West Side Story (2021)

[Nick]

Was surprised there was no thread for this. First stills released, looks great:

 

[TheGentTrent]

 

[quinnmac000]

Don't know how I feel. It looks great but need longer trailer to see if it has the magic the original did.

 

[HalfGlass]

This looked like all of Spielberg’s sensibilities translated to one of the most iconic musicals of all time. The trailer was a feeler for the imagery, and man it sold me. This might pass Top Gun as my most anticipated movie this year.

 

[Jerroddragon]

I like the shots from the trailer, for sure will see it in Dolby when its out

 

[Nick]

This trailer didn't do much for me, but it did what a first trailer is supposed to do and it gave me a feel of what the film is going for. The next trailer needs to knock it out of the park though.

I know Spielberg and Disney will make this an awards play, but man if it isn't coming out in the wrong year. With not just Dear Evan Hanson, but In The Heights coming out in the Summer, which in many ways is a modernized version of West Side Story. I think if any musical has a chance to take home big awards next year it's ITH with WSS just sort of getting lost in the shuffle in a year of a lot of high profile musicals.

Also, notice they seemed to REALLY be trying to hide Ansel Elgort, the freaking male lead. If his controversy doesn't go away, this movie is going to be very problematic for Disney/Fox.

 

[faceleg]

The trailer was so good I had to change my underthings

 

[Clive]

This trailer didn't do much for me, but it did what a first trailer is supposed to do and it gave me a feel of what the film is going for. The next trailer needs to knock it out of the park though.

I know Spielberg and Disney will make this an awards play, but man if it isn't coming out in the wrong year. With not just Dear Evan Hanson, but In The Heights coming out in the Summer, which in many ways is a modernized version of West Side Story. I think if any musical has a chance to take home big awards next year it's ITH with WSS just sort of getting lost in the shuffle in a year of a lot of high profile musicals.

Also, notice they seemed to REALLY be trying to hide Ansel Elgort, the freaking male lead. If his controversy doesn't go away, this movie is going to be very problematic for Disney/Fox.

I just came here to say everything you've written here! Agreed on all fronts, particularly it going up against more modern musicals / the Ansel controversy.

 

[Nick]

 

[TheGentTrent]

 

[Yabbadabba Doh]

So glad they are not trying to mess with the time period. Looks like it should be a winner!

 

[TheGentTrent]

$100 million movie. $10 million domestic opening.

Yikes.

Is it safe to say this was a decidedly not great year for movie musicals at the box office?

 

[quinnmac000]

$100 million movie. $10 million domestic opening.

Yikes.

Is it safe to say this was a decidedly not great year for movie musicals at the box office?

In The Heights, Dear Evan Hansen, and West Side Story are all heavily rooted in reality with no real star power that is universally liked. The countries that do love musicals weren't attracted by the cast or the music (Korea is part of the reason Bohemian Rhapsody and Greatest Showman did well internationally for months but they aren't showing up for these shows). They are too focused on Americanized issues that don't translate worldwide.

As for the stateside, WSS the original was already perfect minus the racially inappropriate lead. Additionally, like in the Heights as well as WSS, the hispanic focus is those who grew up in the Islands which is different than those who come from mexico and central America. They face different issues and goals while living in America as well as location. In the Heights is so NYC based that it doesn't reflect the realities and the issues hispanics living in Florida or Texas face.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

$100 million movie. $10 million domestic opening.

Yikes.

Is it safe to say this was a decidedly not great year for movie musicals at the box office?

It wasn't a good year for anything that wasn't connected to a franchise.

 

[OLSinFLA]

$100 million movie. $10 million domestic opening.

Yikes.

Is it safe to say this was a decidedly not great year for movie musicals at the box office?

We'll see if it has legs or not. Between the WOM and awards, it could have long term endurance . "Greatest Showman" opened with a paltry $8.8 million (and negative reviews) And went on to gross more than $400 million. You know the biggest threat is Disney Plus and its 45 day window)

 

[quinnmac000]

We'll see if it has legs or not. Between the WOM and awards, it could have long term endurance . "Greatest Showman" opened with a paltry $8.8 million (and negative reviews) And went on to gross more than $400 million. You know the biggest threat is Disney Plus and its 45 day window)

It can't go to Disney+...its a Fox film and still connected to the HBO guy similar to Free guy.

 

[Nick]

West Side Story is predominantly aimed at an older crowd, which has been hesitant to go back to theaters. House of Gucci opened similarly on an almost identical budget, for instance. The Last Duel was a big-budget dud.

I think we need to realize that audiences got used to watching the newest and plenty of high caliber films not only on Netflix during the Pandemic, but also HBO Max and Disney+ and I think this has done forever damage to theaters. The big franchise blockbusters will always survive (proof in that NWH is projected for $190M-$250M opening weekend). The “smaller” films - or literally any movie without a diehard audience is going to have trouble getting off the ground these days, especially with theatrical windows shrinking so much. Encanto hitting Disney+ 30 days after launch kept me from even bothering to go see it despite good reviews.

Make no mistake, films like West Side Story (2021), The Last Duel, In The Heights, King Richard, etc are NOT bad films. They are actually some of the best out there right now. With King Richard and In The Heights, at least a wider audience had a chance to see those movies by being day and date releases. I think West Side Story and The Last Duel would’ve benefited greatly from having a day and date release on Hulu.

However, I think today’s standards of a bomb are getting a bit blurrier. Red Notice, a $200M movie, is Netflix’s #1 movie of all-time and the amount of viewership it received would have given it close to Endgame opening numbers at the box office. Yet they took on a total loss and I doubt the movie even brought in subs with the bad reviews it has. All it did was continue to help retain their base.

Point being, had West Side Story or The Last Duel opened on streaming instead of theaters, nobody would be talking about the budget, only how good they were. Nobody talks about how bad Red Notice is, just that so many people watched it. It’s just a lot easier to get away with throwing away a lot of money on streaming than in theaters. Ask Scorsese and Rian Johnson.

 

[Jerroddragon]

Never seen it before today and its very well shot but...i dont get it

This story is old like it feels sooo outdated and boring because the characters are more one note that even character in super hero movies get now of days

Music was fine but I think Singing in the Rain and Wizard of Oz are the only two really old musicals I love

 

[OLSinFLA]

Never seen it before today and its very well shot but...i dont get it

This story is old like it feels sooo outdated and boring because the characters are more one note that even character in super hero movies get now of days

Music was fine but I think Singing in the Rain and Wizard of Oz are the only two really old musicals I love

Literally every major character was rewritten to give them a back story. Adults don't start going to the movies until around Christmas -- this was to try and build word of mouth (which has been almost uniformly good).

 

[HalfGlass]

Not only is this my favorite movie of the year….it’s probably like Top 50 of All Time for me. One of the best on-screen musicals I’ve ever seen.