Billy Eichner thinks straight people staying home had a hand in Bros' underperformance
"Straight people, especially in certain parts of the country, just didn’t show up for Bros,” Eichner says. "And that’s disappointing but it is what it is."
It’s no secret that Billy Eichner’s rom-com Bros didn’t please everybody—the intended purpose behind a wave of premature review bombs was to make that clear as publicly as possible. But after the unabashedly queer film underperformed at the box office over the weekend, Eichner posted on Twitter to take the heterosexual masses to task. According to Eichner, straight people “didn’t show up” for Bros in theaters, a turn of events he calls “disappointing.”
Eichner stars in Bros and co-wrote the script with director Nicholas Stoller— he’s also been proudly vocal about the film’s all-LGBTQ+ cast. He begins his thread by describing sneaking into a sold-out Los Angeles screening of Bros, an experience that doesn’t sound at all reflective of any underperformance.
“The audience howled with laughter start to finish, burst into applause at the end, and some were wiping away tears as they walked out. It was truly magical,” Eichner writes. “Really. I am VERY proud of this movie.”
After starting on a high note, Eichner moves to the negative stuff. Per Eichner, an unnamed theater chain called up Universal Studios and threatened to pull the Bros trailer because of “gay content.” Although Eichner says Universal convinced the chain not to, he also recognizes that Bros just didn’t have the opening weekend he’d imagined.
“Even with glowing reviews, great Rotten Tomatoes scores, an A CinemaScore etc, straight people, especially in certain parts of the country, just didn’t show up for Bros,” Eichner writes. “And that’s disappointing but it is what it is.”
Eichner ends his statement with another call for non-homophobes of the world to see Bros—and specifically highlights the value in a big screen viewing.
“Everyone who ISN’T a homophobic weirdo should go see BROS tonight! You will have a blast!” Eichner says. “And it *is* special and uniquely powerful to see this particular story on a big screen, esp for queer folks who don’t get this opportunity often.”