© Provided by LGBTQNation "Marketing is not a movie and tweets are not a movie."More than a week after the theatrical release, the posthumous release of Bros.
During a panel discussion at the New Yorker Festival on Friday night, Bros co-writer and star Billy Eichner and Harvey Fierstein, who also appears in the film, discussed the box office impact of the gay romantic comedy's marketing strategy.
Prior to its September 30 release, Bros was heavily promoted as the first major gay romcom studio. After the film's disappointing opening weekend, critics and observers suggested that focusing on the film's historical nature and the audience's responsibility to ensure it was a box office success may have been counterproductive.
Fierstein seemed to echo these criticisms, poking fun at Universal Pictures' marketing strategy by telling viewers, "Take this to the theater or I'll call you for profanity!"
"I heard the whole idea of releasing this movie with the idea: ' First gay movie !' The main character is a homosexual ! And with a capital letter it is homo, but created by heterosexuals! I mean, I thought, "Is this a history lesson or a movie?" "I didn't think it was really smart," he said. I think sometimes you have to let the public find you. Let them discover you, let them fall in love with you. Because the film is very good.
"He's only human and if the public were allowed to find him for themselves, I think it would be easier," Fierstein continued.
Eichner, who blamed the failure of his film at the box office on the lack of a live audience, disputed Fierstein's understanding of the situation.
"In terms of marketing and stuff, this movie didn't have much of a plan," he said.
Universal, he continued, could not have supported this film more seriously at every stage of the process. But for them it was also a new film. In Hollywood, it takes more than a century for major studios to release a film. it's an R-rated gay romantic comedy and there's no big plan to make such a big release with a movie like this."
Eichner explained that the studio felt that the historical nature of the film might encourage viewers to watch it. "Obviously, this tactic has not been as effective or efficient as we would have liked."
Despite generally excellent reviews, an A on Cinemascore, and a new rating of 89% on Rotten Tomatoes, Brothers fell far short of its expected $8-10 million at the box office, earning only $4.8 million in its opening weekend.
However, Eichner said the positive response to the film is important.
“Marketing is not a movie, tweets are not a movie, and a speech, especially from someone who has not seen the movie, is not a movie. A film is a film and this film makes a lot of people happy and I'm really proud of it."