The Underperformance of ‘West Side Story’: No, It’s Not Just Because Gen Z Doesn’t Like Musicals (Column)

I liked Steven Spielberg’s emotionally energized, visually bustling “West Side Story” just fine, though I’m not as over the moon about it as some of my critical colleagues. There’s an ecstatic tone wafting through the reviews. I raise the issue because you would have expected that collective hosanna to be one of many things that inspired people to go out and see the movie. The shocking disappointment of “West Side Story’s” opening-weekend box-office take — a total of just $10.5 million, $1 million less than what “In the Heights” made and only $3 million more than “Dear Evan Hansen,” and… Read Full Article