So how does Wicked have a chance with how West Side tanked?

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Posted: 12/13/21 at 4:11pm

I'm not saying it doesn't but people weigh in-

What's gonna make that success different?

West Side Story's box office is really REALLY a bad bad sign for the future of these Hollywood funded movie musicals.

This feels like the Hello Dolly.

Updated On: 12/13/21 at 04:11 PM

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 12/13/21 at 4:17pm

What do they have to do with one another?

[teatime2]

Posted: 12/13/21 at 4:20pm

Unless it's a superhero movie, people (myself included) aren't flocking to movie theaters anymore post lockdown. 

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Posted: 12/13/21 at 4:21pm

They have everything to do with another. 

It's another huge movie studio taking a multi million dollar gamble on another broadway show in a time where people go to the movies less and less.

[KevinKlawitter]

Posted: 12/13/21 at 4:21pm

It's been like 5 days.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 12/13/21 at 4:22pm

TotallyEffed said: "What do they have to do with one another?"

Well, the fact that each musical movie based on a Broadway show has tanked at the box office, no matter how well received critically (In The Heights, West Side Story), so this will hugely affect if movie musical projects will go ahead. 

[NOWaWarning]

Posted: 12/13/21 at 4:22pm

Well it’s not really a fair comparison. Aside from them both being musicals, they don’t really have that much in common. Wicked is more contemporary, less dramatic, appeals to a younger crowd, has a pop superstar in one of the leads, doesn’t already have have a beloved film version to compare it to, has the Oz thing going for it, etc. Plus Wicked probably won’t be out for another 2 years, so the the Covid situation and the moviegoing experience will likely be very different. 

On the other hand, I can’t see Wicked getting the kind of critical love West Side is getting. So apples and oranges, really.

[pmensky]

Posted: 12/13/21 at 4:24pm

Ghostbusters Afterlife only made 46 million on its opening weekend. Considering how these big movies were making hundreds of millions on their opening weekends in 2019, this is not about disinterest, it’s about Covid. Everything is flopping.

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Posted: 12/13/21 at 4:28pm

NOWaWarning said: "Well it’s not really a fair comparison. Aside from them both being musicals, they don’t really have that much in common. Wicked is more contemporary, less dramatic, appeals to a younger crowd, has a pop superstar in one of the leads, doesn’t already have have a beloved film version to compare it to, has the Oz thing going for it, etc. Plus Wicked probably won’t be out for another 2 years, so the the Covid situation and the moviegoing experience will likely be very different.

On the other hand, I can’t see Wicked getting the kind of critical love West Side is getting. So apples and oranges, really."

I think maybe this is what I've never fully understood about Wicked's fan base and people can help me out. Is it actually large or is the ability to see it live as a spectacle what makes it? 

There's no question it's a money making juggernaut. But I had always wondered is that because as an event its so thrilling for people.

Consider Phantom of the Opera the movie. Why wasn't that as big of a hit as the broadway show was? Yeah it's not a good movie but shouldn't it have an enormous baked in audience based on the success of the live show?

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 12/13/21 at 4:35pm

I wouldn't necessarily say West Side Story tanked. It didn't do well, but "tanked" implies they were expecting to gross $100 million this weekend, which I don't think anyone was. Producers know COVID is still going on and people aren't going to the movies right now, so while they're certainly disappointed, I don't think West Side Story only grossing $10 million is going to change their opinion about future post-COVID box office potential.

Updated On: 12/13/21 at 04:35 PM

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Posted: 12/13/21 at 4:37pm

From a producing standpoint there was a bunch of chances for movie musicals this year that tried different tactics:

In the Heights- Lin Manuel Miranda's musical, Best Musical hit, attract the Hamilton fans

Flopped.

Dear Evan Hansen- Winner of Best Musical, kids are super into it.

Flopped.

West Side Story- Gorgeous re imagining of a classic musical everyone knows with an acclaimed director.

Flopped. 

And CERTAINLY the pandemic had lots to do with it. No question. But that fact is still not going to make Producers hungry to drop 100 million on another movie musical meant for movie theaters. 

[Tag]

Posted: 12/13/21 at 4:41pm

The real loser here is Glenn Close.  Who is somewhere crying in a corner right now.

[NOWaWarning]

Posted: 12/13/21 at 4:41pm

rattleNwoolypenguin said: “I think maybe this is what I've never fully understood about Wicked's fan base and people can help me out. Is it actually large or is the ability to see it live as a spectacle what makes it?

There's no question it's a money making juggernaut. But I had always wondered is that because as an event its so thrilling for people.

Consider Phantom of the Opera the movie. Why wasn't that as big of a hit as the broadway show was? Yeah it's not a good movie but shouldn't it have an enormous baked in audience based on the success of the live show?"

Wicked does have a big fan base, but the Wizard of Oz is an internationally recognized cultural touchstone. I once heard someone describe Wicked as the perfect show because it’s both something that audiences already know and a new story. And then there’s the visual spectacle for people to admire, like you mentioned.

Phantom probably would have been a much bigger hit had it come out 10 years earlier. I think audiences had at least somewhat moved on by 2004. Plus the film wasn’t good, so word of mouth killed it.

 

 

[Alexander Lamar]

Posted: 12/13/21 at 4:46pm

Of the people I know who actually go to movies, the general consensus is “why do we need a West Side Story remake”? I think many people consider it a classic that needn’t have been touched - plus there is something called COVID-19  

Wicked does have a large fan base, as does Ariana Grande. 

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Posted: 12/13/21 at 4:50pm

That's definitely a good point about the Wizard of Oz thing. 

Bizarrely a known fairy tale related property still has a fighting chance in a movie theater proven by Disney's Live action fairy tale remakes (as soulless as they are)

I actually think this fact helped Into the Woods do pretty solidly in movie theaters. No one ever talks about how well it recouped. It wasn't clear enough to the masses that it's a contemplative Sondheim musical, and they marketed it more as a great cast plays all your favorite fairy tale characters. It got enough butts in seats on that premise alone for Christmas day. It didn't have great word of mouth but they made bank on Christmas time family movie goers. 

So by that logic Wicked could do great.

 

Updated On: 12/13/21 at 04:50 PM

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 12/13/21 at 4:50pm

WICKED being a contrmporary show that has never been adapted for the screen, having bigger onscreen stars than WSS, and appealing to a younger demographic in a time when COVID isn't scaring everyone (god willing) all helps it. Universal is naturally hoping for LES MIS or CHICAGO or MOULIN ROUGE type numbers. We'll see what happens.

WSS's run isn't done yet. The older audience it is appealing to doesn't necessarily go out opening weekend to the movies. And Christmas through New Years is the biggest moviegoing time of the year. And it could get MAJOR Oscar attention. That all still probably won't bring it to proper recoupment, but its journey isn't over.

[babyjunegem]

Posted: 12/13/21 at 5:17pm

This is premature. I'm certain that WSS would have done much better had the pandemic not happened. Wicked will most likely be dealing with a different world. It doesn't start shooting until summer of 2022 and won't be released for at least another year or two. There's little comparison to be made.

One thing I will say is that WSS should have had the cast go out and sing, especially Rachel. 

[FosseTharp]

Posted: 12/13/21 at 5:43pm

Yeah,  it’s way too early to say the movie tanked.  Movie Musicals always take time to build an audience and rarely have people clamoring to go opening weekend.  Disney chose to release it when it did so it could build word of mouth ahead of Christmas to New Years and allow it to play in the premium screens and IMAX.  It’s not going to do Greatest Showman, Les Mis, Into the Woods, Chicago numbers…. (Because of the Pandemic), but it still has the chance for staying power in the long run. Plus Disney made a deal with cinemas to keep it in theatre’s well into the new year so theater’s won’t pull it early if it’s not doing well.  
 

And if you compare it to In the Heights, that movie dropped like 24% after opening day of its release. WSS only dropped 11%.   Also WSS made more on opening night than Mary Poppins Returns and that ended up making a decent box office.  
 

It could still tank.  But it’s too early to tell and who knows it could become a sleeper hit like most other Spielberg films for adults + most movie musicals.  The receipts after Christmas Day will be more telling.  Maybe Disney should have waited to release it until 12/25? Who knows .

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Posted: 12/13/21 at 5:49pm

I think on some level Christmas would've helped-

 

but it's also known how sad it ultimately is. I could easily see families saying "No let's not see that. It's too sad for Christmas."

[JasonC3]

Posted: 12/13/21 at 6:36pm

Way too early to think WSS has tanked.  Disney has a long haul strategy here that just may allow the film to increasingly attract audiences via word of mouth and strong reviews.  Only time will tell.  Let's be a bit patient.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 12/13/21 at 7:12pm

I think West Side Story is not only being hurt at the box office due to it being released during a global pandemic, but also because it doesn't have a super starry cast, it's over two and a half hours long, and it's about to go up against some bigger tentpole films like Spider-Man: No Way Home and The Matrix Resurrections.

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Posted: 12/13/21 at 7:40pm

Unless really really specific circumstances.

Starry cast doesn't matter anymore.

Otherwise we'd still have rom coms.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 12/13/21 at 8:05pm

It 100% matters.

We still do have rom coms.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 12/13/21 at 8:29pm

teatime2 said: "Unless it's a superhero movie, people (myself included) aren't flocking to movie theaters anymore post lockdown."

We are still in a pandemic. We likely will be for a good while, but hopefully we are out of this by the time the wicked movie is supposed to be released.

[blaxx]

Posted: 12/13/21 at 8:42pm

The film will never have the success of the stage show, it's decades old, please. Lower your expectations.