‘Bros’ Decoded: Why You Shouldn’t Read Too Much Into the Gay Rom-Com’s Weak Box Office
Taking to Twitter on Sunday, Eichner noted, “Even with glowing reviews, great Rotten Tomatoes scores, an A CinemaScore etc, straight people, especially in certain parts of the country, just didn’t show up for Bros.
And that’s disappointing but it is what it is,” adding, “Everyone who ISN’T a homophobic weirdo should go see BROS tonight! You will have a blast!”Contemporary reading comprehension and short online tempers being what they are, these tweets immediately got translated into: “Billy Eichner called everyone who didn’t see ‘Bros’ a homophobe!”So what, then, should we take away from the disappointing opening weekend of “Bros”?
Well, for starters, some of those online theories actually do hold water. With the notable exception of last spring’s Sandra Bullock-Channing Tatum vehicle “The Lost City,” which grossed $191 million worldwide, romantic comedies aren’t pulling a still-pandemic-gun-shy populace back into movie theaters the way that big action spectacles and franchises do.
Heck, even Jennifer Lopez’s “Marry Me” hit Peacock the same day it hit theaters.As for the actual timing — putting aside the detail of a massive hurricane pummeling the East Coast last weekend — Universal probably did “Bros” no favors moving it from its original August slot (a time of year that worked well for previous Judd Apatow productions like “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Pineapple Express”) into the September 30 date vacated by “Mission: Impossible 7.” For audiences already getting into the Halloween mood, they were clearly more drawn to “Smile” on the big screen or “Hocus Pocus 2” on Disney+.And while Eichner and Macfarlane may lack marquee clout, “Bros” co-star and co-producer Guy Branum aptly observed on Twitter that while earlier.
