By Tami Tucker // Entertainment // EEW Magazine Online

Credit: EEW Magazine/ K.C. Bailey/Universal Pictures

If you didn’t see the gay rom-com Bros in theaters during its opening weekend, you’re not alone. Most folks didn’t.

But according to actor, producer and screenwriter, Billy Eichner, homophobia is to blame for the lack of support of his film that features an all-LGBTQ+ cast.

Despite “glowing reviews,” the 44-year-old, who co-wrote the screenplay and stars in Bros, noted in a tweet, “straight people, especially in certain parts of the country, just didn’t show up for Bros. And that’s disappointing but it is what it is.”

Billy Eichner believes homphobia sabotaged ‘Bros’ (Credit: EEW Magazine/ Getty)

The $22 million film opened this past weekend to a $4.8 million performance even with an exceptional critics’ score of over 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film played in 3,350 theaters and earned $1.8 million on Friday.

The opening numbers were dismal.

Eichner, who was clearly upset about the film’s failure, previously wrote online that anyone who isn’t “a homophobic weirdo” should go see the movie for the sake of “queer folks who don’t get this opportunity often.”

Doesn’t look like that pitch branding uninterested movie-goers gay-hating creeps was effective.

Bros, distributed by Universal films, was marketed as the first gay romantic comedy released by a major Hollywood studio. Though original tracking projections were modest at best—between an $8 million to $10 million opening— the comedy fared even worse than expected.

Bros’ top 10 markets were all in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. It also did relatively well in several other major cities, including Chicago.

Everywhere else, though, it was a bust.

So, is homophobia to blame for its box office crash? That cannot proven.

Gallup finds that the percentage of U.S. adults who self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual has increased to a new high of 7.1%, which is double the percentage from 2012, when Gallup first measured it.

Roughly 21% of Generation Z Americans who have reached adulthood—those born between 1997 and 2003—identify as LGBT.

It appears that the LGBTQ+ community didn’t support the movie either. Therefore, gay, straight or otherwise, it’s safe to assume that folks just weren’t interested in Bros for various reasons.

It happens.

Anyway, when questioned about the gay themes in Bros, Universal president of domestic distribution, Jim Orr, chose to focus instead on how “incredibly proud” the studio was of the film and the filmmakers.