Posted on 12/26/2021 5:29:00 PM PST by zeestephen
Despite rave reviews, Steven Spielberg's "West Side Story" has failed to gain traction with audiences at the box office...In its first three weeks in cinemas, the film has captured just $36.6 million in global ticket sales. Its production budget was around $100 million, not including marketing costs.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
Attn. Hollywood, nobody like remakes.
Yeah, that original version totally sucked. Everyone says so. [/s]
I did. Like the 1961 version much better and don’t care for the Spielberg commentary about subtitles so, yeah, I think it’s woke.
I have a vested interest in American cinema being worthwhile (as should all Americans) It is *extremely* rare for a major studio to devote so much money to care and artistry on material that wasn’t exactly mass market fare. No movie stars, no “woke” revisionism. It was just “West Side Story” but this time done by a great filmmaker. It got caught in the cross hairs of culture wars it didn’t belong in. Every single Freeper who has seen it liked it (that I’ve seen).
‘originally decided to update Romeo and Juliet’
I prefer the “Tromeo and Juliet” movie. Extremely bad cinema from Troma.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114733/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
Spielberg’s comments were stupid and pandering. They have no bearing on the film itself. What was your problem with it? It was clearly better acted and directed than the earlier film.
What stopped him after Jaws and until now? He's always had the clout to make it if he wanted.
The people who created the Broadway show all disliked it. It’s garish, badly acted and flatly directed. Rita Moreno, a some of the dancing is the only good thing about it.
Getting the rights to it. Apparently it wasn’t easy even now. Also, in the 80s and 90s , movie musicals weren’t exactly huge.
Your posts have convinced me that it is probably a good film, and that I might not walk out.
The new Spider-Man went over $1 billion this weekend
Let me know what you think. If you like WSS at all, you like it.
I took my 75 year old mother to see it and she liked it. And she HATES Woke garbage.
Heard it cost over 200 million to produce.
I know ONE scene that prolly lasted 12-15 seconds had to cost them 100's of thousands of $$$..
They did that scene twice....
Might be a interesting movie...might not.
FWIW-
The earlier film’s director won the Oscar for it. And again for “The Sound of Music.”
If they really wanted a meaningful update, they could have done something like Muslim girl falls for Israeli guy. But that would have been a little too daring.
I’ll take Natalie Wood and Richard Beymar over Rachel Zegler and Ansel Elgort any time.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.