February 3rd to 5th, 2023 Weekend Thread | Estimates: Cabin 14.2, Brady 12.5, Avatar 10.8, Puss 7.95, BTS 6.3

[Eric S'ennui]

Still weird to me how we had so many prominent mainstream LGBT hits in the 90s with stuff like The Birdcage, Philadelphia, In & Out. Then like TV had Will and Grace and Broadway had Rent. And then there was like...no momentum once we got to the 2000s, apart from Oscar nominees like Brokeback Mountain and Milk. These kinds of comedies and dramas were still prominent and popular in the 2000s thanks to the home video market. But we barely got anything from mainstream Hollywood. Even in the early 2010s, when these types of midbudget movies were still a thing, we barely got crumbs despite Glee and Modern Family being on the air. I don't get it.

[CaptNathanBrittles]

CABARET hit #1 in 1973.

[grim22]

7 minutes ago, Eric Crowe said:

Still weird to me how we had so many prominent mainstream LGBT hits in the 90s with stuff like The Birdcage, Philadelphia, In & Out. Then like TV had Will and Grace and Broadway had Rent. And then there was like...no momentum once we got to the 2000s, apart from Oscar nominees like Brokeback Mountain and Milk. These kinds of comedies and dramas were still prominent and popular in the 2000s thanks to the home video market. But we barely got anything from mainstream Hollywood. Even in the early 2010s, when these types of midbudget movies were still a thing, we barely got crumbs despite Glee and Modern Family being on the air. I don't get it.

I'm going to say it was because of 9/11. Mainly because every trend in the 00s can be traced to 9/11 as an origin point.

[grim22]

53 minutes ago, Spidey Freak said:

Will Knock at the Cabin be the first LGBT character(s) led film to be #1 or has there been something in the past that I'm missing?

 

[CoolioD1]

3 minutes ago, grim22 said:

 

be gay do crime

[John Marston]

20 minutes ago, Eric Crowe said:

Still weird to me how we had so many prominent mainstream LGBT hits in the 90s with stuff like The Birdcage, Philadelphia, In & Out. Then like TV had Will and Grace and Broadway had Rent. And then there was like...no momentum once we got to the 2000s, apart from Oscar nominees like Brokeback Mountain and Milk. These kinds of comedies and dramas were still prominent and popular in the 2000s thanks to the home video market. But we barely got anything from mainstream Hollywood. Even in the early 2010s, when these types of midbudget movies were still a thing, we barely got crumbs despite Glee and Modern Family being on the air. I don't get it.

 

 

that’s because movies like Philadelphia and The Birdcage had real movie stars. A movie like knock at the Cabin, well doesn’t 

[Eric S'ennui]

Just now, John Marston said:

 

 

that’s because movies like Philadelphia and The Birdcage had real movie stars. A movie like knock at the Cabin, well doesn’t 

Okay. I wasn't talking about Knock at the Cabin. I was talking about why there weren't more mainstream LGBT movies in the 2000s and 2010s.

[CoolioD1]

for comedies I think post There's Something about Mary/American pie it became mostly fratboy humour which wasn't especially welcoming to the gays. even after that you got the Apatow stoner stuff which seemed a little more progressive but they probably weren't comfortable with it either.

 

for dramas there just weren't that many any time i guess. i remember when Brokeback Mountain came out you couldn't have a serious conversation about it at all. since folks just knew it as "the gay cowboy movie" there were people i talked to who didn't even realize it was supposed to be like an awards calibre drama that was actually acclaimed. They just thought it was some dumb movie to clown like 50 shades or something.

[CJohn]

I honestly don't think Knock at the Cabin's disappointing numbers are related to the couple being gay (unlike Bros' with the weird anti-straight campaign from Universal or Strange World's rejection from families). 

 

It is just a issue of lack of appeal combined with Old and Glass's poor reception. Sometimes it is just as simple as that.

[grim22]

4 minutes ago, CJohn said:

I honestly don't think Knock at the Cabin's disappointing numbers are related to the couple being gay (unlike Bros' with the weird anti-straight campaign from Universal or Strange World's rejection from families). 

 

It is just a issue of lack of appeal combined with Old and Glass's poor reception. Sometimes it is just as simple as that.

Yeah. Granted I don't keep as much in touch with movie news nowadays as I used to but I genuinely had no idea the couple in the movie are gay. It's just not been a huge culture war point on Twitter. The movie is likely too under the radar for the right to make it a flashpoint.

 

Now Strange World, I had literally no clue what the movie was about or the plot of the movie but I knew the lead is gay because of the incessantly angry Twitter threads from people who otherwise wouldn't give the movie a second thought. Even there though, I would blame marketing and the movie just not looking appealing for the bombage.

[John Marston]

1 hour ago, grim22 said:

I'm going to say it was because of 9/11. Mainly because every trend in the 00s can be traced to 9/11 as an origin point.

 

 

which trends?

[BestPicturePlutoNash]

The discourse around Brokeback Mountain was vicious. The western had always been seen as a masculine American genre with conservative values further upheld by the old gatekeepers of Hollywood and the media. You had actors publicly rally against it as some crime against John Wayne. While comedy has always been a somewhat regressive genre with political attacks, the discourse was always centered around "political correctness". This resulted in even "liberal" news and comedy like SNL, Colbert etc parodied Brokeback Mountain in very... glib ways. 

[nox]

3 hours ago, Spidey Freak said:

Will Knock at the Cabin be the first LGBT character(s) led film to be #1 or has there been something in the past that I'm missing?

 

The Secrets of Dumbledore was #1 on its opening weekend.

 

And their love was part of some trailers too:

 

[DAJK]

Brady's seeing some really great increases today pretty much everywhere I'm looking. 

[Webslinger]

5 hours ago, Eric Crowe said:

Still weird to me how we had so many prominent mainstream LGBT hits in the 90s with stuff like The Birdcage, Philadelphia, In & Out. Then like TV had Will and Grace and Broadway had Rent. And then there was like...no momentum once we got to the 2000s, apart from Oscar nominees like Brokeback Mountain and Milk. These kinds of comedies and dramas were still prominent and popular in the 2000s thanks to the home video market. But we barely got anything from mainstream Hollywood. Even in the early 2010s, when these types of midbudget movies were still a thing, we barely got crumbs despite Glee and Modern Family being on the air. I don't get it.

I'd say it was part of the broader conservative cultural shift in the 2000s. Those examples from the '90s hit at the exact right time when enough straight people saw acknowledging the existence of gay folks as suitably hip and progressive that media about gay characters could be consumed by a mainstream straight audience without them feeling embarrassed. (I think it also helps that all those examples feel like they were carefully crafted for the comfort and enjoyment of straight audiences; I like all of them just fine, but they don't feel like they're being made for people whose life experiences align with the characters onscreen, tbh.) But by the time the Bush administration rolled around, a whole bunch of centrists and slightly left-of-center folks swung from "Ooh, it's the '90s, people are gay now" to the hardline "Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve" rhetoric of the 2000s. The same adults I remember saying The Birdcage was a funny movie when I was a little kid were then also the ones spouting off about the sanctity of marriage when I was a teenager.

[DAJK]

Looking at BOM, it looks like Brady came in first on Friday? Or did they do what they did with Missing and add the EA shows twice?

 

Kinda hoping both openers make it over 15M. Would be a nice, healthy box office milestone for early Feb.

[Jiffy]

19 minutes ago, DAJK said:

Looking at BOM, it looks like Brady came in first on Friday? Or did they do what they did with Missing and add the EA shows twice?

 

Kinda hoping both openers make it over 15M. Would be a nice, healthy box office milestone for early Feb.

Probably another double-counting mistake.

 

Just saw A2 a third time (this time in 4DX) at the soon-closing Regal Union Square. Mostly full crowd, the movie holds up although this being my first 4DX experience it is pretty gimmicky/distracting, and I don't think I have much interest in trying it again.

 

Edited February 5, 2023 by Jiffy

[Chaz]

Am I going senile? 2003 was a landmark year for gays in mainstream media. Queer Eye was a hit. Bravo premiered that gay dating show. Metrosexual became a thing. Ellen was an out lesbian and premiered a hit talk show. Christina Aguilera had a gay couple kissing and a trans woman in the video for her hit single “Beautiful.” 
 

I was in high school and clearly felt a shift.

Edited February 5, 2023 by Chaz

[Alex SciChannel]

I don't feel like Knock at the Cabin is an LGBTQ movie. It's a thriller film that happens to have a gay couple in it. It's themes don't revolve around the gayness itself. That being said, if it was, it wouldn't be any worse for it. Just a different type of movie

 

 

[Flopped]

The strangest "gay hit" of the 90s was The Crying Game. How did that movie make so much money? It's good...it's just not commercial at all. The fact that it was such a runaway sensation is wild.