And now Hollywood is scrambling to figure why so few people have gone to see it so far. Especially since the reviews and the audience reaction has been fantastic. By all accounts, Spielberg achieved everything creatively he set out to do. And this is a guy who knows how to make a movie.
One reason could be that a large percentage of the audience that would want to see this still isn’t comfortable going into a movie theater. I fall into that category. At some point it’ll be on a streamer or On Demand and I’ll see it then. (Or I get sent a screener, hint hint.) I very much want to see it, but I can wait. It’s not like everyone is talking about it and I don’t want to be left out. Other than concerned industry folk, no one is talking about it.
WEST SIDE STORY is a classic to those of us who grew up with it. But I wonder if it has the same cache to those who haven’t. Other than theatre-geeks, do younger generations give a shit about a musical about young people that was written over sixty years ago? No one gave a crap about IN THE HEIGHTS, and that was more contemporary and about similar subject matter. Of course this question is clouded by IN THE HEIGHTS being a bad movie. WEST SIDE STORY is supposed to be good.
Did TICK TICK…BOOM! steal its thunder? TICK TICK…BOOM! was terrific and available for streaming. Had audiences gotten their musical adaptation fix?
Hollywood is VERY worried. Why? They have other big budget musicals currently in production… including a two-part WICKED. WEST SIDE STORY cost $100 million. This genre becomes a big gamble, especially since no one flies or wears a cape. Which brings me to another issue, will the only movies that do well in theaters be CGI comic book explodaramas? (Ironically, the big tentpole blockbuster began with JAWS… directed by Steven Spielberg.)
What are your thoughts? Have you seen it? Do you want to see it? Would you see it in a theater if Natalie Wood was still in it?
from By Ken Levine
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