When there is a lot of pinkwashing and tokenism, ‘Bros‘ come as a breath of fresh air! Since the announcement of the film, it has grabbed a lot of eyeballs. ‘Bros’ stars Billy Eichner as one of the protagonists. The film has already achieved the milestone of becoming the first gay mainstream film with an all-LGBTQIA+ cast distributed by a major studio like Universal.
Despite its cultural value, the film could not attract an audience to the cinema hall. When a film is marketed as “revolutionary”, the distribution is well in place, it hints at the “outright marketplace rejection.” Now that the film had a dull start at the box office, Billy is asking those who are not “homophobic weirdos” to watch the film.
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Billy Eichner Blames Straight People For ‘Bros’ Box-Office Debacle
It is refreshing to see the stories today told by people who have lived them! One such film titled ‘Bros’ was released on the weekend. The film is helmed by an all-LGBT cast. Amid the plethora of romantic comedies, ‘Bros‘ is unique. However, this first major gay rom-com did a disappointing business. The film has done an estimated business of $4.8 million less than half what Universal Pictures predicted.
The film was distributed on 3,350 screens and the promotional cost lies between $30 million to $40 million. The Billy Eichner and Luke Macfarlane starrer had a budget of around $20 million. Despite rave reviews from the critics and masses, the film could not prove its commercial mettle.
Billy Eichner who donned the hats of actor, scriptwriter, and executive producer took it to Twitter to express disappointment. The box office reports did not affect Billy’s hope and he was proud of his product. He wrote, “Last night I snuck in and sat in the back of a sold out theater playing BROS in LA. The audience howled with laughter start to finish, burst into applause at the end, and some were wiping away tears as they walked out. It was truly magical. Really. I am VERY proud of this movie.”
Eichner pointed out the real reason for the underperformance – “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.”
The Actor Encourages Allies To Go And Watch The Film
Billy, in his Twitter thread, also recalled a very unfortunate episode. He wrote, “At one point a theater chain called Universal and said they were pulling the trailer because of the gay content. (Uni convinced them not to). America, fuck yeah, etc etc.”
The actor expressed his disappointment in the world we live in! He also cited another reason to watch the flick. Eichner wrote, “Rolling Stone already has BROS on the list of the best comedies of the 21st century.”
There was still a silver lining for him, and he encouraged the LGBT allies to go in throngs to watch the drama reflecting their lives.
“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!!!”
