Blame Lack of Intrigue for 'West Side Story' Bombing at the Box Office
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We usually enjoy when we’re right, but this time, we do not.
West Side Story, released in over 2,800 theaters this weekend, earned only $10.5 million at the box office this weekend, underperforming even modest estimates of $13 million (according to boxoffice.com), despite strong reviews and positive initial word of mouth.
2021 has been a disaster for the future of musicals in movie theatres, with three musicals wildly underperforming expectations, with 2 of them having strong critical praise.
So what do we make of this?
We’re seeing a surprising amount of excuses made, ranging from the pandemic, to Ansel Elgort, to this movie being targeted a bit too much for older adults, to even ask the question if audiences are into musicals?
Let’s first say, when it comes to West Side Story at least, all is not completely lost. Movies that release around the holidays usually have a long life at the theaters, so it wouldn’t surprise me if it ended at around $50 million, maybe higher. (typically, a movie ends up with between 2.5-3 times their opening weekend number. Holiday movies have been known to end up with final tallies that are 5-7 times opening weekend. )
We’re also not blaming the pandemic; opening weekends are still not quite where they were in 2019, but movies like Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Dune, and even Halloween Kills have all had opening weekends above $40 million, all of which were about what you would have expected pre-pandemic.
I’m also not blaming older adults for not showing up to theaters during a pandemic, because In The Heights did basically the same opening weekend ($11.5 million) while targeting a much younger audience.
And Ansel Elgort? We know the OnStage Blog audience takes those concerns seriously, but, we’re skeptical about a national audience.
No folks, the one thing In The Heights, Dear Evan Hansen, and West Side Story had in common was none of them had any type of box office star to carry the picture, and more importantly, none had much intrigue attached to them.
Yes, West Side Story had Steven Spielberg, and he used to be a draw, but he’s had way more box office duds than hits the last 20 years (his 21st century IMDB is pretty sobering as far as his box office impact).
Movie stars don’t have the same kind of impact they used to, but when you’re adapting Broadway musicals for the screen, movie stars usually provide some level of intrigue that entices audiences to the theater.
The biggest star for In The Heights was Jimmy Smits
The biggest star for Dear Evan Hansen was Julianne Moore
The biggest star for West Side Story was Ansel Elgort (or maybe Corey Stoll?)
What was the intrigue for West Side Story? To see how Spielberg was going to direct a musical?
That’s not going to cut it in 2021.
Look, I didn’t enjoy Russel Crowe karaoking Les Misérables anymore than you did, but you have to admit, people wanted to see him in the story (much like Hugh Jackman). People were intrigued to see Johnny Depp and Meryl Streep in In The Woods. and Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan in Mamma Mia.
West Side Story was missing the intrigue factor, because everything else was going against it, including taking place in the 1950s, which might be a decision they regret today. What was the reason to see this movie unless you were a die-hard West Side Story fan or a die-hard musical fan?
“The Greatest Showman” generated less than $20 million through Christmas Day after 6 days at the box office, and unbelievably legged it out to $175 million. With only a 50% Rotten Tomato score, word of mouth built due to the freshness of the music as well the buzz Hugh Jackman was generating.
Something similar may happen to West Side Story, especially if it gets any Oscar nominations (and it should).
But if 2021 is any indication, being a musical just isn’t enough anymore for the box office.