Love, Simon (Photo: Ben Rothstein | 20th Century Fox)
Love, Simon is the gay-themed movie that everyone’s talking about.
It follows 17-year-old Simon Spier (Nick Robinson) as he comes out and falls in love. It’s based on Becky Albertalli’s YA novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda.
The film has earned rave reviews (it currently scores 91% on aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes), and an A+ Cinemascore from audiences.
Some LGBTI celebrities have been so taken by the film that they have paid for movie theaters to host free screenings. Actors such as Matt Bomer and Neil Patrick Harris believe it’s a story that should be seen as widely as possible.
So how is the film doing at the box office?
Love, Simon took fifth place in the US Top Ten when it opened the weekend of 16 March. It took around $11.5million dollars that weekend.
In its second weekend, it dropped to number seven in the top ten, taking a further $7million. Over the course of its ten-day release, its cumulative total is $23million.
Made by 20th Century Fox, the production budget was $17million. Box Office Mojo speculates the movie’s takings are pretty much in line with Fox’s own expectations. They say that the overwhelmingly positive reaction suggest the movie may stick around for several more weeks.
Movies have to take 2-3 times their production budget at the box office to break even (to compensate for the cut taken by theatres and to cover other distribution/marketing costs).
By that token, $23million may not sound so impressive. However, the film – directed by Greg Berlanti – has not yet been released in many international markets. It’s due to open in the Australia this weekend, followed by the UK and Ireland on 6 April. It will continue to roll out across Europe and Asia throughout the summer.
‘It’s nicely poised to be a profitable title’
‘I would say 20th Century Fox would be pretty pleased with the US performance of Love, Simon,’ Guardian box office columnist Charles Gant told GSN.
‘It’s hard to talk in terms of comparisons, as which title would you compare it to? It’s hard to think of a mainstream US teen movie which puts an LGBT character so strongly at the heart of the story, and makes his or her sexual orientation so focal to the plot.
‘Perks Of Being A Wallflower featured a prominent LGBT character, played by Ezra Miller, but he wasn’t the protagonist. In the US, the widest point of distribution for that film was 745 cinemas. Love, Simon, which was released into 2,400 cinemas in North America, is getting a much more confident push from 20th Century Fox.
‘As regards profitability, we have a long way to go. Cinemas keep half the box office, and Fox has to recoup its considerable marketing spend from what flows back. But foreign and all the ancillary home entertainment revenue is yet to come, so it’s nicely poised to be a profitable title.
‘Some of the foreign markets look a bit questionable for Love, Simon, e.g. Russia and China, but it should perform in western Europe, Japan, Australia and possibly Latin America.’
See also
Love, Simon is a wonderful film – and it’s a miracle it exists
