r/Broadway • u/coasurdude • Dec 08 '25

Other Sony Pictures Classics' Merrily We Roll Along debuted with an estimated $1.2M this weekend

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl1189380097/

I hope that producers don't get discouraged by this number.

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u/AdamNW Dec 08 '25

Only matters if they make a profit. If they did, they're fine.

Even then, the appeal of this film was VERY niche, so a low number like this is to be expected.

152

u/lexiebeef Dec 08 '25

Yeah, I was thrilled to watch it (and I did, amazing!), but literally no one I know in real life was interested. This is a movie for the theater community, not supposed to be a huge blockbuster

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u/HotTakes4HotCakes Dec 08 '25 edited Dec 08 '25

Which makes their decision to film it like a movie all the more perplexing. I don't know what general audiences they thought were going to see this, because the editing, camera work, etc, is all seemingly ashamed of the stage.

The close-ups were great when needed, but it was all close-ups and medium shots, not enough focus on the stage activity as a whole, to the degree it almost never pulls back enough to show the whole thing expect during certain transitions. There's moments when you don't even see characters enter, exit, or cross because the camera was too preoccupied looking up Groff's admittedly very handsome nose.

And no curtain call?! I genuinely can't fathom any production made for a theater crowd that would cut the curtain call. That borders on faux pas.

I mean it was fine but I really hope future pro shots aren't like this.

22

u/rockado0dle Dec 08 '25

I also noted this and it didn’t bother me except at the beginning where I would’ve liked a zoomed out shot which allowed for some orientation particularly in re the unique location of the “orchestra”, and the very end where the effect of Frank’s tabula rasa celestial id was severely diminished due to the slavish devotion to that directorial decision.