Nolte: Spielberg's 'Woke Side Story' Is a Bigger Flop than 'Cats'

Director Steven Spielberg’s woketard remake of West Side Story is an even bigger worldwide flop than Cats, the 2019 musical that’s widely seen as one of the biggest box office disasters of all time.

Despite withering reviews and quickly becoming a national joke for its ill-conceived costuming and makeup, Cats somehow managed to gross $73.8 million worldwide. That breaks down to $27.1 million domestic and $46.6 million overseas.

Taylor Swift in Cats (Warner Bros. Pictures)

West Side Story, which won glowing reviews and is helmed by Spielberg, one of the most popular directors in movie history, has grossed just $52.7 million worldwide. That breaks down to $29.5 million here in the U.S. and $23.2 million internationally.

West Side Story will continue to make a little money, but after 24 days and three weekends, its box office run is pretty much over, and it is not only Spielberg’s biggest flop but one of the most expensive and notorious flops in Hollywood history.

Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, and the cast of West Side Story. (Amblin/20th Century Studios)

Between the production and marketing costs, Disney likely dropped $200 million into this woke remake no one asked for. The much-beloved, Oscar-winning 1961 original was all about bringing Americans together. This remake was marketed, not only on the ludicrous idea the original required a woke correction but on dividing us. Spielberg was so intent on racially dividing us; he refused to include English subtitles in the scenes where the characters spoke Spanish. In other words, if you aren’t bilingual, you’re not welcome here.

The left-wing apologists in the entertainment media will, naturally, blame Woke Side Story’s failure on the pandemic. Well, the fact that Spider-Man: No Way Home has already grossed over $600 million domestic and $1.3 billion worldwide blows that notion right out of the water.

My guess is that the Oscars will try to rescue Woke Side Story with a bunch of nominations and maybe even a Best Picture win. Good luck with that. The Oscars are now as irrelevant as CNN.

If you make movies people want to see, we will come out and see them. No one wants to see Spielberg’s offensive and divisive Woke Side Story — no one in America, no one in the rest of the world, no one anywhere.

Woke is box office death. Woke is a lie. Woke is anti-human nature. Woke is racially divisive. Woke is anti-entertainment. Woke is unenlightened.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.

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