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Billy Eichner on "Bros" Box Office Bomb: Straight People 'Just Didn't Show Up'

The movie opened in a disappointing fourth place at the box office.

There was a smile after this weekend's box office report, but it was not Universal's.

Bros, the critically-acclaimed and highly-promoted comedy from Universal underperformed at the box office this past weekend, making only $4.8 million at 3,350 locations. Bros ultimately came in at no. 4 at the box office, just ahead of the Avatar re-release which made $4.7 million during its second weekend back in theaters.

Paramount's creepy horror film, Smile, grinned its way to the top of the box office, raking in $22 million. Don't Worry Darling came in at no. 2, with The Woman King rounding out the top three.

Bros star Billy Eichner took to Twitter on Sunday (Oct. 2) to reveal he snuck into a Saturday night showing of his movie in L.A. to witness the audience's reaction to the rom-com:

"Last night I snuck in and sat in the back of a sold out theater playing BROS in LA. The audience howled with laughter start to finish, burst into applause at the end, and some were wiping away tears as they walked out. It was truly magical.  Really. I am VERY proud of this movie," he tweeted out to his 2.3 million followers.

"Even with glowing reviews, great Rotten Tomatoes scores, an A CinemaScore etc, straight people, especially in certain parts of the country, just didn’t show up for Bros," Eichner continued in a follow-up tweet. "And that’s disappointing but it is what it is."

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bros‘ "top 10 markets were all in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. It did decent business in several other major cities, including Chicago. Otherwise, it has been a bust so far." 

Variety reports the film had a $22 million production budget, and "will likely struggle to achieve profitability, considering its disappointing debut."

As Logo previously reported, Bros has been making headlines as a historic first for Hollywood since it was announced back in 2019. It is the first gay rom-com ever released by a major studio, it is also the first major studio picture with an entire LGBTQ cast — even in the straight roles — and as Eichner pointed out in his note accompanying the movie's trailer, he is the first openly gay man to "ever write and star in his own major studio film, which is bizarre and infuriating but somehow true." 

Let's hope Bros has a long second life on VOD and streaming.

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