Current Events > i dont think its fair to blame heterosexuals in general for bros underperforming

(+) Yeah! (+)

i mean love simon was a success
and so was brokeback mountain

straight people came out to see those movies
and brokeback mountain was just so boring

but the creator of bros insists its failing cause of straight people

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/9/8/AAP5SqAADvZ2.jpg

I think it would have done better at a different date. December or February. Right now is spooky season!

How's someone gonna blame someone for not seeing a movie they don't want to see?

I dunno that October was a right time for a gay romance movie.

And on top of that, I'm not sure gay romcom is really all that interesting of a movie concept?

Movie not super marketable? Better just call everyone homophobes. That'll show em

That's nice. No one is required to watch any movie. They can cry about it all they want

King_Rial posted...

I think it would have done better at a different date. December or February. Right now is spooky season!

This. The number 1 movie is a horror movie.

Romcoms do better around Valentines.

wanderingshade posted...

And on top of that, I'm not sure gay romcom is really all that interesting of a movie concept?

I mean, to the extent any romcom is interesting, it is.

I'm all for diversifying that space. I watched Heartstopper on Netflix and it was probably the best romance content I've seen in a while.

It's the Ghostbusters Gambit. Make a movie that nobody wanted, then blame bigots when nobody wants it.

But he's not blaming heterosexuals, he's blaming homophobes specifically. It even says one company threatened to pull the trailer because of "gay content" which is... dumb to say about a gay romance.

Questionmarktarius posted...

It's the Ghostbusters Gambit. Make a movie that nobody wanted, then blame bigots when nobody wants it.

Correct

NoxObscuras posted...

But he's not blaming heterosexuals, he's blaming homophobes specifically. It even says one company threatened to pull the trailer because of "gay content" which is... dumb to say about a gay romance.

Correct

As someone who doesn't give a shit about rom coms, but Craig was my favorite character on Parks and Rec, should I watch Bros. eventually?

I mean, everyone should decry homophobia regardless of whether or not their movie is successful.

NoxObscuras posted...

But he's not blaming heterosexuals, he's blaming homophobes specifically. It even says one company threatened to pull the trailer because of "gay content" which is... dumb to say about a gay romance.

Except nobody saw it. Thousands of couples of gay men decided to go see something else.

You need a big name in a rom com. No big names in this movie.

NoxObscuras posted...

But he's not blaming heterosexuals, he's blaming homophobes specifically. It even says one company threatened to pull the trailer because of "gay content" which is... dumb to say about a gay romance.

https://www.queerty.com/billy-eichner-responds-dismal-box-office-bros-opening-weekend-20221003

he is quoted as saying straight people just didnt show up for bros which is what im referring to with this topic

Megaman50100 posted...

As someone who doesn't give a shit about rom coms, but Craig was my favorite character on Parks and Rec, should I watch Bros. eventually?

so far everyone who actually saw it loves it so its probably worth checking out

NeoShadowhen posted...

Except nobody saw it.

Exactly. So he's pretty much implying that the whole country is homophobic and that's why people didn't want to see it. When in reality it was that people just didn't care. But it's easier to cry homophobia than admit you didn't analyze the market for your movie properly

yusiko posted...

https://www.queerty.com/billy-eichner-responds-dismal-box-office-bros-opening-weekend-20221003

he is quoted as saying straight people just didnt show up for bros which is what im referring to with this topic

which, despite what that article says, is not the same as "blaming heterosexuals"

Dreepapult posted...

When in reality it was that people just didn't care.

Theaters are just too fucking expensive, and still too much a simmering vat of covid, to bother with romcoms.

It was not well advertised either. I had no idea this movie existed until this topic.

I think the only movie that has done really well in post COVID land is top gun. And that's because it has theater appeal. Big crazy action scenes. Those types benefit from the theater experience.

Romcoms don't get better whatsoever. They're just an excuse for couples to go to the movies for a date.

NoxObscuras posted...

But he's not blaming heterosexuals, he's blaming homophobes specifically. It even says one company threatened to pull the trailer because of "gay content" which is... dumb to say about a gay romance.

Well of course homophobes arent going to watch a gay rom com. What did they expect? Or are they saying homophobes are going to keep non-homophobes from watching? I feel like a gay rom com was always going to be an uphill battle, particularly in our current cultural climate.

That being said I sort of forgot about this movie because I havent seen it advertised much. I wouldnt see it because I dont watch romantic comedies, but still.

What was the last successful Romcom?

Lost_All_Senses posted...

What was the last successful Romcom?

uh... Thor 4?

Jeff_AKA_Snoopy posted...

It was not well advertised either. I had no idea this movie existed until this topic.

it was a reward on on big brother this season
it was won by michael a gay man who won more than anyone else. he actually set the record for most veto wins in a single season breaking the record janelle set all the way back in season 6
funny enough in the first week he was on the block and he asked WWJD? what would janelle do

anyway he was gay and he could bring 3 people to watch the movie with him and he took turner who was bisexual and 2 women. he didnt bring any of the straight men so even in big brother straight men didnt see the movie

It's something I'd watch on streaming, but wouldn't go to theaters for. Who really goes to theaters for cliche rom coms?

It was released the wrong time of the year

Raikuro posted...

It's something I'd watch on streaming, but wouldn't go to theaters for. Who really goes to theaters for cliche rom coms?

Shhhh. Logic is dangerous.

Lost_All_Senses posted...

What was the last successful Romcom?

Crazy Rich Asians probably.

yusiko posted...

https://www.queerty.com/billy-eichner-responds-dismal-box-office-bros-opening-weekend-20221003

he is quoted as saying straight people just didnt show up for bros which is what im referring to with this topic

Again, he's implying that some people are homophobic. You're taking it too literal.

Thats just the world we live in, unfortunately. Even with glowing reviews, great Rotten Tomatoes scores, an A CinemaScore etc, straight people, especially in certain parts of the country, just didnt show up for Bros. And thats disappointing but it is what it is, he continued.

Everyone who ISNT a homophobic weirdo should go see BROS tonight! You will have a blast! And it *is* special and uniquely powerful to see this particular story on a big screen, esp for queer folks who dont get this opportunity often. I love this movie so much. GO BROS!!!

Cuticrusader09 posted...

Crazy Rich Asians probably.

Oh, yeah that did extremely well.

Comedies in general have been struggling bad since COVID. Netflix has a new cheesy romcom release like every 3 weeks, there is just too much competition to motivate people to go all the way to a theater instead of just watching one on stream. Only big event films, kids movies, and horror movies seem to be successful in theaters now.

Don't like romcoms so I won't be seeing Bros. lol. That said, I would not be surprised if a large group of people are refusing to see it due to homophobia.

This is horror movie month not rom com month, people want to celebrate the month of Halloween.

Cuticrusader09 posted...

Crazy Rich Asians probably.

Didn't even know that was a Romcom. It's so out of my realm. That seems like awhile ago.

I always thought it was weird that people the movie isn't marketed towards are supposed to save it. Like, if I heard it was amazing, Id become interested. But it's weird to expect people to override their personal lives because it's convenient for you.

It's like releasing a makeup kit and being mad enough men didn't buy it and only women did. Some men will buy it, but that's not who makeup targets. The same way gay people feel gay relationships in movies more relatable, straight people feel about straight relationships. You have to make something really special to cross over into all demographics. Forcing straight people to watch an average movie isn't changing the world, itsjust changing the pockets of the people making it. The goal should be to make a movie so engaging it spreads through word of mouth and makes people that don't have similar life styles interested.

Obviously, if the only reason you're avoiding it is because it has gay relationships, you're a homophobe tho.

But tbf, I don't know romcoms. So, if it actually is really good, nothing I said matters and they're right >_>. I don't think Id be the proper judge even if I seen it.

AngelsNAirwav3s posted...

Comedies in general have been struggling bad since COVID. Netflix has a new cheesy romcom release like every 3 weeks, there is just too much competition to motivate people to go all the way to a theater instead of just watching one on stream. Only big event films, kids movies, and horror movies seem to be successful in theaters now.

Maybe movie watching has just changed. A movie has to be something amazing for me to go to the theater. Otherwise Im just waiting for streaming because I already have plenty of things to watch.
Romcoms just dont have that must watch in a theater feel to them.

RiKuToTheMiGhtY posted...

This is horror movie month not rom com month, people want to celebrate the month of Halloween.

So use the exact same script, but with Freddy and Pinhead this time.

Always works. If you make a film about a social minority, just call anyone criticizing your film a homophobe/transphobe/racist/bigot. That'll totally get people to treat you and your movie seriously.

I mean it put off funny vibes but they only showed the steroid dumbledore joke commercial over and over.

Ill watch it some time but not going to theatres for it

Yeah...I never had any interest whatsoever in seeing it.

did they try marketing it better

because i've literally never known of its existence until this topic. and i clicked into this topic because i thought it was about how heterosexual dudes are responsible for bros underperforming on dating apps by being creepy assholes who can't handle rejection

I think itll be interesting to compare this to how the Interview with the Vampire TV series does. That just premiered on AMC and has gay vampires, but is pretty bloody based on the first episode so goes more in line with what you want in October.

Aressar posted...

Always works. If you make a film about a social minority, just call anyone criticizing your film a homophobe/transphobe/racist/bigot. That'll totally get people to treat you and your movie seriously.

that... is not what happened

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


Yeah. I feel like him alone is someone who makes or breaks someone. You're already splitting your audience with how people perceive him from the popular stuff he's in.

There's people who aren't gonna see the movie because they're homophobic....but how many homophobes have Romcoms as their favorite genre >_>.

Expecting it to do particularly well seems kind of like a pipe dream in the first place. Targeting a fairly narrow audience.

It's different in the literary world. Gay romance books and gay romantic comedy books sell like hotcakes:

https://inmagazine.ca/2022/03/reading-mm-how-gay-romance-scratches-an-itch-for-straight-women/

When Lauren Blakely, a married straight 49-year-old woman living in Seattle and a voracious reader, came upon the 2007 literary sensation Call Me By Your Name by Andr Aciman, a gay romance that was made into a 2017 movie starring Timothe Chalamet and Armie Hammer, she devoured it in a weekend. Then read it twice more. And then she decided she wanted to write a romance between two men.

Of course, Blakely isnt the first straight woman to become successful telling stories about man-on-man love and sex. In the romance novel category, which is well-known to be dominated by female readers and writers, MM (male-male) is not something from another universe, its a substantial subgenre, just a step or two over from MF (male-female) fiction. The gay themes furtive glances in locker rooms, workplace rivalries overturned in shared hotel rooms are not necessarily aimed at gay men. In fact, one study has suggested that 87 per cent of MM romance readers are female.

Its certainly working for Blakely: all of her MM novels have hit the USA Today bestsellers list. Of the 100 romances shes written, a substantial number have titles like The Virgin Scorecard and The One-Week Husband, with covers featuring chiseled men so overheated they might rip off the readers clothes right from their spot on the cover.

Lucy Lennox, an MM romance writer who lives with her husband and three children in suburban Atlanta, was encouraged by her sister, also a writer, to start writing novels. After Lennox wrote some FM romances, a fellow quilter in her quilting group, a Mormon woman, told her about MM romance and suggested that Lennox try writing one. Over the past five years, Lennox has written 40 romances.

Lennox has some fascinating ideas about why straight women are drawn to MM romance. Firstly, straight romances are full of sexist junk: the powerful assertive man, the damsel in distress. The power dynamics can be appalling. Inverting the formulas lady boss seduces her male assistant can be just as cringeworthy, and often hurts sales. By having two men as leads, theres not as much baggage in having one rescue the other, or having one more powerful than the other, or having that flip, or having them be pretty much equal all along. When female readers get wrapped up in a scene about a male firefighter pulling a woman out of a burning building, they might, by default, insert themselves into the role of the female victim. If its a male firefighter pulling a future male lover out of a burning building, some women can more easily insert themselves into either role. Its less about homosexuality itself than starting the game of love on a level playing field.

MM romance offers lots of other nuances as well. From a storytelling perspective, male-male relationships can provide more will they or wont they sexual tension. Put a naked man and woman together in a room and the situation is, for most straight readers, automatically sexual. In fact, because women are often raised to be modest, that scenario could seem unrealistic from the outset. But men can be non-sexually naked together in many circumstances, allowing for a routine shower after soccer practice to surprise! sparkle with lust. Rough straight sex can seem rape-y unless its framed as BDSM, which is a subgenre that operates in another corner of the literary marketplace. But two rival studs of equally fit physiques wrestling over something can be, for many readers, extraordinarily horny. Having a man and a woman face off against each other physically seems weird, rightly or wrongly, while sports are huge in MM romance. Enemies to lovers is a delicious trope. The tension is way different when its between men, says Lennox.

As a straight woman, Lennox says, MM fiction allows her to read about the male body parts that interest her, though she is quick to point out that this experience is more nuanced than the straight males propensity to watch lesbian porn.

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https://www.haaretz.com/life/books/2022-08-04/ty-article-magazine/.premium/the-hottest-literary-trend-in-israel-right-now-gay-novels

A Charm of Magpies is one of a flood of romantic LGBTQ novels that have filled Israels bestseller list in the past year.

Lord Magpie is the first volume of a trilogy that has done everything possible to drive the audience away, says Shani Weisselberg, co-director of the romance genre-oriented Facebook group All That Romance. Its a romantic story between two gay men within the fantasy genre, which is not successful in Israel. Its high society and transpires in the 19th century.

Even though all those factors should have made female readers reject the book immediately, what happened was insane, recalls Weisselberg, whose Hebrew-language group has about 50,000 members. During Hebrew Book Week the publisher ran out of the books. I saw [publisher] Dorit Tamir frantically demanding, Bring me copies! And thats only one example that shows you how eager the audience is for these books.

I didnt believe what was happening during Book Week, confirms Tamir. The events began on Wednesday. I brought lots of copies. By Thursday, all the copies were completely gone. Suddenly lots of young people started coming, and they simply bought everything. I approached my distributor in hysterics. They opened the warehouse especially for me on Friday to bring me more books, and this insanity continued in the following days, too. Ive never seen such a thing.

Since its inception, the romance genre has dealt with classical heterosexual relationships. He, usually successful and filthy rich, met Her, a local Cinderella, and they fell in love and married with a sunset in the background. But there has been a revolution in the past 15 years. The rise of Amazon, websites with fan picks and fan literature have led to a massive development of romance subgenres, such as suspense, science fiction, historical or erotic romances. If you fantasized about it you could read it.

And within all this joyous celebration, LGBTQ romance books have also grown. Rolling Stone magazine recognized this subgenre already in 2010 as one of the hottest literary trends.

The trend has become only stronger in recent years. According to NPD BookScan, about 850,000 out of 47 million print romantic novels sold in the United States in 2021 were LGBTQ romances twice as many as in 2020.

This trend is continuing in Israel, too. Just look at the flood of books translated into Hebrew and published here in recent years. Casey McQuistons Red, White & Royal Blue, which is now being adapted into a film on Amazon Prime with Uma Thurman and Stephen Fry, describes a relationship between the son of the female president of the United States and the British crown prince, who is transformed in the story from an enemy into a lover.

Alexis Halls Boyfriend Materal depicts the budding romance between a young British man and a conservative barrister. The list also includes Heartstopper, Him, Bully King and many more. According to publishing house figures and the book app Ivrit, many thousands of copies of these books were sold during the first months after their release and are still selling.

Id never dealt with the romantic genre before. Suddenly, I discovered the tremendous hunger for these books. I was sure the audience would be only LGBTQ readers, and we invested a lot of resources in an ad campaign on Grindr. Ultimately, thought, 98 percent of the people who bought it were women aged 14 to 60.

"I never thought that an LGBTQ romantic comedy would speak to women in such a wide age range and I certainly didnt expect it to do so well. We launched it with a digital version and it sold thousands of copies within two weeks. It topped the stores bestseller lists. We printed a first edition of 3,000 copies. Stores were getting so many orders that we printed another 3,000.

One of the interesting anomalies regarding LGBTQ romance novels is that the majority of its readers are straight women. Romantic literature is very patriarchal. Usually youll have the voluptuous woman and the man with the sexy arms, and Im not comfortable with it, says Dr. Keren Landesman, an expert in epidemiology and public health who also runs the Israeli Facebook group Queer Romantic Literature.

But as soon as you move into LGBTQ literature, were no longer confined to the gender roles in which a male has to save a female. Then you can tell stories that are liberated from the social restrictions that we impose on our world.

LGBTQ literature is a generic name. but the main characters in most of these books are gay men. Love stories between lesbians are much less popular. Online surveys we conducted clearly showed that 70 percent wouldnt read a romance between two women," says Weisselberg.

Internationally, too, there is much greater demand for romantic literature about gay men. I can understand it. Im straight, Im attracted to men, I wont read a book about lesbians because I wont be attracted to the heroines. These books often contain detailed sex scenes, and the sex has to speak to you.

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