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The Broadway play adaptation was kneecapped by a combination of unfortunate circumstances.

West Side Story, a new film adaptation of the hit Broadway play directed by Stephen Spielberg and distributed by 20th Century Studios, hit theaters earlier this month. Depicting a story of star-crossed lovers amidst a gang war in 1950s New York City, the film, much like the play on which it’s based, has garnered high praise from critics. At time of writing, the film maintains a 93% critic score and 94% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Unfortunately, while the majority of people who saw West Side Story loved it, the problem is that not nearly enough people actually saw it. With its premier month just about over, the film has only brought in a global box office of $36.6 million against a $100 million budget, leaving it on the fast track to becoming a flop. According to box office analysts, this failure is the result of a combination of unfortunate circumstances, including its target audience and competing films.

″[‘West Side Story’] was largely a victim of timing and an inability to attract younger moviegoers,” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com. “Women over 35 are the drivers of most musicals. Not only has that audience been the most cautious to return to public social spaces like the movie theater during the pandemic, but renewed concern created by omicron headlines seems to have played a major role in doubling down on that hesitance for the time being.”

The film also suffered due to its proximity to Disney and Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, which has spent the last several weeks since its premier absolutely crushing the box office and setting a record as the second-highest grossing film of all time.