The former 'Parks and Recreation' actor insists prejudice against gay people played a part in the underwhelming box-office performance of his same-sex movie.
- Oct 8, 2022
AceShowbiz - Billy Eichner claims homophobia was to blame for the flop of his gay romcom "Bros". The actor insisted that it was one of the factors for the surprise flop although he deleted tweets in which he referenced homophobia as a reason for "Bros" low box-office takings on its opening weekend.
"Homophobia is a bigger problem than as it pertains to this silly rom-com we made, you know what I mean? But do I think it's a factor? Yes. I think in certain parts of the country, it probably was a factor," Billy said when speaking at the New Yorker Festival.
However, he admitted that there were other issues too, including the wide theatrical release and the marketing of the movie. He said, "There's a lot of factors to it. To open this movie, in this many theatres, a rom-com in 2022 - there are rom-coms with mega-stars, which struggle at the box office, and a lot of the biggest comedy stars are taking their movies to streaming."
"And for good reason. That seems to be where people want to watch these movies. I still love seeing these movies in the theatre. I grew up going to see all these romantic comedies at the movies with my parents. It was a bold swing to open this movie in this many movie theatres without big movie stars."
He added about the marketing, "I think what we were doing is trying to find every which way to try to motivate people because the odds were so stacked against us for so many reasons."
"It's just funny, you know, life is absurd. It's just a rom-com. We wanted to make a Nora Ephron movie about horny gay guys, and it's inspired a lot of thinkpieces and op-eds. I didn't know people were so interested in me. I love the movie, and I just hope more and more people keep discovering it."
