You can tell romance books are popular by looking at how big the section for them is in used book stores. We have a lot of Mennonites in the area and they seem to particularly like them, as many don’t get their female romance fix by electronic media.
My only point was that the popularity of a live action musical love story isn’t going to be driven by men. No matter the amount of gayness, a tiny unimportant amount or abject homo-erotic plot points, a normal male isn’t going to be pumped for love story musicals.
Freegards
Adding a gay character to a Disney movie or a bunch of black characters in odd places does not increase the audience. Disney knows that gay and black audiences will not rush out to see the movie. The purpose of these two additions to the movie is for the critics. Disney wants to get past the lily white conservative branding. So they can be accepted in California public schools and have the New York Times give a more favorable rating. Disney knows their bread and butter are the young white girls and their mothers looking for some predictable teenage no core (not hard core, not even soft core) romance.