I have a hard time imagining male fans of the Harry Potter movie franchise going to something like this for Emma Watson. Girls, yes.
Freegards
You know, the girls were the most critical because they all saw Emma Watson as Hermione. Not Belle .. Even though both characters were bookish nerds
All agreed they would have liked to see an unknown cast as Belle
And Liam Hemsworth as the beast :-)
I went Thursday night at 7 pm, the first showing. It was 90% filled in Green Bay Wisconsin. The audience was 80% female. I took two teenage daughters and my wife. The show was offered every half hour from 7 PM to 11 PM. And the students got in for $5. My daughters wanted to see this movie because of Emma Watson mostly, plus Ariana Grande and John Legend.
If you were not told that one character was gay you would not have noticed it. The part was a silly little dancing, singing person in the first movie. To declare the character was gay is not a stretch. And not important to the movie.
Look, you guys don’t realize it but Harlequin Romance books have been selling in the millions for a hundred years. They provide a happy ever after romance formula that woman have been buying and still do buy. And while you never see them, they are snapped up by the women in your life, in one form or another because they have romance, boy finds girl, boy loses girl, girl frets, boy girl struggle, girl gives in. Whether its TV, Movie, books or the national enquirer you can’t argue the fact that lots of women want it.