into a theater. The studio knew the film was good enough to show at the Toronto Film Festival; but they never capitalized on that angle of the movie.

Honestly the film felt pretty overshadowed by everything else at TIFF that it was hard to take advantage of the festival hype. Stuff like Glass Onion and Fabelmans had their big premieres that distracted Film/Awards Twitter, and it also premiered the same time as The Woman King, which had way more hype and excitement at this point in time. Was honestly kinda worthless in hindsight

[Legion Again]

Only seen one trailer for bros but these numbers make sense to me. Hoping Smile continues the 19 streak though preferably low 19 for my derby 😛 

Edited October 1, 2022 by Legion By Night

[ringedmortality]

19 minutes ago, Eric Smiley said:

Honestly the film felt pretty overshadowed by everything else at TIFF that it was hard to take advantage of the festival hype. Stuff like Glass Onion and Fabelmans had their big premieres that distracted Film/Awards Twitter, and it also premiered the same time as The Woman King, which had way more hype and excitement at this point in time. Was honestly kinda worthless in hindsight

Yeah, they should have kept it in August. At least then it would have been with zero competition for two months.

[filmlover]

2 hours ago, BoxOfficeFangrl said:

In this case, I think Film Twitter showed up (specifically the gay/awards-loving segments) for Bros but not much more than that, really...

Does Film Twitter even like Billy Eichner though? I feel as if a nice amount of people were hoping this would fail just because of him (one for his divisive brand of humor where a little goes a long way, the other for that Variety interview where he basically said "my movie was too good for streaming"...gotta imagine his ego will take a slight hit after seeing how few people went to check out his star vehicle in theaters).

[CJohn]

I honestly don't know what a Billy Eichner is. 

[ringedmortality]

7 minutes ago, CJohn said:

I honestly don't know what a Billy Eichner is. 

 

 

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

58 minutes ago, filmlover said:

Does Film Twitter even like Billy Eichner though? I feel as if a nice amount of people were hoping this would fail just because of him (one for his divisive brand of humor where a little goes a long way, the other for that Variety interview where he basically said "my movie was too good for streaming"...gotta imagine his ego will take a slight hit after seeing how few people went to check out his star vehicle in theaters).

I was thinking of the glowing notices out of TIFF, it wasn't shocking to me that white gay awards pundits were in love with Bros, it seems made for them (to be fair, the reviews have remained strong with many more critics weighing in). But there is definitely an LGBTQ audience not thrilled with the perspective of Bros, Eichner as a romantic lead or how he has hyped this, so that's probably limiting the box office, too.

 

Crazy Rich Asians leaned on a similar sort of "historical precedent" (by studio romcom standards) during its rollout, but it was also based on a popular book and PG-13, plus four years ago, so a bigger potential audience all around, compared to Bros.

 

Given the current state of Hollywood, it's kind of surprising/impressive that the "first gay studio romcom released in theaters" wasn't just a remake of a famous straight romcom: My Big Fat Gay Wedding, Mr. Congeniality (he has to infiltrate a dating show, IDK), a gay version of Cyrano de Bergerac, etc.

[ringedmortality]

38 minutes ago, BoxOfficeFangrl said:

Crazy Rich Asians leaned on a similar sort of "historical precedent" (by studio romcom standards) during its rollout, but it was also based on a popular book and PG-13, plus four years ago, so a bigger potential audience all around, compared to Bros.

 

I think, also, that the thing with CRA was that there was a focus on escapism. Seeing rich people do rich things and the visuals that come along with that. This is more low-key.

[Eric Duncan]

SMILE (2022)