Musicals often take time to build an audience, but can this remake, with little star power, compete with franchises and spectacles?
Steven Spielberg’s rave-reviewed remake of “ West Side Story ” arrived to an estimated $10.5 million in North American ticket sales, a feeble result — even by pandemic standards — that added to alarm in Hollywood about the theatrical viability of films that are not visual effects-driven fantasy spectacles or new chapters in ongoing franchises. But there was also a camp that cautioned against making any speedy assessments. Musicals often get off to a slow start, even more so when they are released in mid-December. Fueled by positive word of mouth and awards attention, they can turn into little engines that could. Golden Globe nominations will be announced on Monday. “ The Greatest Showman,” for instance, collected $8.8 million over its first three days in domestic theaters in December 2017 and was insta-written off as a box office embarrassment. Then the soundtrack caught fire among young women. “The Greatest Showman,” which cost $84 million to make, finished its six-month run in theaters with $437 million in worldwide ticket sales. In a results email on Sunday, Disney, which released “West Side Story” on its 20th Century Studios label, noted that ticket buyers gave the film an A grade in CinemaScore exit polls. Indicators of audience sentiment “all bode well for the long run ahead through the upcoming holiday season,” the company said. In release in 37 international markets, including in some countries where the Omicron variant has prompted governments to tighten safeguards, “West Side Story” took in $4.
