Movies

Billy Eichner Stands Firm on Homophobia as Cause of ‘Bros’ Poor Box Office: ‘It Was a Factor’

October 8, 2022

Billy Eichner doesn’t back down from his assessment that the poor box office performance of his gay romantic comedy “Bros” was due at least in part to homophobia.

Speaking at the 2022 New Yorker Festival on Friday, Eichner reiterated his view that in many parts of the country, anti-gay sentiment is a powerful social force. “Homophobia is a bigger issue than how it relates to this stupid rom-com. But do I think it’s a factor? Yeah, in some parts of the country I think that was a factor,” he said.

In its opening weekend, “Bros” only grossed $4.8 million, despite being released on 3,500 screens; most of this money came from New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. On Sunday, October 2, following the utterance of that grim box office prognosis, Eichner caused a stir with tweets that read in part, “Even with rave reviews and great scores from Rotten Tomatoes, an A CinemaScore, etc. , straight guys, especially in some certain parts of the country, just didn’t show up for “Bros.” And it’s disappointing but it is what it is,” he said in part on October 2.

The comments caused quite a strong reaction; conservatives widely mocked him, while even Los Angeles Times writer Matt Brennan described his reaction as a “sense of self-importance” and an “entitlement”.

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But on Friday, Eichner made his first public comment since then and stood firm on the matter – although he also acknowledged that several factors played a role first.

Eichner, for example, noted that the romantic comedy genre isn’t quite the movie powerhouse it once was, and that the biggest recent hits have all been via streaming. “That seems to be where people want to watch these movies,” he said. “I still love seeing those movies in theaters. I grew up going to see all those romantic comedies in theaters with my parents. Obviously things change over time and the way we consume culture has evolved.

Eichner said the wide-scale release of the film, despite not featuring actual movie stars, was “a bold swing”, considering that “for some audiences” “Bros” contains “difficult subject matter”.

But he credited the film’s studio, Universal, with being “very bold in how they framed the films in the trailers; there was a lot of gay sex in the trailers, and some people love it, some people aren’t shocked by it at all, it looks like something they watch on their phones every day.

But, he added, “in some parts of the country, as I said in my very controversial tweet, there was literally a theater chain down south and midwest that called Universal over the summer and said “we’re not playing this trailer”. We live in a country divided in this way, and it depends on where you live.

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“Homophobia is a bigger issue than how it relates to this stupid romantic comedy,” Eichner continued. “But do I think it’s a factor? Yeah, in some parts of the country I think that was a factor.

“Although to be honest, we didn’t really make the movie for homophobes anyway. This is an R-rated gay romantic comedy. It was never intended as a movie to try to convince people who don’t like gay people that we’re normal and soft and cuddly and can love. then not this movie. So it’s complicated, and I honestly think it’s all very silly when you look at it all from a bird’s eye view – it’s just a comedy,” Eichner concluded.