“Bros” bombs at box office during opening weekend

I loved Bros and a lot of my friends did too but the opening weekend box office numbers fell far below expectations. I hope everyone involved knows how good the movie is, how we will have it forever, and that it will likely have a very a healthy life on streaming. It deserves one!

Here is an excerpt from today’s Variety box office story:

Paramount’s “Smile” debuted to a sizzling $22 million this weekend, easily topping the domestic box office. The horror film beat out the weekend’s other new wide release, Universal’s LGBTQ romantic comedy “Bros,” which landed in fourth place with a paltry $4.8 million bow.

“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.