‘Bros’ Bombs at the Box Office, Fails To Attract Straight Ticket Buyers
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Bros, the heavily hyped gay romantic comedy from Judd Apatow and Billy Eichner bombed at the box office its opening weekend. Eichner’s plea to go see it rang hollow.
This is what the trades are saying:
One film that isn’t smiling is Universal and Nicholas Stoller’s high-profile Bros, the first gay romantic comedy from a major Hollywood studio (Universal has been widely lauded for taking on the project). The movie, which cost a modest $22 million to make, opened behind already modest expectations with $4.8 million from 3,350 theaters after earning $1.8 million on Friday.
Starring Billy Eichner, Bros was embraced by critics following its world premiere at the 2022 Toronto Film Festival. It presently boasts a glowing 95 percent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences agreed, giving it an A CinemaScore. The movie cost $22 million to make.
THR‘s review was slightly more mixed. “And certainly the dearth of mainstream/studio gay rom-coms makes one want to embrace Bros for the representational significance alone,” wrote John DeFore. “But was it wrong to hope for something a little stranger?”
Bros‘ top 10 markets were all in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, while it is underperforming in much of the middle of the country and the south, outside of bigger cities including Chicago. Universal is a big player in this space presently; the George Clooney-Julia Roberts romantic-comedy Ticket to Paradise has earned $41 million overseas before its domestic debut later this month.
“Bros” didn’t represent a major financial risk for Universal, carrying a modest production budget of $22 million. The film earned rave reviews, but clearly struggled to connect with audiences. Its opening is about half of the $8 million to $10 million that Universal projected “Bros” would make.
While it may have fallen short commercially, the Billy Eichner film is already in the record books: It’s the first gay rom-com to be given a theatrical release by a major studio, the first with an all-openly LGBTQ cast and Eichner is the first openly gay man to ever write and star in a Hollywood movie. Universal expressed optimism that the critical notices and the positive audience reaction (“Bros” earned an “A” CinemaScore) will fuel word-of-mouth and help the movie stick around in theaters.
“We are incredibly proud of ‘Bros,’” said Jim Orr, president of domestic distribution at Universal. “Everyone who saw it, absolutely loved it. And given that response, I think the film will continue to find an audience and have some legs.”
In “Bros,” Eichner plays Bobby, a brainy museum executive down on his luck, who falls for Luke Macfarlane’s Aaron, a muscular lawyer who may change everything for him. The film is directed by Nicholas Stoller with a cast including Guy Branum, Ts Madison, Dot-Marie Jones, Bowen Yang and Jim Rash.
Romantic comedies were once a reliable theatrical genre, but with the notable exception of “The Lost City,” which boasted the combined star power of Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, it’s rare for one to score at the box office. Universal will try again this month with the release of the George Clooney and Julia Roberts “meet cute,” “Ticket to Paradise.” We’ll see if that film fares better when it opens on Oct. 21.
Even though Universal’s Bros tanked with a $4.8M opening (after a $1.74M Saturday, -5% from Friday+previews’ $1.84M), the pic will only make Peacock that more attractive and have more leverage on a streaming menu amid the noise of several titles than had it went straight to the service.
Said Universal domestic distribution boss Jim Orr about Bros, “All of us at Universal are incredibly proud of Bros. Billy Eichner, Nick Stoller, and Judd Apatow have crafted the funniest film of the year, as evidenced by our very enthusiastic audience and critical reaction scores, which will no doubt lead to great word of mouth as Bros continues to find its audience in the coming weeks. “
In grim but not surprising news, Universal’s Bros became the latest live-action theatrical comedy to play in primarily empty theaters. The Billy Eichner/Luke Macfarlane-starring romantic comedy earned just $4.8 million over the weekend. That includes $1.84 million on Friday, which includes $500,000 in Thursday previews. That’s a lower debut than Jo Koy’s Easter Sunday, which grossed $5.44 million in early August. The $22 million release, written by Eichner and Nicolas Stoller and directed by Stoller, is technically the first mainstream, wide theatrical release rom-com starring a same-sex couple. Alas, the trailers and much of the media coverage emphasized its importance, groundbreaking existence, and social value over whether the film is funny.
I think the film falls into the same trap, thriving when it’s ‘just’ a rom-com but stopping dead in its tracks to congratulate itself on its existence and hit every LGBTQIA discussion point. The media coverage is symptomatic of a widespread pet peeve: every major celebrity profile emphasizes demographic triumph and aspirational empowerment. Notice how many are headlined with some uplifting variation of The Dixie Chick’s righteously angry “Not Ready to Make Nice.” That stuff may make the clients happy, including stories about how every new young actor is the next great leading man/woman on their way to conquering Hollywood and may drive social attention. However, it doesn’t sell tickets.
However, the film earned an A from Cinemascore and has 91% and 7.18/10 on Rotten Tomatoes, so (like Smile, which I felt was a warmed-over, inferior riff on its cinematic predecessors), I’m clearly in the minority. I loved David O. Russell’s Amsterdam, so maybe I’m devolving into a bitter contrarian. Without discounting widespread homophobia as an issue, Bros was an original, R-rated, star-free romantic comedy released when even Kevin Hart, Will Ferrell and Melissa McCarthy now make their movies for NetflixNFLX -1.8%. Eichner is not a star, Stoller is not a marquee director and the only marketing hook this one had was ‘the first mainstream LGBTQIA theatrical romantic comedy.’ It was also two decades too late.
Bros. should have existed (and might have flourished) 25 years ago, coming off the successes of The Birdcage and In and Out. Hollywood ignored its late-90s inclusive success stories (Waiting to Exhale, Rush Hour, Anaconda, etc.) and spent the 2000s and most of the 2010s chasing four-quadrant ‘white guy discovers he’s the special and saves the day while getting the girl’ action fantasy franchises. That we’re only getting films like Bros or Love Simon (or even Fear Street and The Mitchells Vs. The Machines, which were supposed to be theatrical before Covid) now is inexcusable. That’s the subtext of Bros’ best scene (whereby our lead mourns his parents not living long enough to see his success).
Eichner said on Twitter: That’s just the world we live in, unfortunately. 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.
Everyone who ISN’T a homophobic weirdo should go see BROS tonight! You will have a blast! And it *is* special and uniquely powerful to see this particular story on a big screen, esp for queer folks who don’t get this opportunity often. I love this movie so much. GO BROS!!!
Everyone who ISN’T a homophobic weirdo should go see BROS tonight! You will have a blast! And it *is* special and uniquely powerful to see this particular story on a big screen, esp for queer folks who don’t get this opportunity often. I love this movie so much. GO BROS!!! ❤️🌈
— billy eichner (@billyeichner) October 2, 2022
