Spielberg's 'West Side Story' opens to tepid box office receipts

New York

STEVEN Spielberg's rave-reviewed remake of West Side Story arrived to an estimated US$10.5 million in North American ticket sales, a feeble result - even by pandemic standards - that added to alarm in Hollywood about the theatrical viability of films that are not visual effects-driven fantasy spectacles or new chapters in ongoing franchises.

But there was also a camp that cautioned against making any speedy assessments. Musicals often get off to a slow start, even more so when they are released in mid-December.

On Sunday, Disney, which released West Side Story on its 20th Century Studios label, noted that ticket buyers gave the film an 'A' grade in CinemaScore exit polls. Indicators of audience sentiment "all bode well for the long run ahead through the upcoming holiday season", the company said. In release in 37 international markets, including some countries where the Omicron variant has prompted governments to tighten safeguards, West Side Story took in US$4.4 million. The film's global total so far, US$14.9 million, missed Disney's pre-release hope of US$25 million by about 40 per cent.

West Side Story, based on the 1957 Broadway musical, cost an estimated US$100 million to remake, not including tens of millions of dollars in marketing costs.

"This is a story about an inter-racial romance," David Gross, who runs the film consultancy Franchise Entertainment Research, said in an email on Sunday. "Once upon a time, that was rare and remarkable. Not any more. For movie-goers, context may have caught up with this film, however well made it is."

Among A-list filmmakers, Spielberg is one of the last streaming holdouts. Although his company, Amblin, signed a multi-year deal in June to make feature films for Netflix, Spielberg has pushed for his directorial projects to remain theatrical exclusives. NYTIMES