While musicals or quasi-musicals like ‘In The Heights’ or ‘Respect’ haven’t soared, they’ve performed better than most adult-skewing non-franchise films in 2021.
West Side Story, starring Rachel Zegler and Ansel Elgort, opened last night with $800,000 in Thursday previews. That’s about on par with the Dear Evan Hansen which earned just $7.5 million in its opening weekend this past September. Conversely, it’s higher than the $500,000 earned by Bridge of Spies toward a $15.3 million debut in October 2015. Disney and friends are obviously hoping that the Steven Spielberg-directed and Tom Hanks-starring Cold War flick is the correct comparison, as pre-release tracking suggested an over/under $15 million debut. Spielberg is obviously the “butts in seats” marquee filmmaker, and the source material is a beloved Tony winning (and then, upon feature film debut, Oscar-winning) stage show. The film is the last, best shot at a genuinely commercial Oscar season contender, give or take Dune and House of Gucci. Moreover, the debut this weekend, amid rave reviews and strong Oscar buzz, is a chance to again show that the live-action musical, while suffering from a Covid-era decline, isn’t remotely dead. Like the western, the musical is one of those genres that everyone claims is dead and yet scores big whenever Hollywood bothers to make one of appropriate size and scale.
