Bros star and co-writer Billy Eichner has shared his thoughts on his gay rom-com's disappointing box office performance in the US, citing a lack of space for openly LGBTQ actors to become movie stars in Hollywood.
The movie, which was initially released in the US on September 30, made $4.9 million in its opening weekend at the box office, despite projections of between $8 and 10 million. Its Stateside total is $11 million against a budget of $22 million.
"Bros at the movie theatre was always going to be an uphill battle. You have an R-rated gay rom-com with an all-openly LGBT cast, which we were so proud of, but one that doesn't feature Julia Roberts and George Clooney and big straight movie stars," Eichner tells the Inside Total Film podcast.
"And there's a reason for that – Hollywood, up until very recently, has not created an environment where you could have a lot of openly LGBTQ movie stars. So if you're never going to make an LGBTQ movie star, how are you going to have one who can open a movie at the box office?"
Bros stars Eichner alongside Luke Macfarlane as two commitment-phobic gay men in New York City trying to make a new, tentative relationship work. Eichner's character Bobby is an outspoken podcaster and writer on the board of America's first LGBTQ history museum, desperately trying to raise funds for its opening, while Macfarlane's Aaron is a buff lawyer who's unhappy with his career path and unsatisfied with his life.
Eichner continues: "The vast majority of the people that did go see the movie in theaters in America were gay men, because it's coming from a need to see themselves reflected. I think many of them were gay men of a certain generation, my generation and maybe even older, who haven't had that opportunity and who didn't grow up with as much queer content as we're getting now, on streaming and online. It depends what your perspective is going into it. But hopefully, as more and more of this content gets made, the audience at large just becomes more comfortable with it and more familiar with it. That's not to say people are homophobic, that's just to say they might not immediately think that it's something they can relate to."
For more from Eichner and his co-star Macfarlane, make sure to listen to the full interview on the Inside Total Film podcast, available on:
You can listen to our full interview with Bros stars Billy Eichner and Luke Macfarlane on our podcast, Inside Total Film. Bros is out in UK cinemas now.
