why did it bomb?
it got a big red tomato
shareBecause who's even the audience for this? Of course critics were gonna love it, but nobody was gonna pay to go see it.
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MovieChat Forums > Bros (2022) Discussion > why did it bomb?
It bombed because society is very homophobic, of course.
There's a difference between being homophobic and not being drawn to a movie because the actors are unknown and the marketing was bad.
Did you forget about Brokeback Mountain? 178 million on a 14 million budget. And don't tell me that nearly 20 years ago people were less homophobic.
I think you missed the sarcasm.
shareHaving seen at least two other "ElSophoques" on the forums (I assumed that all 3 were the same person), I have a tendency to think this is genuine.
Reading it again.. I think you are right. It really looks like sarcasm. I may have been too fast to judge.
You mean you had to read it twice to comprehend the sarcasm?
shareThe sad reality is that gay acceptance has been declining for the first time in decades, seemingly in direct proportion to the number of letters being added to the LGBT (+). Films like this attempt to show how gay people are different rather than telling universal stories that non LGBT people could relate to.
The vast majority of adults in their forties don't engage in threesomes, do drugs, or attend alcohol infused dance parties which are normally attended by very young and immature people. The fact that people cite Eichner as being totally unlikable can be attributed partly to his arrogant persona and partly to his character complaining about his lack of desirability when he can't obtain the latest supermodel. The scenes of them denigrating straight people in that boardroom meeting is another reason people are understandably pissed off. The film is purposefully exclusionary and reeks of entitlement.
People are also more critical of heavy handed political messaging in their movies which comes across as both insincere and antagonistic. You can certainly tell a gay story without making it overly political. Many gay people don't feel like they are part of a community, especially now when the left has made it a habit of eating its own. For the past few years, gay activists and artists have been targeted for racial bias, racial fetishization, gay appropriation (for casting straight actors in their movies), elitism, and privilege. Likewise, many gay people growing up outside of liberal enclaves feel like they have very little in common with other queer identities and don't normally associate with them even if they are out of the closet. Many gays identify as apolitical or even conservative, to which Eichner told them to stay home. And they did.
Quite enlightening. Thanks !
shareI think you bring up some good points. For better or for worse, the marketing for the film too narrowly targets a subset of an already smaller LGBT community. The trailer constantly shows gay bars, an LGBT meeting room and constant talk about other’s sexual identity. Not all LGBT make it a primary part of their identity. Some just happen to be gay and live a rather mainstream live. That just doesn’t resonate with that subset of the LGBT community, nevermind the majority straight community. This is a niche movie. And as a niche movie, it seemed to have attracted a proportional percentage of the box office, relative to the niche of the community it was targeting. That’s not to say homophobia is still out there. It still is and, unfortunately, getting worse. But this wasn’t the factor for its “box office struggle”. If you ask me, the numbers seem ok. But if they wanted higher returns, then the movie should’ve been marketed much differently. Look at movies like “Love Simon” or “Brokeback Mountain” - LGBT themed, but the plot was a bit more universal, aka regular dudes who are navigating their sexual identity; that’s going to be a better sell. And would do better in drawing in curious on-goers that may not identify to the specific lifestyle so prominently portrayed in “Bros”. As an LGBT guy, that’s my take on this film and this topic.
shareLook at movies like “Love Simon” or “Brokeback Mountain” - LGBT themed, but the plot was a bit more universal, aka regular dudes who are navigating their sexual identity; that’s going to be a better sell.
When these movies were rare and the topic had something to discuss, people were willing to give them a chance. However, at this point, the Rainbow Reich are everywhere, in everything. You cannot engage in any mainstream media these days without being reminded or beat over the head with the messaging and propaganda, so much so that people who used to be somewhat open-minded are now at a point of completely writing off whatever the Left is trying to sell.
It doesn't matter how they marketed "Bros", there's a sizable portion of normal people now who have zero interest in indulging in the Left's fetish propaganda. share
Did you even read what i said? You know everything is not political, right? LGBT does not equal “Left” or “woke” or whatever you want to call it. People come in all different spectrums. Bros leaned too heavily into its niche market to be able to make a broader appeal. The box office results reflect that.
shareBecause the only kind of LGBTQ movies straight people like are about "the suffering gay". The closeted gay.
Or the cheery gay best friend to the female protagonist.
And of course the uncultured bigots that don't even like queer cinema.
Why would the uncultured bigots like queer cinema though? What is supposed to be appealing to them in that kind of cinema? Just because you people like that kind of cinema, everyone should? Not very democratic.....
shareCultured people that truly love cinema don't give a fuck about who the stories are about. In fact, we seek to expand our knowledge beyond our own little cultural bubble.
Do you only watch films about the same kind of people? How boring...
Cultured people that truly love cinema don't give a fuck about who the stories are about.
You talk as if "Bros" qualifies as highbrow cinema that should play at the same theaters as the brilliant, obscure foreign films of which nobody would otherwise have been aware. When I first saw the trailer for this dog turd I thought it was yet another throwaway one-year Netflix or Amazon series. It had a certain cheap vibe about it, the kind of trash assigned to underpaid amateur writers fresh out of middle school. And yet it was intended to be a revolutionary standalone film. Wow. Billy Eichner acts like a child who is being told "no" for the first time. share
Ah cultured people. Famous for their love of rom-coms.
shareYup,you gotta be uncultured if you dont like the cinematic masterpiece:Bros :) Also,people love birdcage,thats not about suffering gays.Also,why didnt gay people and lbqtzzz allies go and see this movie?It would have easily been a hit if they had bothered to do that.
shareI think it's a combination of several factors:
1. None of the actors are big named stars.
2. Rom coms aren't as popular as they used to be and don't appeal to some people.
3. Some people will refuse to see it because it is focused on gay characters.
As a mainstream movie the audience for it so small there's no way it could be a hit.
shareJust speaking personally, I don't particular like rom coms in general, even when they star an attractive female.
shareProbably also because, even fewer gay men can realistically relate to a successful random hook up with a Hollywood ending, that this film seems to want to portray.
shareYup. Gay culture is all about orgies and flings, hence why Monkey Pox has rapidly spread throughout their community. That one Twitter post about that guy bragging about getting Monkey Pox after drinking the urine of 31 other men at a weekend orgy tells you everything you need to know about the gay community.
shareWow. The story of one guy tells me everything I need to know about the gay community huh? So then I guess you have no issues with me saying that all straight men are rapists who abuse women? I mean there's certainly more than one of them, so that means all of them are right? I guess all white men are serial killers too. Oh, we should probably lump in all females too. I mean Aileen Wuornos was so I guess that means that all females are.
shareWow. The story of one guy tells me everything I need to know about the gay community huh?
Nope, statistical trends do:
https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-health-and-wellness/monkeypox-driven-overwhelmingly-sex-men-major-study-finds-rcna39564
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/24/briefing/monkeypox-gay-community.html
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/uk-health-agency-99-monkeypox-cases-are-gay-men
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2207323?query=featured_home
Relevant quote from the global study.... " Overall, 98% of the persons with infection were gay or bisexual men, 75% were White, and 41% had human immunodeficiency virus infection" share
That's not what I was disagreeing about.
Gay culture is all about orgies and flings
You do realise that straight people have orgies, and one night stands too right? You can look up pictures of watersports to know that it's not just gay men who drink urine.
So I was disagreeing that that one man who got monkey pox in that way tells me everything I need to know about the gay community. share
You do realise that straight people have orgies, and one night stands too right?
No one said they don't. The issue at hand is percentages, and those percentages are vastly out of proportion relative to the tiny demographic of homosexual men, hence the disproportionate distribution of them being disease carriers. share
Again, I'm not talking about disease. I'm talking about your generalisation that all gay people are one specific way.
shareI think the projected box office for this movie was wildly overestimated in the first place. To me it’s no surprise at all that a gay romcom with no big name stars would not be a huge financial success.
Still, that doesn’t mean it’s a bad film and its low box office doesn’t give me the joy that some seem to be revelling in here.
Before anyone gets too overwhelmed by schadenfreude, it’s good to remember that this is not the only romcom that hasn’t found a major cinema audience. You just have to look at any streaming service to see countless similar movies with heterosexual leads that have been dumped there after doing nothing at the box office.