Billy Eichner Romantic Comedy - Nick Stoller Directing, Judd Apatow Producing

[Sawyer]

Nick Stoller To Direct Romantic Comedy Starring Billy Eichner, With Judd Apatow Producing

I remember talk of Channing Tatum being one of the leads in a gay romantic comedy for a major studio a few years back, but it never happened. Looks like we're finally here.

 

[terry78]

Bros: Universal Pictures' Rom-Com Starring Billy Eichner Sets August 2022 Release

Romcom written by and starring Billy Eichner focusing on two gay men who keep finding themselves together regardless of what's thrown in their way.

 

[Sawyer]

Luke Macfarlane To Co-Star Opposite BIlly Eichner In Universal’s Rom-Com ‘Bros’ – Deadline

 

[Sawyer]

‘Bros’: Universal Rom-Com Sets All-LGBTQ+ Cast Featuring Billy Eichner – Deadline

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Sawyer]

Red band trailer is out and I would def get banned for posting it. But I’m interested.

 

[Sawyer]

Love a good seal of approval.

 

[Deck Rickard]

The trailer for this is hilarious. I’ve loved Billy since Parks & Rec and the movie looks great. And Luke McFarlane is HOT.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Sawyer]

 

[MadVillainy]

Shame that i hear this isn't performing well in theaters
Box Office: 'Smile' Set to Open Above Billy Eichner's 'Bros' - Variety

Only $5m start is pretty bad. Even with a low budget*. The non genre theatrical comedy really is dead. Straight or gay. Romcom or otherwise. I can't remember the last non genre (action, sci-fi, fantasy, etc.) live action comedy was a huge hit financially. And by a huge hit I mean even 100 mill domestically. From what I can tell it was back in 2015 but could be reading wrong.

*Speaking of budgets, I think if they want success for these comedies in theaters they need to adopt the Blumhouse/A24 model. Comedy budgets are way too much for what they put out. The budget for this was around 20 mill. The budget for Easter Sunday that came out a few months back was 17 mill. That's way too much for these type of movies.

In any case, which I could see this in theaters to support but I'm broke-ish right now. And I wish it was doing better because I also hear it's really good and non comedy films have been lacking for a minute

EDIT: Maybe the budget was inflated due to COVID protocols? Idk just trying to shoot the movie some bail

 

[DarkKnight88]

Yeah, that opening is awful.

A lot of pundits are speculating that the marketing did a huge disservice by advertising it as "important!" when it should've just been advertised as a hilarious comedy.

Even the thread in here is pretty dead where I would expect to get a lot of traffic.

 

[Prison Mike]

It will probably do well on streaming

 

[Deck Rickard]

It’s really a shame this isn’t doing well because it’s really, really good. I think even the straightest (progressive) person out there would find it hilarious and really sweet. It’s definitely one of the best movies of the year.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I think this movies had three major issues:

1. Rom coms are very much cable/streaming material these days.

2. The demo it targeted. Love, Simon, was aimed at a younger demo, which is far more open and embracing of LGBTQIA+ stories and it showed at the box office. The adult rom com demo is very much built of older straight women.

3. They didn't have a big name for the lead or LI. I feel like with the big rom coms, without fail, one of the two major roles are filled by a rather large star, if not both. Here I feel like if you get a Chris Hemsworth for the LI it could of really boosted the profile. Though I definitely understand the reasoning for why they didn't, I think it would've helped the box office.

All that said, I'm happy that the audiences seeing it are loving it. I get the feeling this will have some decent streaming legs.

 

[Lily Adler]

I think this movies had three major issues:

1. Rom coms are very much cable/streaming material these days.

2. The demo it targeted. Love, Simon, was aimed at a younger demo, which is far more open and embracing of LGBTQIA+ stories and it showed at the box office. The adult rom com demo is very much built of older straight white women.

3. They didn't have a big name for the lead or LI. I feel like with the big rom coms, without fail, one of the two major roles are filled by a rather large star, if not both. Here I feel like if you get a Chris Hemsworth for the LI it could of really boosted the profile. Though I definitely understand the reasoning for why they didn't, I think it would've helped the box office.

All that said, I'm happy that the audiences seeing it are loving it. I get the feeling this will have some decent streaming legs.

I wonder if it'll do better when it hits streaming and home video?

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I wonder if it'll do better when it hits streaming and home video?

I think it will do very well on streaming. There aren't a lot of "The Lost City" break outs in theaters these days. Also Judd Apatow's style has kind of been played out for general audiences.

 

[Lily Adler]

Love a good seal of approval.

This, this is why that site is banned.

 

[The Shape]

This narrative of straight people ignoring this movie is weird, because based on this opening, it’s clear that most LGBTQ people ignored this movie too…

 

[DarkKnight88]

Yeah, I don't think anyone went out to see it honestly with an opening that low.

And Billy Eichner I don't think appealed to people as a leading man in this case to rush out opening weekend.

 

[Prison Mike]

Eichner said something similar about straight people not going out to see it. But at the same time, I don’t think $4.8M box office sales equates to the entire lgbtqia+ community either.

 

[samsnee]

They should have marketing the comedy aspect first

 

[MadVillainy]

Yeah, I don't think anyone went out to see it honestly with an opening that low.

And Billy Eichner I don't think appealed to people as a leading man in this case to rush out opening weekend.

Yeah I read someone say the same thing about Eichner. He's so known for playing abrasive and kinda jerky characters that maybe turned people off.

And also...and I'm not tryna be mean...he's not the most attractive guy to lead a movie. Sure there are romcoms where someone clearly dates out of their league. Hell Seth Rogen and the Apatow crew have made a career out of it, but I feel that most rom coms feature two average or two really classically attractive people. I feel like people turn out more. Like Kate Hudson and Matthew McCounghey (sp), Eddie Murphy and Halle Berry/Robin Givens, Henry Goulding and Constance Wu. Again not tryna be mean but I don't think Eichner got it like that when it comes to being a leading man.

But even if they changed that, just with the state mid level movies, rom coms, and comedies in general are when it comes to theatrical gross; that wouldn't have helped the film much

 

[MadVillainy]

I wonder if it'll do better when it hits streaming and home video?

For sure it'll do well on streaming.

I don't have the numbers but Hulu just dropped a movie over the summer called Fire Island and it seemed to have a decent amount of buzz. Then also Palm Springs did well on Hulu and I don't think it would've gotten nearly as much attention if they went with a traditional theatrical release. Same with Netflix's To All the Boys series. They made a whole trilogy off rom coms. I can't see that happening if it wasn't streaming exclusive.

Studios just need to accept that unless it's a big budget blockbuster or maybe a horror movie it's not gonna do big numbers. People a lot of the times don't show out for movies in theaters if it's not one of those 2 things. Correcting what I said earlier I think the last non genre/action comedy to gross over 100 mill domestically was Crazy Rich Asians in 2018 and before that it was 2015. Comedies aren't that that successful at theaters anymore. So maybe keep the budget down.
"Booksmart", another well received comedy, grossed like 25 mil, but its budget was only 6 mill. Not saying the execs are rolling in money with that result but that's better than spending 22 mill on budget and looking like you might not even cross 25 mill worldwide like "Bros"

 

[MadVillainy]

This narrative of straight people ignoring this movie is weird, because based on this opening, it’s clear that most LGBTQ people ignored this movie too…

Yeah, I don't think anyone went out to see it honestly with an opening that low.

Not surprising at all some including Eicher is pushing this narrative. It's pretty standard anytime a "diverse" movie doesn't do well or as well as they hoped financially or critically. Try and make people feel bad or that they're not a good ally because they didn't support.

Saw it happen with Ghostbusters Answer the Call, Oceans 8, Charlie's Angels, etc. Blaming racism, homophobia, sexism, etc. or some other kind of bias instead of the marketing, the movie itself, or the fact that the type of movie isn't that interesting. But as DarkKnight88 said, depending on what the result is, you can tell when the movie flopped because of socio-political stuff or that people just weren't interested. Kinda gross tbh, but what're ya gonna do

Obviously there are a lot of diversity issues in Hollywood (and just in the world) but not every time a diverse movie doesn't do well is it because of hatred or prejudice