West Side Story

[kroxquo]

Saw the new West Side Story today and I highly recommend it. It is grittier than the original and the Jerome Robbins choreography is gone however the new young actors are top notch (although I still have a hard time envisioning this Tony as a bad ass although he is much better than Richard Beymer was). Rita Moreno (90 years old!!!!!) can still bring it vocally and may have a distinction of winning Oscars for two different roles in two different versions of the same movie. The back stories of both gangs, especially the Sharks is fleshed out. This may sound odd, but it is less "musical-ish" than the original and feels more organic but It retains all of the music and lyrics by Bernstein and Sondheim. A fine addition to both American Musical canon and Steven Spielberg's resume.

[Ritterskoop]

I very much want to see it, but our summer movie experience with In the Heights was not good, in that the only other five people in the theater were all badly-behaved. It's not even about catching COVID, but about making sure people know how to turn off their phones and to not bring 8-year-olds to movies which bore them.

[Vandal]

Thanks to the new Spider-Man movie, WSS is a bomb.

Why Steven Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story’ Hit the Wrong Box Office Notes

Steven Spielberg managed to get critics on board for his ambitious “West Side Story” remake. The moviegoing masses? Not so much.

Over the weekend, Disney and 20th Century Studio’s reimagining of “West Side Story” collected just $10.5 million in its domestic debut, a dismal result for a movie of its scale and scope. The lavish musical, one of the best reviewed movies of the year, carries a $100 million budget and faces an uphill battle to profitability. Given its price tag, industry insiders estimate “West Side Story” needs to generate at least $300 million globally to break even in its theatrical run. The film is playing exclusively on the big screen and doesn’t have a hybrid streaming component, which could help ticket sales in the long run… but it has an awful lot of ground to make up.

https://variety.com/2021/film/news/west ... 235131598/

[silverscreenselect]

Thanks to the new Spider-Man movie, WSS is a bomb.

The failure of WSS is not due to Spider-Man. It was the only major theatrical release December 10 and it still did poorly. The problem is that films geared towards adult audiences, no matter how well made, are performing poorly in the current environment. The only one to do decently was the Gucci movie, thanks to the presence of Lady Gaga. Last weekend, Nightmare Alley bombed (although why they released it opposite Spider-Man is a mystery). This week, The Kings Man is out and I have a feeling it's not going to do well either. Fans of the first two Kingsman movies won't care for the heavy historical background (Rasputin and Gavrilo Princip are two of the villains), and staging an action movie around Ralph Fiennes didn't work last century when he made the Avengers and it's an even worse idea now. Mrs. SSS and I saw the first showing yesterday at 4:00 with eight other people in the theater.