Billy Eichner has a blunt response to: brothers‘ disappointing box office performance despite rave reviews from critics. brothers premiered on September 30, it is an LGBTQ+ romcom directed by Nicholas Stoller. The film follows Bobby Lieber (Eichner), a podcast host who insists on being happy on Tinder dates, while not committing. However, when he meets attorney Aaron Shepherd (Luke Macfarlane), the two cannot deny their mutual attraction and strike up a bond together.
so far, brothers has received very positive response from critics, praising the film’s representation and humor. The film has a strong 91% on Rotten Tomatoes and audiences gave it an A rating on a scale from A+ to F via CinemaScore. Unfortunately, brothers was subject to review bombing from homophobic internet users prior to its release. However, those who have seen the film in real life have only positive things to say about it. It is one of the few LGBTQ+ romcoms released by a major studio that also features an openly LGBTQ+ cast. Not only that, brothers accurately captures LGBTQ+ representation, history and acceptance, while also turning out to be a really fun movie. Despite its strengths, brothers underperformed at the box office.
As part of a thread celebrating his film’s achievements, Eichner took to social media with his response to brothers‘ less than stellar box office performance. In his post, Eichner bluntly explained that: brothers‘ box office performance is the result of the unfortunate state of the world. Watch his response below:
Why Bros started low at Box Office
Based on the strong reviews, brothers had a surprisingly low start at the box office. brothers it was initially predicted to bring in $8-10 million during its opening weekend. In the end, brothers earned only half of its box office projections, finishing its opening weekend with $4.8 million. With a movie that critics are just as excited about brothers the disappointing box office performance was hard to understand. However, Eichner has a point in raising the sad truth that many heterosexuals simply won’t support an LGTBQ+ movie because of their own beliefs or lack of awareness. It would be easy to also say that the romance genre has struggled in recent years, or that the pandemic has taken a toll on moviegoers. These factors may have contributed to: brothers‘ too, but Eichner’s claim cannot be dismissed.
Even though Eichner is blunt about it brothers‘ box office performance, he is certainly proud of that. His Twitter page is full of additional tweets capturing the overwhelmingly positive response from those who did show up for brothers. With strong word of mouth, the rom-com could have strong legs as it swarms a larger audience. There is also a chance that it will become a classic within the genre. Regardless of the box office performance and the reactions of online trolls, the film crew and anyone who decides to watch brothers remains extremely proud of it and its historic character.
Source: Billy Eichner/Twitter
